360 Life ami Lettertt of Francis Galton 



in defining rividly, c-onipletoly, and concisely the characteristics (medical and other) of the 

 variouB monibers of their re8|>©ctive faniiliefi, and in illustrating the presence or absence of 

 hereditary influences." 



We have seen how Galton grew from traveller to geographer, from 

 geographer to ethnologist, from ethnologist to anthrojiologist, and now the 

 last stage appears : he is chiefly interested in anthropometry l)ecau8e of the 

 contributions he expects from it to heredity ; the anthropologist becomes a 

 geneticist. LKX)ked at superficially Calton's work seems like a comprehensive 

 but confusetl mosaic of many branches of science. Studied in relation to his 

 life we see a definite pattern, a picture of a long-continued mental develop- 

 ment ; each branch oi knowledge he .acquired fell into its fitting place, and 

 formed a stepping stone to a further advance. 



His own interest in Medical Family Registers arises, he tells us, from 



" all that can throw light on the physiological causes of the rise and decay of families, and 

 oonaequently on that of races. Some diseases are persistently hereditary, and others are not : 

 they are variously found in different varieties or subraces of men, and these have various otlier 

 attributes including various degrees of fertility. We cannot as yet foretell, but we may ho]>c 

 hereaft'er to do so in a general way, which are the families naturally fated to decay and which 

 to thrive, which are those who will die out and which will 1x3 prolific and fill the vacant space." 

 (p. 245.) 



In this paper Galton shows that he has realised more fully the difficulty 

 about medical registers : 



" Host men and women shrink from having their hereditary worth recorded. There may 

 be family diseases of which they hardly dare to speak, except on rare occaS^ons, and then in 

 whispered hints or olwcure phrases, as though timidity of utterance could hush tliou>;hts and 

 a.s though what they fondly suppose to be locked-up domestic secrets may not he bruited alwut 

 with exa^genitioii among the surrounding gossips. It seems to me ignol)le that a man should 

 t>e such a coward as to hesitate to inform himself fully of his hereditary liabilities, and uiifaii 

 that a jNirent should delilx'nitely refuse to register such family hereditary facts as may ser\r 

 to direct the future of his children, and which they may hereafter Im? very desirous of knowing. 

 Parents may refrain from doing so through kind motives ; but there is no raal kindness in 

 the end." (pp. 245-6.) 



Still Galton recognised that the difficulty remains, that the majority ol' 

 men do fall into his category of ignoble cowards and will not record their 

 family secrets as to disease. Accordingly he proposed to get over the diffi- 

 culty by inducing medical men, under the bribe of £500 in prizes, to givf 

 confidential records of their own families. He hoped that the custom oi 

 medical family records liaving Ix^en introduced in this way, doctors would 

 thereafter lie not infrequently called upon to draw them up for the satis- 

 faction of the patients themselves, and — Galton adds naively as a lure — "at 

 their expenpe '! The particulars Galton pro|)osed should Ixi included in the 

 registers to l)e provided deal not only with medicid details, but witli race, 

 conditions of life, marriage, fertility, vigour, keenness of sense, artistic capa- 

 city, intelligence, character, etc. He was clearly working up to much of the 

 material he finally asked for from laymen in his "Family Ilt^cord.s." A great 

 part of the paper is taken up with the conditions under which the prizes he 

 propo8e<l would be given. 



