I 



Tninxitlon Stml'iDt 68 



(ialtoii Nt't'iiis ill tirst to have iiad an idea of iitiliMin^ his relative 

 motions to work soiiit" form of afr-engine, antl it was alxjut this phase of hi* 

 invention that he wrf)te to Mr Watson, who rephed hh follows: 



"I Hill truly rejoiced ti> find that you are so sanfjuiiic. I am coiifiili-tii \i.ii Iiiw Kit uivin 

 nonicthin^ lenl, and not a cliiiiiacra, and only hop«^ you niny Im- uIiIp to Itri! aj 



end. I am not inclini-d to tliiiik you <<)uld iitdiw tli« |M)w«r you lmv« il.-.. ...... .i m .... *«y 



you MUggCsttHl." 



Galton had also suggested that motive fxiwer for a double ship might be 

 obtained from the relative motion of its twin parts, and this point is taken 

 up by Cieorge Darwin: 



"I will keep your secret Htrictly. I am glad to hc^r that you an- ^oing to |>at«nt it, »a it 

 Houndw a-H if it ought to liP a groat morcantili? invention 



Will it Im' |><>.s.sil)lt: to unyoke your .slii|i.sl If not they would be rather unnmuageahle in 

 rivers and Inirlxxirs. Will not the danger ut° eollisions be much increased by the great width 

 and what will liup|ien when the helm lia.H to 1h> turniNJ hard to avoid anything? If one of the 

 ships got at all out of hand, it would he rather an awkward combination wouldn't iti My 

 father is very incredulous in m the si)irit8. 1 am sorry to liear that Miss F. is to have her 

 familiars with her as .') conjurors could combine to do their tricks without much chance of 

 being found out'." 



Whether it was Merrifield's criticism or George Darwin's irony' which led 

 Galton to abandon his scheme, I cannot say; a last letter from Merritield 

 indicates that in April 187"2, Galton was proposing to employ bis appar.itus 

 to measure the energy of a .sea-disturbance, (laltons ideii, which mu.st of 

 course be distinguislied from the use of tidal energy, seems to possess much 

 originality. As our coal and oil supplies run short, possibly men will turn 

 .lijiUH to Galton's suggestion of iiarnessing the waves. 



E. CLIMATE {continnfd) 



A meteorological paper of August 1866', read Ijefore the British As- 

 sociation in that year\ deserves a pa.ssing notice. In this pa|>er (Jalton 

 criticises the statistical methods of the old Meteorological Office — otherwise 

 of Admiral Fitzroy. It is entitled: "On an Error in the usual method of 

 obtaining Meteorological Statistics of the Ocean." He points out that the 



' See our p. .'il ftn. Galton's investigation of spiritualism interested Charles Darwin and 

 will be r(>ferred to again later. 



" Major L. Darwin ns,sures me that the irony would be quite unconscious on Sir Oeorg© 

 Darwin's part. 



■' /;. A. Report, Vol. xxxvi, 1866 (Sect.), pp. 16-17. A\so Athenaeum, Sept. 1, 1866. We 

 may just mention in this footnote that in the previous year (Octolx^r ISO.')) Galton wrote a 

 long notice in the Edinburgh Jienew, pp. 422-5.') of J. F. Campliell's Front and Fire. There 

 was much in this book to interest Galton and excite his criticism and suggestion ; thus he ex- 

 plains from close observation (p. 433) that trees do not as Campbell suggests 'bend to the wind,' 

 they Ijend under the weight oit branches, which can only llourish on the lee-side of the tree*. 



'' Read by the SecreUiry of the Section as tialton was ill at the time. He liad gone to the 

 British Association at Nottinglinm, but had been "done up and obliged to leave.'' ThefJaltons 

 then went to I>'aiiiington where "Dr Jephson prescribed for Frank, he grew very weak under 

 the treatment. Kud of Septeinlx>r returned home and remaiiie<l six wi-ek*, then went to the 

 Norths, and took liKlglngs at Hastings in Hretnis Place; stayed tliere till iry 



1867. Frank rwle constantly."' L. G.'s h'eeofd. It was this illness which | • to 



i-esign the Secretaryship of the British Association and spend much of 1867 in travel. 



