•_'4i' Jjife and Letters of Francis Galton 



" Mr G. came yesterday fresh iVoni the Derby ! 1 felt so pleased to have such 

 a sportive relation. It was a splendid day at Epsom, and ho was very happy 

 wandering among the gypsies etc. He tells such rich stories and very neatly. He 

 has been to spirit-rappings' and hiul another conversation in Damara with a deceased 

 chief of that tribe. Is not that wonderfid, for Mr Galton is the only man in Europe 

 who knows Damara. The chief promised to go abroad with him, which is a pleasant 

 look-out for Loui I " 



The marriage of Francis Galton and Louisa Butler took place 

 on August 1, and was followed by a tour in Switzerland and Italy, 

 the winter being spent partly in Florence and partly in Rome. The 

 return to England in March, 1854, was largely followed by visits, and on 

 August G the Galtons again left for an extended tour in France. Hardly 

 till the summer of 1855 did Galton settle down to steady research, but 

 from that year onwards there is scarcely a year which does not bring its 

 definite piece of noteworthy research, and Galton's scientific production 

 now becomes the story of his life. The extended continental tours con- 

 tinued throughout a long life, but they were holidays, and, however they 

 extended his field of observation, they had no longer to do with scientific 

 exploration. But what Galton had learnt in his African journeys, became 

 the fund on which he di'ew for his Art of Travel, 1855, and for those 

 lectures at Aldershot on the ArU of Campaigning (1855-6), by wliich 

 he endeavoured to supply the "helplessness of our soldiers in the most 

 elementary matters of camp-life," a helplessness the Crimean War was 

 emphasising in the most potent and cruel of manners. These subjects 

 will be dealt with in the following chapter. 



' Francis Galton enters under the events of 1853— " spirit-rapping mania." 



