2H2 Life aiul lA'ttem of Frntirix (iafton 



extreme diverjjeiioes at least continii (Jaltuii's statement tliat the mental 

 •Hfferences of mankind are so p-eat that evolution has ample material to 

 select from ! 



Galton starts his |ihilosophical creed with a section on The Ohserred 

 Oixler of Events: his thesis here is that the universe is a sinijle entity and 

 we ourselves are pai-t of a mysterious whole "behind which Ties the awful 

 mystery of the oripn of all exist-ence," the j)ur])ose of the universe. He 

 considers that the conditions which direct the evolution of living forms are 

 on the whole marked by their persistence in improving the birthright of 

 succeesive generations. 



"They determine at much cost of individual comfort, that each plant and animal shall on 

 the general average ite endowed at its birth with more suitable natural faculties than those of 

 its representative in the preceding generation. They ensure, in short, that the inlxirn (jualities 

 of the terrestrial tenantry shall become steadily better adapt^id to their lionies and to their 

 mutual needs." (p. 299.) 



"If we summon l)efore our imagination in a single mighty host, the whole number of 

 living things from the eArliest ilato at which terrestrial life can be deemetl to have probably 

 existed, to the latent future at which we may think it can probably continue, and if we cease 

 to dwell on the mis-carriages of individual lives or single generations, we shall plainly perceive 

 that the actual tenantry of the world progresses in a direction that may in some sense be 

 described as the greatest happiness of the greatest number." (p. 300.) 



Galton remarks how, while the motives of individuals in the lowest stages 

 were purely self-regarding, they have broadened out as evolution went on. 

 Subjects of aft'ection and interest other than self Ijecome increasingly numerous 

 as intelligence and depth of character develop, and as civilisation extends. 

 He notes that as civilisation has advanced the sacrifice of personal repose to 

 the performance of social duties has become more common. 



" Life in general may be looked upon as a republic where the individuals are for the most 

 part unconscious that while they are working for themselves they are also working for the 

 public good." (j). 300.) 



This was indeed a refreshingly optimistic opinion ! Even the period which 

 the physics of that day fixed for the available heat of the sun, upon which 

 organic life depends, did not daunt Galton. There are countless abortive 

 seeds and germs ; among a thousand men selectefl at random some are crippled, 

 others insane, idiotic or otherwise incurably imperfect in body or mind; what 

 if our "world may rank among other worlds as one of these"? We know that 

 our own life is built up of the separate lives of billions of cells of which our 

 body is composed. They form a vast nation, members of which are always 

 dying, while others'grow to take their place. The continual sequence of these 

 little lives — unconscious of the whole — has its outcome in tne larger and 

 conscious life of the man as a whole. Even this world of ours and 



"our jMirt in the universe niiiy possibly in some distant way be analogous to that of colls in an 

 organised body, and our personalities may be the transient but essential elements of an immortal 

 and cosmic mind." (p. 302.) 



Thus Galton, the pantheist, again puts forth as a possibility his beautiful, 

 but unproven and unprovable dream (cf our p. 114). All he can say of it is 

 that at least it is not inconsistent with observed facts. Yet even while he 



