Votrexpoiulcnce with C/nirltx Darin' n 177 



tictually curried on at Down. The Hret is. by Darwin hiniw^lf in the footnote 

 p. 350 (1875) of the 2nd edition of his Animals anil Plnntx... : 



"He [Mr Oaltoii] iiifoinis ine that .sul).s<'<|uently to tho publication of hiM (wpcr lie continued 

 the experinientit on ii stjll larger scale for two more genuratioiiH, without any sign of mongreluiin 

 showing itself in the very numerouH offspring." 



The second occurs in Galton's paper "A Theory of Heredity " ' in a foot- 

 note, p. 342 : • 



"I subsequently carried on the ex()eriuiont« with improved apparatus, and nn an oquallv 

 large sealo, for two more generations." 



Two slight footnote notices of what occupied much of (iultons imu- und 

 energy for two or more years ! But the result was really of value ; it 

 demonstrated that the blood was not a primary factor in heredity', and it 

 weakened to an extent, perhaps hardly realised by Darwin, the jjntbability 

 of ])angenesis. The misfortune was that (Jultou could not yet clisniisH the 

 whole mechanism of genimules. 



Ditterences, however, between the two men on tiiis sidiject did not 

 interfere for a moment with their warm friend.ship, and we next find Darwin 

 giving Cialton aid in two additional matters ; the first is in answering his 

 questionnaire concerning the nature and nurture of English men of science, 

 and the second in growing sweet-peas —the in(|uirv whieli led to the con- 

 ception of measuring correlation. 



The answers which Galton received from his correspondents in the men 

 of science inquiry are of extraordinary intei-est ; they form brief auto-charac- 

 terisations' by the leading scientific Victorians — Darwin, Hooker, Huxley, 

 Spencer, (Jlerk Maxwell, Stokes and many others. The questionnaire waa 

 accompanied by a letter setting forth the .scope of the inquiry. It runs 



ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN. 



42, Rutland Gate, London. 

 To CiiAHLKs Dakwin, Esq. In the pursuit of an inquiry parallel to that by M. de Candolle, I 

 have been eiij;aged for some time past in collecting information on the .Vntocedents of Eminent 

 Men. My pifsent object is to set forth the influences through which the dispositions of Original 

 Workers in Science have mast commonly l)een formed, and have aft^'rwards lieen trained and 

 confirmed. As a ready means of directing attention to the importance and interest of this 

 inquiry, I append, overleaf, a i-epriiit of a short review of the work of M. de CandoUe, which 

 1 contributed to tho 'Fortnightly Review' of March, 1873. 



The result of my past efforts 1ms clearly impressed upon nie the fact that a sufficiency of 



I data cannot be obtained from biographies without extreme labour, if at all ; therefore, insteAd 



of imjM'rfectly analysing the past, it seems far preferable to tieal with contemporary instances, 



and none are more likely to appreciate the inquiry or to give correct information than Men of 



[ Science. 



The numl)er of persons in the United Kingdom who have filled positions of acknowledged 

 rank in the scientific world is quite large enough for statisticjil tnsatnient. Thus, the Medallists 

 of the chief scientific stxneties; the Presidents of the same, now and in former years ; thase who 

 have been elected to serve at various times on the Council of the Royal Society, and similarly, 



' Jmirnal of the AnlhrojK>li>gical Imlitnte, Vol. v, pp. 329-48, 1875. 



I' Even Darwin in his use of language was influenced by popular l>eliof as the reader will 

 find if he turns to the postscript of Darwin's letter of Jan. 4, 1873 on p. 176. 

 ' Darwin's is reproduced at length in Francis Darwin's Life atn{ Letter* o/ Charles Danvin, 

 Vol. m, pp. 177-8. 

 B-. p o n 33 



I 



