The Ancestrif of Francis Gallon 



47 



full moon, and which included many names of note', e.g. Erasmus 

 Darwin, William Withering (1741 — 1799) (a notable physician and 

 distinguished man of science of his day), Baskerville {the famous 

 printer), Wedgwood", Boulton and Watt, Thomas Keir (a very able 

 chemist), Day (the author of Samlford and Merton, an eccentric, but 

 of some jjower), Edgeworth and Small ("a man of delicate -sympathy, 

 keen perceptions, and suggestive energy'"). Galton was also a membei- 

 of the Linnean and Hoyal Societies. 



The atmosphere of Birmingham in those days was one. of progressive 

 commercial development based on intimate relations to science, and 

 Samuel Galton was one of the strongest links in the chain. His self- 

 culture went on throughout his busy life. At 19 he attended Harris' 

 lectui'es on oratory; at 21 he began to form a library, at 23 he attended 

 Walker's^ lectures on gases, and he heard Walker again at 28. 

 In 1799, at 46, he attended Bankes' lectures on philosophy, and in 

 1811 he assisted in founding the Birmingham Philosophical Society. 

 In 1781 he bought a microscope for £10; in 1782 Nairn's electric 

 machine; in 1783 Buffon in IG vols.; in 1786 a reflecting telescope 

 by Watson, and optical apparatus; in 1789, a camera obscura, and in 

 1818 he paid £42. Gs. Od. for an orrery, which his great-grandson, 

 Mr Edward Wheler Galton, has recently presented to the Eugenics 

 Laboratory. Of Samuel Galton's published contributions to science 

 there are few to record. Dr Erasmus Darwin's long note on Galton's 

 colour mixing exjjeriments in Tlie Botanical Garden'', 1791, seems 

 to suggest that he did some remarkably early work in this direction, 

 which must have antedated that of Young (1801), whom Cleik-Maxwell 

 places first in the field as the originator of the idea of three primary 

 colours. The first publication by Galton himself of his results occurs 



' Beside these men with whom he was very intimate, we must add Jean Andre de 

 Luc (1727 — 1817) and Joseph Berrington. 



" Wedgwood was a frequent attendant, if not an actual member. 



' See Meteyard's Life of Josiah WedyivooJ, Vol. n, pp. 208-9. 



■* Probably Adam Walker (1731 1 — 1821), a successful popular science lecturer, 

 a pioneer of what is now " University Extension." He was a friend of Priestley, who 

 may have brought him to Birmingham. I have not been able to identify Harris, and 

 the only possibility for the third lecturer (" Bankes ") would be Sir Joseph Banks — who 

 was certainly a friend of Samuel Galton's, but I am not aware that he e\'er lectured, 

 even on natural philosophy. 



'' See Additional Notes, note 2, p. 6, Edn. 1791. 



