88 Life and Lelten of Franch GuUou 



erapher indeed needs courage, when he starts upon the tjvsk of conveying to 

 his reivders even a moiety of the original ideas — hotli as to methods and 

 conclusions — oflered by this mass of material. It would need undoubtedly a 

 robust conscience to i-ealise that not for many yeiirs, possibly never again, 

 will one individual reiid through j)ractically the whole of Cialton's published 

 and unpublished writings, and then Ix? confident that no idea of ripe sug- 

 gestiveness, which might have develnjjed in the minds of others into a noble 

 scientific or social growth, has escaped his record ! And yet the biography of 

 a man of such a productive mentality and of such a lengthy activity as Galton 

 should not only describe the many-sidedness of its subject, but enaole readers 

 of many tastes to find out what is of special interest to them in his writings. 

 Galton s biogi-apher has to provide an index to a veritable encyclopaedia, 

 as well as trace the evolution of an original mind. The general scheme of 

 Hereditary Genixis was outlined in the first part of "Hereditary Talent and 

 Character," but Galton's more complete demonstration of the heredity of 

 mental aptitudes took five further years of work'. 



Galton's book is written with more gravity and less suggestiveness than 

 his preliminary magazine article, and this is fitting. 



"1 propose to show in this book that a man's natural abilities are derived by iiili<.'rit;iiici', 

 under exactly the same limitations as are the form and physiail featui-es of the wliole orj^aiiic 

 world. Consequently, as it is easy, notwithstanding these limitations, to obtain b_v careful 

 selection a permanent breed of dogs or horses gifU'd with pwuliar powers of running, or of 

 doing anything else, so it would be quite practicable to produce n highly-gifted nice of men by 

 judicious marriages during several consecutive generations. I shall show that social agencies of 

 an ordinary character, whose influences are little suspected, are at this moment working towards 

 the degradation of human nature, and that others are working towards its improvement. 

 I conclude that each generation has enormous power over the natunil gifts of those that follow, 

 and maintain that it is a duty that we owe to humanity to investigate the range of that power, 

 and to exercise it in u way that, without being unwise towards ourselves, shall Ihj most advan- 

 tageous to future inhabitants of the earth." (p. 1.) 



In his preface Galton tells us that he was drawn to the subject of heredi- 

 tary genius in the course of a purely ethnological inquiry into the mental 

 pecuhariti&s of different races. 



As the quotation at the head of this chapter indicates, (laltou had been 

 led from Geography to Man, but when he came to examine the peculiar 

 characteristics of human races, he found their psychical characteristics as 

 marked and as permanent as their physical characteristics. Such a result 



' In L. (J.'n Jiecord these years are reprcsiMited by continual fMnir he^ilth in l)<)th llusl>and 

 and Wife. They are also years of long continental travels and many home visitK. We read 

 under 1S69 for example: "My health very troublesome till June and a gre^t hindrance to my 

 doing much. Frank in good health and able to dine out again. Went to Bertie Terrace 

 [Francis Galton's mother's] at Easter and was not the l)etter for it. Emma ['Sister Emma 'J 

 came to us in March and June. Lucy Wheler [Mrs Studdy] in May. Started in July for the 

 Tyrol an<l Havana, Venice and home by the Spriigen, returned Oct. 4. .Met the R. Gurneys 

 and Mrs ]iathcr at Baslo. Went to Julian Hill [Mrs Galton's mother's] and Bertie Terrace 

 before settling down. Dear Mr North died October 26 at Hastings. Frank's l)ook 'Hereditary 

 Genius' published in November, but not well ix^ceivj-d, but likc<l by Darwin and men of note. 

 He iM'gan his ex]>erimentM in Transfusion and iHtcame a meniltcr of the Zoological and Iloyal 

 Institution. I att4-nil«l Tyndall's Ixsctures after Easter. Spent Christmas at home and alone." 



