66 Lift- and Letters of FraitcM Galton 



"Crookea wrote to me that Home's preMnoe was very important, for the experiments w«re 

 tmr mora su c oe — f ul whi-n he wan the nKxltuin, than when anyone else was, and he is now in 

 Russia and will not return until May. So I will wait." 



One almost imagines that Home fled' before the courteous manner but 

 scrutinising eye of Galton! Our truthseeker did not immediately give up 

 the pui-suit of the hyper-phenomenal. In February of tlie following year 

 (1873) there is a letter to Huggins ulMUit the psychology of tht' hitter's dog 

 ' Kepler',' and it ends with a few remarks on a suggestion of Huggins' that a 

 meduini who untied himself in a room — presumaoly through spirit assists 

 ance — should be wat«lied througii an aperture. Galton fears the room would 

 be too dark, but says that he will suggest to Crookes that previous experi- 

 ment be made to see if it is. 



Certain letters given in Francis Darwin's Life of Charles Darwin, Vol. ill, 

 p. 187, probably indicate the end of Darwin's and Galton 's inquiries into 

 spiritualism. 



"Spiritualism was making a givat stir at this tinu'. During a visit U) Krji-snius Darwin's in 

 January 1874, a seance wa.s arrangwl with Mr X., a paid medium, to conduct it. We were a 

 largish party sitting round a diniiig-table, including .Mr and Mrs (5. H. lyewe^ (George Eliot). 

 Mr Lewes, I remember, wa.s trouble.MJine and inclined to make jokes and not play the game 

 fairly and sit in the dark in silence. The usual manifestations occurred, s^>arks, wind blowing, 

 and some i-appings and movings of furniture. Spiritualism made but little effect on my mother's 

 mind [Mrs Charles Darwin] and she maintained an attitude of neither belief nor unbelief." 

 A Century of FaviUy Letters, 1904, Vol. ii, p. 269. 



Darwin himself wrote [Jan. 18, 1874] about this sdance : 



"We had great fun, one afternoon, for George hired a medium, who made the chairs, a flute, 

 a bell, and candlestick, and fierv points jump alxiut in my brother's dining-room, in a manner 

 that astoundtxi everyone, and took away all their breaths. It was in the dark, but (ioorge and 

 Hen.sleigh We<lgwo<xl held the medium's hands and feet on both sides all the time. I found it 

 so hot and tiring that I went away bi'fore all these astounding miracles, or jugglery, took place. 

 How the man could possibly do what was done pa.s.ses my understanding. I came downstairs 

 and saw all the chairs, etc., on the table, which had been lifted" over the howls of those sitting 



' As Browning puts it : 



"Whati If I told you all about the tricks? 



Upon my soul — the whole truth and nought else. 



And how there's been some falsehood — for your part. 



Will you engage to pay my passage out, 



And hold your tongue until I'm safe on Ixjanl? 



Begin elsewhere anew! 



Boston's a hole, the herring-|)ond is wide, 



V-notes are something, liberty still more. 



Beside, is he the only fool in the world?" 

 Mr Sludge, "The Medium,'' lor. cit. pp. 184, 245. Browning's contact with Home appears 

 to have been in 1857 or \iSM. Sutherland Orr, Life ntid Letter* of Ii. /imimini/, p. 216, 1891. 

 />r(ima/ur/)«r«o»n4; containing Mr .Sludge, "The. Medium" (\ates from l><(i4. The Galton-Darwin 

 lett<T8 from 1H72. Did Gallon chance to read Bn>wning? Home's habit of slipping across the 

 'herring-pond' when the environment was growing dilHcult for him seems to have been 

 characteristic. 



' 'Kepler' was one of a family of dogs that feared a butcher's shop and were furious at 

 butchers. Galton writes " What you say alwut dogs' reasoning reminds me of a phrase used by 

 the master of some performing dogs: 'Dogs, sir, do a deal of ponderiny'." See Nature, Vol. 

 VII, p. 281, 1873. 



