8 



-" TT- 



c 



144. Xi/c rt/jd Letters of Francis Gal ton 



Uw might exist for plants, which would be clear enough when a correct base line was taken, 

 but which would l>e wholly obsciire<l when any other base line wiis employed. 



No doubt this has been thought of, but 

 what I would point out, is the tjreat facility 

 of obtaining these sums of temperature, irotn 

 different bow lines, by the use of that most 

 ingenious little instrument of Swiss invention y i^uL^ 

 and manufacture, "Amsler's Planimeter."' I _ 



have had it largely tested and employed at the /^ P | g ?""?""?" T" 



Met«>orol«gical Otfice of Eii;;land (i>f which I Jf 85 ' 



am one of the managing Committee) with per- J^ *-*^ ^ 



feet success, A full de^scription of its eniploj'- ^ 



ment will Ix- found in our Meteor. OflSee 

 'Quarterly Weather Reports' of last year which ai-e in the Geneva Observatory. 



If the desire be, to try sums of the nquares of excess of temperature, or of any other function, 

 the same meth(Ml of summation is of course equally applicable. 



Pray excuse my prolixity ; I write on the chance that our meteorological experience of rapid 

 methods for avoiding twlious computati<m may prove of service in your further inquiries. 



I am writing from .Switzerland, from Than, whither my wife and I are shortly going 

 towards the Lake of Geneva; I had your pamphlet sent to me here. Should I be in the 

 neighbourhood of Geneva, I will certainly do myself the pleasure of calling at your house in 

 the hope (I fear a faint one at this season) of finding you at home. 



Yours very faithfully, Francis Galton. 

 To M. Alhuonbe ok Candolle. 



GKNfevB. 24 mat 1876. 



MoK CHER Monsieur Je vons envoie (sous bandcs) un article sur votre int<;ressant opus- 

 cule relatif aux jumeaux. II vient de parattre dans les ArcJiitvg den Sciences p/it/siquex et 

 NaturelUji de mai 1876 qui se public ici. J'ai ajoute (^ et Xk quel<iues reflexions pour montrer 

 mieux I'interSt de vos recherches. Je regrette tjue voire depart de la Suisse ait coincide avec 

 mon excursion dans I'Engadine, oil ma santd m'oblige h, aller pendant les grandus chaleurs. 

 Agrees, je vous prie, I'assurance de mes salutations empress^es. Alph. de Candolle. 



It is not necessary now to settle whether the emphasis placed by Galton 

 on heredity or by De Candolle on environment was the more scientific; 

 they both in fact cited individual cases, and discussed, where at present we 

 should set about measuring and statistically analysing. Nor ought we to 

 judge a man by hastily written letters, but there is much in De Candolle's 

 book and letters, such as liLs belief — for it amounts to little more — that it 

 was the conditions of Geneva and not the hereditary ability of the pro- 

 testant immigrants, which produced a scientific revival, or his faith in tales 

 of mental or physical state during sexual union producing marked results 

 on offspring, that will not be accepted as proven by the calmer judgment 

 of mooern science. That science would sympathise far more with Galton's 

 suggestion that one needs "many such facts'," and that it would be better 

 to experiment with white mice, giving the male an intoxicant before ad- 

 mitting him to the female. This reference to appeals to experiment is of 

 interest, for it indicates the change that had been taking place in Galton's 

 own procedure. 



' The assertion of De Candolle that men intoxicated at the time of coition have often pro- 

 duced idiots. Galton's humorous citation of Lot as evidence to the contrary was equally valid. 

 For a modem discussion see Bugenic» Laboratory Memoirt, No. xiii, pp. 19-25, Cambridge 

 University Press. 



