I\i/(-holo<jical /nvext it/at ioim 245 



upinion ciiangu iind fjrow fiivounililu to HU|K!ruaturuli.Hiii and the ncorH of viKiouM coiiio to the 

 front. It JH not tluit ii fiiciilty pruviouiily iion-exiHtunt Iiiim Ixren Huddciily <!Vokt?«l, but thnl a 

 faculty lonf? Hinothurwl in Huorct lin-s b<*n Huddonly allow»>d frocdon) to oxpnMW iUielf, and it 

 may Ix) to run into oxtravajjance owing to the removal of reiuionablo safcguanls." (p. GM.) 



Wo may coiisidor here Galton's last puhliHhed exjRiriinentul invejitigation 

 on JntrosjMictiori. In 1884, the year after the appearance of the Immiries into 

 Ilumftn luicitUij, he issiu'd in Sliiul' a paper entitled: "Free-will, Observa- 

 tions anil Inferences." The e.xperinient wuh actually made in 1 88."{, " during the 

 somewhat uneventful but pleasant months of a summer spent in the country'." 

 Galton explains his aims ni the following words: 



"Tlio ca»i« appfar raw in which any of the nunierouH writers on Freo-will liave Rtcadily, 

 and for a long tiino togttther, watchinl tho ofiorationM of their own mind whenever it wa« 

 engaged in Huch an act, and iliHcusMions on Free-will have certainly lieen much more frequent 

 than HyHteniatiu oLmervations of it. ConHequontly for my own information, I undertook a courbe 

 of introspective inquiry la.st year; it was carried on almost continuously during six woekii, and 

 has Ihmmi pr(K-eedod with, off and on, for many suhsecpifnt months. As the results weru not 

 what I expoctwl and as they were very distinct, I publish them, of course on the under- 

 standing that I profess to speak only of the operations of my own mind. If others will do the 

 same, we shall he hereafter in a position to generalise. 



My course of observation was that, whenever I caught myself engaged in a feat of what 

 might fairly Iw called FnH.vwill, I checked myself and reculle<l the antt;ce<lents and noted any 

 cin-umstances that might have intluencwl my decision and forthwith wrote down an account 

 of the whole transaction. After I had collated several notes I found that the variety of pro- 

 ccs.se8 to Lk! observed was snuill: I ihei-efore discontinueil my notes, but nmintuined the obser- 

 vations, until I felt satisfied that I could describe as much of what goes on in my own mind 

 as falls within the kon of its consciousness. 



I may say that, after some preliminary malat^lroitness had been overcome, I did not find 

 the tivsk ditticult, nor even irksome ; not nearly so much as in other introspective inquiries 

 I have made. It is true that facility in any kind of introspection is difficult to acquire; it 

 depends on tho establishment of a habit something like that of writing in the midst of [other] 

 avociitions. When the latter has once been attained, the writer recovers tlie thread of thought 

 that has l>cen dropped at each interruption, and rarely finds it broken. So it is with intro- 

 spection." (p. 406.) 



Galton at once discards acts of 'Will' as distinguished from free-will as 

 they are usually automatic; tenacity of purpose does not denote free-will, 

 and is not usually considcri'd to l)e a hi^h onh-r of p.sycliical activity'. 



' Vol. IX, pp. 406-13. 



' The Galtons were "done up by I>jndun whirl and grief for Mr Si.>otti.swot(»le'8 death and 

 the funeral in the Abbey, July ."Jth, ami I lKX.'ame .so unwell at the Jenkinsons that we U^gan 

 our summer outing at IJoscombe and ]^)urnemuuth and spent a pleasant month meeting 

 plea.sant people. All the time I was on starvation diet. Then we wont to Newton Abbot near 

 Tonpuiy and visitetl Totnes and Dartmouth and Tor(|uay; also a pleasant time, and with nice 

 dry weather such as one seldom enjoys in England. Still I prefer a foreign climate and think 

 it suits my tiresome ailment better." L. G.'s Uncord. 



Gallon's sister Adele Bunbury died on Dec. .31st and Montagu Butler's first wife Ocorgina 

 during this year, so that the Galtons lost three close connections in the year following Darwin's 

 deMh. Fi-ancisGalton wrote an obituary notice of S|>ottiswoode for tho IloyalGeographical Society 

 (I'roceediitgs X. M. S., 1883, Vol. v, pp. 489-91) and conclude<l it with the wortls: "his name 

 will assuredly take its place in the national men)ory ivs one of thase upon whose ability, moral 

 character, and resolute work, the credit of the English nation is mainly founded." Spottiswoodo 

 anil Galton hiul been joint Honorary Secretaries of the Iloyal Geographical Society and intimate 

 friends for many years. 



' "As obstinate as a mule " or more vulgarly "as obstinate as a pig" are cited by Galton to 

 express his meaning. 



