196 Lif^' ami Let fern of Franvitt Gallon 



Hiildnr w^riltMo flouriHlioH with iiciirilx hclii in ImUIi IihikIs »iinultan«><)usly and the reflexion of 

 the one scrawl in a mirror was just like the other picture se<'n directly. 



I have juHt published in .Uiwl something more alwut mental iiiuiger}', and when I get my 

 repriiitH 1 will s«-nd one in case you cure to glance at it. 



Enclosed is a n-ference that might be put among your Dr Ei-asmus Darwin papers, in the 

 event of having again to revise the 'Life'. I had not a notion, until I began t<> hunt up for the 

 reference, how much he had considere<l the subject of mental imagery, or the very striking 

 experiment in Part I, Section xviii. 6 (which in my edition of 1801 is in Vol. I, p. 291), which 

 shows that he himself possessed the faculty in n very marked manner. 



We came back after a very successful Vichy visit'; my Wife improved at once on getting 

 tliere, but for my part I have since l)een unlucky, and am only just out of bed after a week's 

 illness of the same kind as Litchfield's long affair — this partly accounts for bad Imndwriting. 

 With kindest remendtranciw to you all from us Itotli and from my sister Emma who is now 

 with us for a few days, Ever sincerely yours, Fkancis Galton. 



42, Rutland Gatk, Monday morning, March 7/81. 



Deak Darwin, About Worms-: — I have waited for an opportunity of verifyiu',' what I 

 told you about the eflect of heavy soaking rain, ivhen it suddfiily SHcci-rd» moileratf uyiilhi-r, in 

 driving the worms from their holes to the gravel walks, where they cniwl for long distances in 

 tortuous courses, and where they dia It has been very frequently observed by me in Hyde 

 Park, and this morning I have again witnessed it in a sufficiently well-marked degree to be 

 worth recording. 



It rained heavily on Saturday night lust, after a spell of moderate weather. Unluckily I 

 was not in the Park on Sunday till near I h. by which hour the birds had had abundant time 

 to pick up the worms. Still, dead worms were alxjut and their tracks were most niinierfms. On 

 Sunday (last night) it again rained heavily and I was in the Park at 10 h. The tracks were 

 not nearly so numerous as they had been on Sunday moniiug, but more dead worms were alxiut. 

 I began counting, and found they averaged 1 to every 2 J paces (in length) of the walk, the walk 

 being 4 paces and a triHe more in width. 



Walking on, I came to a place where the grass was swamped with rain-water on either side 

 of the raised gravel path, for a distance of 16 paces. In those 16 pace-lengths I counted 45 

 dead worms. 



On not a few previous occasions when T have lieen out before breakfast, I have wider the 

 eondxtiont alrfculy mentioned seen the whole of the walks strewn with worms almost as thickly 

 88 were the 10 pace-lengths just describe*!. The worms are usually very large. I rarely notice 

 dead worms on the paths at other times. Ever sincerely yours, Francis Galton. 



I shall be very curious to learn about the efTects of the red light as against those of a 

 strongly actinic c-olnur. 



Down, Beckeniiam, Kent. March 8th [1881]. 



Mv DEAR (lALTOK, Very many thanks for \'our not<>. I have been observing the hinnmerable 

 tracks on my walks for s<;veral months, and they occur (or can be sef^n) only after heavy rain. 

 Aa I know that worms which are going to die (generally from the parasitic larva of a fly) 

 always come out of their burrows, I have looked out during these months, and have usually 

 found in the morning only from 1 to 3 or 4 along the whole length of my walks. On the other 



' Both the Galtons enjoyed Vichy and visited it yearly from 1878 to 1881. 



• Miss Margaret Shaen tells me that she first met Francis Galton at Down, when Darwin 

 WM studying earthworms. "They hiul much talk together on the subject, Mr Galton getting 

 most eager in trying to picture to himself exactly how the worms drt^w things into their holes 

 to close them up. Mr Darwin was then cxp<!rimentiiig with little bits of jjapt^r like this -<d]. 

 laying them near the worm holi», and finding them drawn down by the point. I remember 

 Mr (iaiton trying to do the like with his pocket j>encil, i.e. to draw the paper down inside his 

 pi-ncil cose. I am pretty sure he was keen to test the worms perception of angles bv altering 

 the sidi-s of the triangle, getting them more e<iual to see if the worms would still detect the 

 snialleHt of the angles and draw that one in. I don't know if Mr Darwin did try any such 

 cxperiiuents." See The Formation of V>'<ipt,il,I, \f,,,,!il ihrnuyh tlie Action of Knrilnr,, )•„,•<, 

 pp. 14, 85-96. 



