Characterisation, especially by Letters 515 



42, Rutland Gate, 8.W. October 27, 1899. 



Dear Professor K. Pearson, Sir H. Roscoe told rue last night that Miss Alice Lee had 

 got her degree. The mathematicians were however troublesome. 



In your paper the wording of the most interesting experiment with the poppy capsules seems 

 to me obscure. I am not sure that I even now understand it correctly. I have pencilled 

 "obscure" on p. 33. Would it not be well to use some totally different word for the phrase net 

 fertility! The word "zygote," though a direct derivative from the strict sense of conjugation, 

 seems to me unhappy. I have been seeking for occasion to protest against its use by 

 Sedgwick in his British Association address. To speak like St Athanasius might have 

 done, a yoke divides the persons and does not confound their substance ; it applies to 

 the stage when the spermatozoon approaches the ovum that is pouting to receive it, 

 but not to the stage in which the nuclei of the two have become fused together, and 

 which is that which it is desired to express. I have a parental weakness for my old 

 word "stirp." 



Enclosed I send a copy of my little British Association paper, just received, which may 

 amuse you. Very faithfully yours, Francis Galton. 



G 



Hotel Karnak, Luxor, Egypt. December 15, 1899. 



Dearest Emma and Bessy, Your letters have come like the wind and have just reached 

 me. I sent a provisional post-card yesterday and now send a proper letter. Particulars of Lord 

 Methuen's serious repulse and heavy losses have just come here, not names of officers, only the 

 numbers of them. He seems to have been out-generalled, and in other battles also the Boers 

 seem to have shown more generalship than we have done. The Army is doing its best and we 

 can't expect more. It is very very sad; inadequate intelligence of what the power of the Boers 

 really was, and much else. May this terrible experience lead to good. I am glad that Lord 

 Kelvin wrote his letter to the Times. It exactly allots due share to all concerned and emphasises 

 what had already been expressed elsewhere. I am so sorry that Leonard Darwin failed in 

 getting into the London County Council. Lucy* must be very pleased at her prize and com- 

 mendations. How unlucky both she and you too, Bessy, have been with colds. As to the prize- 

 winning cat, on this the third occasion congratulations are effete, so I send a reminder of the 

 serious aspect of cat life. Cats must die. When they died in Egypt, at all events at Denderah, 

 they wen- mummied with reverence; so were dogs. I was at Denderah (D on map) three days 

 ago, and there picked up the mummied leg of a dog, but it might have been that of a cat, and cut 

 off a scrap of the mummy cloth, which I enclose. It might be put between 

 two bits of glass gummed round the edges. The map and pictures, which 

 I enclose, will explain. Our vessel, the " Mayflower," is very like the " Puritan," 

 there represented. It is comfortable having a big vessel with plenty of 

 attendance all to oneself. 



Some of the people, indeed most of them, are nice or fairly nice. To-day 

 we had an excursion of seven hours including about 14 miles of donkey ride. 

 I was lucky in beast and in saddle, and enjoyed it as much as any horse ride 

 that I can recollect. The wonders are just unspeakable. All I can venture 

 to say in addition to guide books is that the clearings of the very few last years have added 

 immensely to what was to be seen before, especially to the many bright-coloured wall paintings 

 and hieroglyphics. The unearthed bases of many columns have made them much more stately. 



The only drawback here is that we are aloof from the natives. In a dahabieh one lived 

 among them. On the other hand the convenience of river steaming is great. We start for 

 nan to-morrow and get there in two days. Then wait four days there for a little steamer that 

 between the 1st and 2nd cataracts, and ultimately return here to Luxor on Jan. 1. Then 

 we go to Petrie for a week or so, and then return to Luxor for a stay of at least a week, probably 

 more. I have made friends with a geographical Pasha, who promises to introduce me to people 

 when we return to Cairo. You shall of course hear from time to time. It is rapidly growing 

 dark, so I must stop. With all loves, ever affectionately, Francis Galton. 



* Galton's niece, his sister Bessy's daughter, Mrs Studdy. 



86—2 



tlzi& gije 



