56 Life and Letters of Francis Galton 



appeared in more than one of the descendants of Samuel Tertius and 

 Violetta, but the most close of the Darwins to Francis Galton was his 

 uncle Sir Francis Darwin, who also has the Collier strain. And in 

 several of tlie physical features which seem to differentiate Francis 

 Galton from many of his Galton kin, they seem to resemble more than 

 he did the Darwins. If we take porti'aits of Charles Darwin and of 

 Francis Galton in middle life, we may perhaps detect some resemblances 

 in the rather firm lips, the strong chin, the heavy brow and luxuriant 

 eyebrows, the slightly receding forehead and the apparent absence of 

 marked occipital development (see PlateXXXVII). But taking physique 

 as a whole, Galton was in popular language, " not a Darwin." It is to 

 the mental characters we must turn for likeness. 



Mental, (a) Even temper'. (6) Great sympathy, (c) Ascetic 

 rather than sensuous, (cl) Strong mechanical bent, (e) Keen delight 

 in numerical evaluation and symbolic expression, two factors hardly to 

 be put, perhaps, under one heading. (/) Strongly emphasised power 

 of observation and appreciation of observation — what we might almost 

 speak of as the "clinical instinct." (g) Marked love of adventure, the 

 roving lust, {h) By no means a student or collector in the usual 

 sense, neither a \^'ide reader of books nor a worker in museums. 

 Galton rather observed and collected to answer a problem he had 

 « priori proposed to himself, than studied material with a view to the 

 discovery of some hidden secret. (^) Continuous concentration in 

 reading or analysis was liable to lead to "mental fag," and on two 

 occasions in his life led to a breakdown, (j) An instinct almost 

 amounting to a moi-al sense that the end of science was not so much 

 knowledge for its own sake, as social utility and increased human 

 efficiency, {k) Much steadfastness of purpose accompanied by a con- 

 siderable power of controlling others and inspiring them to fulfil his 

 planned ends, (l) A noteworthy sense of humour, (m) A great 

 appreciation of the need for clear expression in science. 



We believe that several of these features are markedly Darwin, 

 but others just as certainly come from different strains. 



Power of observation, the " clinical instinct " that we have referred 

 to, was essentially Darwin. Probably also much of his sympathetic 



' Francis Galton himself has said that he had a quick temper only gradually 

 brought under control by exercise. If this be so, the power of control was probably 

 hereditary. 



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