:i9(J Life and Letters of Franch (hillon 



The discussion which followed the lecture was of the usual character and 

 not very profitable. The lecture, however, shows that Galton himself had 

 not weakene<l in his faith in the advantages of his proposiil. That the 

 matter wiw drop|)e*l in 1890. without any j)ui)lished criticism of a damaging 

 kind, will make it more difficult for success to he achieved when the matter 

 comers up for discussion again, as it evidently must ; we shall be told that 

 the proiKtser liimself abamlonexl the scheme in 18'.)0, and why should it lie 

 resurrected? The only answer can be that we really do not know wliy 

 (Jalton gjive up the fight. His reasons given twenty years after the cam- 

 paign are not conclusive'. Who was the high authority of the War Office 

 who wrote a careful minute, and what evidence is there that he possessed 

 the re<iuisite anthro{X)logical and physiological knowledge? Galton, as we 

 have said before, was very apt to assume that other men's judgments, what- 

 ever their real intelligence, must certainly be better than his own, and the 

 present was probably a case in point. 



G. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES TO THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL 



INSTITUTE 



l)uring the four years 1886-1889 Galton was President of the Anthro- 

 pologictil Institute, and gave not only four presidential addresses, but took 

 a considerable part in its proceedings, and worked for its welfare*. The first 

 of his presidential addresses (188G) was on the inheritance of stature, and 

 will be dealt with in our next chapter. The second presidential addi'ess 

 (1887) is of a mixed chai-acter : it describes the then recent progress of 

 anthropology, and it gives some suggi^stions and thoughts arising therefrom'. 

 It is followed by an obituary notice of Dr George Busk, which I happen to 

 know was written by Galton himself*. Among other matters he refers to 

 the anthropological collections recently established in London and Oxford, 

 to the projected Imperial Institute and to the foundation of the International 



' ifetiiories, p. 214. Some experiments undertaken at Marlborough and reported by Mey- 

 rick and Eve {Marlboroiujh College Natural Ilistory Society, 1889) seem to mo very wide 

 of the point. The actual anthropometric measurements were place<l liefore eleven master^ 

 who wvre a8ke<l to mark thorn according to their own arbitrary opinion liaving regard to tin 

 Imivk' ages. Probably none of those masters ha<l any idea of the variations of and the correla- 

 tions between the measurements; it is hardly likely that they had the physiological or medical 

 knowledge adequate for aj)preciating the relative values of the tests, nor any idea of how tin' 

 individual b<jys would rank in a population of a like class. The conclusion that "there is pro- 

 bably greater vagueness in this examination than in most school examinations" was probably 

 perfectly correct as applied to an examination for physical fitness conducU^ in such a manner. 



' The fieport of the Council for 1888 contains the words : "Mr Francis Galton's second term 

 of office, as President, has now expired, and the Council desires to put on record its sense of 

 the valuable services which he has rendered to the Institute and to the cause of Anthroi>ological 

 Science in general, during the past four years. The many ways in which Mr Galton has promoted 

 the interents of the Institute demand, in an exceptional manner, the grateful acknowledgment 

 of the memlxsrs." Jouriuil of the AnthropologiaU Institute, Vol. xvui, p. 400. 



* Journal of lltf. Ant/iropoloijical Inntilute, Vol. xvi, pp. .'J87-402. 



* (iaiton wrote a consiilerable number of notices of dead friends, Spottiswoixio, Mariann' 

 North, Herbert Spencer and George Busk, among others. They are graceful tributes to In 

 friends' work. 



