478 Life and Letters of Francis Galton 



till November. He is the author of a most thoughtful book called the Logic of Chance which 

 young statisticians ought to read, for it explains what statistics cannot as well as can do, in a 

 m tv masterly way. The third edition is just out. If you happened to think of any logically 

 disposed reviewer it would be worth while suggesting this book to him as well deserving notice. 



I was very pleased to read how much Charles Darwin valued and profited by your labours 

 and views — What an immensity of work in science has been performed in the last 50 years ! 

 It must be an endless pleasure to yourself to look back upon your own large contribution to 

 it. It will be very curious to watch the results obtained from your questions circulated by the 

 Societe de 1'sychologie physiologique, and the way in which the veracity of the answers may be 

 tested. I have myself lately had a batch of rather disappointing replies to questions circulated 

 among teachers in schools of all grades, concerning the signs and warnings of mental fatigue. 

 There was great absence of skilful self-analysis and of suggestion, and not a few transparent indica- 

 tions of exaggeration here and of suppression there. I was hearing the other day from a par- 

 ticularly trustworthy source, a list of unveracities of one of our own men of science, formerly one 

 of the leaders of science, but whom I must not indicate further. The general facts and many 

 particulars I had long known, but was surprised to learn how much more there was that I had not 

 known. It is strange that a man who had so little care for truth could succeed in science at 

 all. It is a most painful case of psychological interest and made me think how painfully it 

 would have interested you when writing that paragraph on the general veracity of men of 

 science in your XlXme Steele. 



I had a pleasant summer last year in Eastern Switzerland, etc., but in the autumn fell sud- 

 denly ill with a most severe gastric attack at Lugano and was got home somehow in a wagon-lit. 

 Then I fell ill again in another way with violent catarrh, then again in a third way with 

 inflammation of the csecum, and lastly in a fourth way with severe bronchitis. In short I had 

 four separate severe illnesses within five months. I suspect there was some microbic poison at 

 the bottom of it. However I am clear of all illness just now. 



I was grieved to see the black-edged paper of your letter, and beg of you to accept my 

 sympathy. I shall deem myself very fortunate if the next time that I pass through Geneva 

 I shall have the great pleasure of finding you at home and inclined for a half hour's conversation. 



Very faithfully yours, Francis Galton. 



Geneve. 28 mai, 1888. 



Mon cher Monsieur, Je regrette d'apprendre par votre lettre du 8 mai que vous avez ete 

 si longtemps malade, mais heureusement vous ajoutez que maintenant votre sante est retablie. 

 Quant a moi les fatigues et le chagrin causes par la maladie et la mort de ma femmo out singu- 

 lierement affaibli mes facultes morales pendant que l'oui'e, la vue et la memoire diminuaient par 

 un eff'et naturel de l'age. J'ai perdu mon ancienne activite et ma confiance dans le resultat 

 possible des recherches. II faut prendre mon parti de la retraite et me souvenir qu'ayant commence 

 a publier en 1824, ma carriere scientifique n'a pas dure moins de 64 ans. Mon ancien gout pour 

 la statistique persiste encore, au moins lorsqu'il s'agit de suivre de bons travaux faits par 

 d'autres. 



C'est done avec plaisir que j'ai lu votre analyse des recherches du Dr Venn sur la tete des 

 (■tudiants de Cambridge. II y a bien des comparaisons probantes a faire sur des jeunes gens de 

 memos conditions, ages, etc., qui se conduisent diversement a l'universite. Par exemple, comparez 

 les fumeurs intrepides, fumeurs mediocres et non fumeurs, au double point de vue des succes 

 intellectuels et des succes dans les exercices du corps. L'antagonisme entre les aptitudes intel- 

 lectuelles et corporelles, si bien connu des Anciens, ressortirait sans doute d'une eomparaison 

 statistique dans les ecoles. 



A propos d'exercices, je vous recommande un volume qui vient do paraitre dans la collection 

 internationale d'Alcan (autrefois Alglave) a Paris. C'est Dr F. Lagrange: Physiologic des 

 exercices du corps. 1 vol. in 8", Paris, 1888. Prix 6 Jr. L'auteur traite la physiologie des muscles, 

 nerfs etc., d'une manicre trcs savante et vraie, ii ce qu'il me parait, et j'ai remarque une definition 

 dont on ne parle pas encore, c'est que certains exercices fatiguent a, la fois la tete et le corps 

 tandis que d'autres reposent le cerveau tout en employant les muscles. Par consequent les 

 premiers (escrime par exemple) contribuent au surmenage dont on se plaint dans les ecoles, 

 tandis que les autres (la marche par exemple) n'ont aucun inconvenient et oft'rent beaucoup 

 d'avantages physiques. II faut recommander les exercices qui exigent une tension d'esprit aux 



