208 Life and Lcttcrx of Fnniris (•aUon 



He iiiav be sdid io hiivc studitKl vcnunty »« tHe hijjlif.st of mts. If iiiinpniition is cit<'d in 

 the seiiw of living in an ideal world of diiy (Ireaiiis iiiid fXK-try, I uiiderstiiiid he wiis very fond 

 of poetry** a boy but his intert«t in it fiulcd by dii^use. His sc-ifntific iniuKiniitioii in the scMise 

 of the power of envisaging alwtnict ideas, and living amon){ thoin, iiiid interesting hiiiisi-if with 

 them was obviouKly g"«t, on the evidenee of his works. I am sorrj* not to be able to give you 

 •t prewnt much information about the other men of whom you ask. 



Wktatstime was an artisan, a nieie workman originally. He took much interest in my 

 inquiries and lieli>e<l me in an)' way I asketl, except as to his own history. 



Airy promise*! to send me details, hut eventually did not. His parents on both sides came of 

 mibetantial farnHTs, solid iiicii. of local notoriety. A certain disposition to dominate in argument 

 is a strongly marked hereilitary characteristic on the maternal (liiddell) side. 



Owen I forget at the moment; they were low rather than high-middle-class. In a few days 

 I shall be in the way of reviving recollections and will write again. 



Thointon (Sir W.) I think you are (juite right but here also I will write again. 



£xcuse this im|>erfect letter, but I am on the point of going to the country for a while and 

 thought it best to write before going rather than after my return. I am very glad indeed that 

 you are about to issue a new edition of your admirable volume. Let me say about the Darwin 

 family that 4 of the 5 sons have achieved a very considerable reputation here. George the 

 Plumian Professor at C'and)ridge is looke<l \\\nm as one of the ablest of the rising men in 

 mathematical physics. He has made a great mark already and is rapidly rising in repute. 

 Frank who lectures at Cambridge on liotany was invited to be a candidate- for the Profes»t)r- 

 ship of Bt)tany at Oxfortl, with a certainty of i-lection, but for domestic rejisons he refused. 

 Uoraoe has set up, in conjunction with a friend, a lalK)ratory at Cambridge for the manufacture 

 of high class scientific instruments. He is most ingenious as a mechanical originator. Leonard 

 the Captain of Engineers, is one of the most scientific of his standing in that scientific corps. 

 In the entrance examination he was first of all the candidattw. 



Thank you for telling me of your son's "numlH-rform." I feel a little wicke<l delight at the 

 fact occurring in your own family, because I recollected that you were at first somewhat 

 sceptical of the reality of that curious tendency. 



You will be glad to hear that we have begun at the Meteorological Office to publi.sh accu- 

 miUated temperatures in units of "day-<legree8," counting (1) from Jan. 1, (2) from the first of 

 the current week. General Htrachey ha.s workwl out a Ix-autiful method of obtaining them 

 approximately, from the data of the daily maxima and minima, and a monthly (and probably 

 a local) constant. 1 will tell them at the office to send you one of our new she<»ts as a H|R'einien. 

 It will give me the greatest pleasure if at any time I can Ix; of service to you in obtaining 

 information. Yours veiy sincerely, Francis (Jai.ton. 



Our friend Mr Bentham continues veri/ weak, but lie has no orirain'c nuiliuly. 

 To M. Alphonsk de Candolle. 



42, Rutland Gate, London. Oct. 17/84. 



Mt DSAB Sir, I have read and re-read your new edition of the "Histoire des Sciences" 

 with g r o t interest and instruction, and trust you will appreciate my attention to even the 

 briefest criticism by the improve<i handwriting of this letter in deference to what you justly 

 say (and said before) at the bottom of p. 541. It is very singular how clasely in many respects, 

 our line* of inquiry run side by side. I shall be very curious indeed to see how far my own 

 data will confirm yours in the 'nouvelles recherches,' but doubt much whether they will show 

 the effect of heredity to Ik; so strong, eH|)ecially, for example, in myopism. Your appraisement 

 of the several faculties, and selection of the faculties most convenient to be ap)>rai.sed, falls in 

 very closely with an ettort 1 lat<'ly indicated in the "Fortnightly" and am now making, to find 

 out the Ijest data by which the appraist-ment may lx< swiftly and fairly made. It has struck me 

 that the masters and mistresses of schools might l>e able to indicate some ofttm recurrent events 

 in ordinary .sch<x)l life, which evoke different conduct in different children, and that by statistics 

 of their conduct on these occasions, some fair guide to their habits and therefore to their char- 

 acter at the lime being might Ix) obtained. I should Im; greatly obliged for any hints that your 

 experience may have suggested, how to appraise tht«e qualities. 



I venturw to send you the " Fortnightly" of which 1 speak, not oidy on account of that article, 

 bat becaute of a very curious one in it alxnit the Jews, by L. Wolf, which I feel sure will 



