Childhood and Boyhood 89 



remaining where it is. I leave it to you to do as you think best ; but I must say I 

 think I have good ground for what I have said. Goodbye and believe me your affec- 

 tionate son Francis Galton. 



Although effective reform of the Free School did not come 

 during Francis Galton's school time, I cannot help thinking that his 

 attitude of prote.st, to some extent directly and more perhaps indirectly 

 through his father, produced real changes. The Doctor writes to Tertius 

 on Oct. 23, 1837, that he is studying Edinburgh schools, and that the 

 Governors have determined at Christmas to add to the establishment 

 a Mathematical and an English master, and further, at the beginning 

 of 1839, teachers of French and Drawing, and one more of English. The 

 final report which the Headmaster gives of his pupil is characteristic, but 

 shows the influence of the boy notwithstanding the constant warfare with 

 the masters. Mr Gedge reported that he went on well with his mathe- 

 matics, displaying much mental power and increasing daily in accuracy. 

 The Headmaster confirmed this judgment, remarking that Francis 



" found it irksome to tie down his attention to the exactnesses and niceties which 

 distinguish a good classical scholar. It is generally the case that boys dislike most what 

 is most needed for their peculiar turn of mind. He will I think do well, for though he 

 does not entertain all the horror of false quantities or all the admiration of Greek accents 

 which are felt by some of his fellows, he js docile and willing to submit to occasional 

 defeat." 



Such the opinion of the Master of the Boy ; in his Memories 

 Sir Francis gives the opinion of the Boy on the Master : 



"I retained Dr Jeune's friendship until his death, and it was impossible not to 

 i-ecognise his exceptional ability and educational zeal, but the character of the education 

 was altogether uncongenial to my temperament. I learnt nothing and chafed at my 

 limitations. I had craved for what was denied, namely an abundance of good English 

 reading, well-taught mathematics and solid science. Grammar and the dry rudiments of 

 Latin and Greek were abhorrent to me, for there seemed so little sense in them " (p. 20). 



Galton had been anxious and willing to learn, but he had been 

 given stones instead of the bread that he hungered for, and thus his chief 

 school years were years of stagnation. It is curious to find him uttering 

 in 1908, when 86 years of age, the very opinions he had given in 1837, 

 when a boy of 15 ! I have spent long over this school period because it is 

 not only interesting from the standpoint of educational history, but it is 

 possible that some few parents reading these lines may save another 

 boy from a like ])eriod of depression and stagnation, for I sadly fear its 

 possibilities have not for ever vanished. 



p. 0. 12 



