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Sfdfisfiral luvcHthjdliimH 365 



cannot get beyond the three generations and their collaterals. We must make 

 |a start somewhere and if we record three generations now our great-gruntl- 

 chilflien will ho able to consider six. What we need is to store data for the 

 future. 



"The advance of the Hcience of heredity ia seriouHly delayed through the want of such 

 data. Wo do not yet know whetlier luiy j^iven Ki^^P of different characteristicH which may 

 converge l)y inheritance upon the Kanie family will hiend, neutrnliHc f)r intensify one another, 

 nor whether they will he mctjimorphiMed and issue in some new form. Our ijjnoranw is 

 <w|)eciully j;reat in herwlitary maliulies, when' much alarm und<)ul)te<lly existt which inijuiry 

 will dis[M<l. It is jH)8sil)le that the diderent <lisease tendencies of <li(lerent ancestors may in 

 some cases neutralisti one another, ami on the other hand, that .some ancestral combinations 



may Ix* more hurtful to the descendants than we have at present any idea of Our prcwent 



ignorance of the conditions by which the level of humanity may Ik) raisetl is so gross, that 

 I believe if we had some dict-ator of the Spartan type, who oxercis***! absolute p<jwer over 

 marriages, assigning ,1 to Ikj the wife of B, and C to be the wife of D, and who act<'<l "iil. the 

 best intentions, he might possibly do even more harm tiian good to the race." 



Which remark 1 conunend to the good Mr Chesterton who believes that 

 he is better able than the Foiuider of Eugenics to appreciate what Eugenists 

 j)ropo.se. 



CJalton discu.s.ses the questionnaire of the Record showing how the answers 

 will l)ear on sucli vital problems as the relative influences of nature and 

 nurture, as the effect of overstrain in the parents on the robustness of their 

 ortspriiig, as the possibility of secular changes in the English race, and as to 

 the influence of various racial types on fertility. 



Considering the senses Galton remarks: 



"Keenness of sensation in tjach of its forms is a valuable natural gift; unfortunately no 

 means are as yet easily accessible for testing it in different persons ; there are no anthropo- 

 metric laboratories as yet in existence to which any one may go, and on payment of a small 

 fee have all his faculties measured and registered by the various ingenious appliances known 

 to modern science. We must therefore l)e content for the present with such definite facts 

 bearing on the keenness or imperfection of the various senses as may have been incidentally 

 observed." (p. 9.) 



Galton demonstrated even in the same year as he wrote these lines what 

 an anthropometric laboratory could achieve in measuring the keenness of the 

 senses. Fitly attached to the Lalx^ratory in the University of London, 

 which now bears his name, is an Anthropometric Laboratory with complete 

 equipment for testing not only the keeimess of the senses but for measuring 

 many other physical, psychical and physiological characters. The difficulty 

 does not now lie in the absence of means of testing, but in the discovery of 

 suitable ways of reaching those who are desirous of being tested, or who 

 ought to be tested. 



When Galton comes to the medical record he gives a list of "minor 

 ailments" to which an individual may be subject and also one of the "graver 

 illnes-ses." These lists may be repeated here as they are still of value in 

 considering hereditary transmission of disease. 



"■Minor Ailments. Colds in the head or throat, sick headaches, sleeplessness, boils, quinsy, 

 enlarged glands in the neck, bleeding at the nose, indigestion, bilious attacks (state whether 

 accompanied by jaundice, vomiting or headache), constipation, skin eruptions (their nature 

 should be stated if known), varicose veins, etc. 



