542 Life and Letters of Francis GaUan 



Well, she was two years at a home for the feeble-minded, and explained to me the careful loving 

 way in which the lady nurses inform themselves of the patients' family history — and their 

 wide-awake scientific knowledge too. She promises to send me information, and I rely much 

 on her. If you see your way to act on the lines mentioned in my letter to Miss Kirby, it seems 

 quite possible that you might do a really big and useful thing, that would be your cheval de 

 bataille on which to win the approval of the London University. You will have zealous women 

 to work with, and the aid of women who are zealous (and wisely directed) is invaluable. Think 

 well of this. 



The refusal of the Life Medical Officers Association seems to finally extinguish our hopes in 

 that direction. Dr Urquhart opens other fields. Don't merge your work in Dr Mott's. If he 

 is working hard in his own province, be chary of trespassing. 



Mr Eichholz is a first-rate man. I mentioned him to you as having given by far the best 

 evidence before the Physical Deterioration Committee. By all means cultivate his acquaintance 

 and seek his help. The Jews are a singularly well looked after body. I have seen a little of 

 their organisation and know how thorough it is. Very faithfully yours, Francis Galton. 



March 31, 1905. On and after April 10 to May 1, we shall be at Villa Stratta, Bordighera. 



My dear Weldon*, Your photos sent to Miss Biggs are wonderful. I wish you had 

 brighter and warmer weather. We have lots of sunshine but of course nothing of historical 

 grandeur. Yon have justly convicted me of gross geographical error. Another, one is liable 

 to make, is to suppose Dover to lie nearly south of London. "Humanum est errare" and I feel 

 at times very human in that respect. 



Your mice give an unending problem. It is grand to have five generations. I don't believe 

 anybody would have appreciated your work more than Mendel himself had he been alive. Dear 

 old man; my heart always warms at the thought of him, so painstaking, so unappreciated, so 

 scientifically solitary in his monastery. And his face is so nice. — I can't give you any useful 

 hints. I wish I could. I am just a learner, and bad at that now. During the last week or fort- 

 night I have been busy with my "Measurement of Resemblance," and am getting it into Royal 

 Society paper state. It comes out all right. The only question with me is whether to wait, or 

 to give it only in a theoretically complete form. In the first case, 1 should illustrate it photo- 

 graphically and provide apparatus to show ; but I feel I have not power now to do such things 

 properly, so I shall probably content myself with the theory for the present, and give minor illus- 

 trations. — Schuster seems eager and thorough. He has had a week or so of old work on skulls 

 to revise arithmetically, but he has done that. He has useful relations too, whom he can get to 

 give some help. There is quite a large, vacant, and promising field of work, anent the "feeble- 

 minded." Very capable and enthusiastic ladies work up the family histories and are anxious 

 to be of use. With a little intelligent direction they ought to be of much use. We shall see. 



The sensation of the Riviera is the motor-boat competition. The boats will all arrive at 

 Monaco to-morrow, and the show and races are to go on for more than a week. On April 10th 

 we change our quarters, having rented Villa Stratta, Bordighera, till May 1st, and then home. 

 Kindest remembrances to Mrs Weldon. Ever yours, Francis Galton. 



Villa Stratta, Bordighera. Easter Sunday, 1905. But post nothing here later than 

 Thursday next, April 27. 



Dearest Milly, All things come to an end, Riviera residence included. We leave next 

 Monday morning, with many regrets, but still desirous of change. All visitors feel the air less 

 good about this time, and begin to go. We propose to return leisurely; it is difficult to fix by 

 which way, on account of Italian railway strikes. Your May 22nd ought to be a charming 

 time for Brittany, if not still too cold. It is a land unknown to me, which I keep as a preserve 

 to go to, some future day. I do not realise yet where Parame isf. I happen to know a good deal 



* I much regret the paucity of Galton's letters to Weldon. I have all Weldon's letters to 

 Galton, but few of his letters to Weldon have survived, and those only by being mislaid, for 

 Weldon systematically destroyed all the letters he received. I doubt the legitimacy, or at any 

 rate the wisdom, of such destruction, especially in the case of men as noteworthy as Galton 

 and Huxley. 



■j" On the coast slightly east of St Malo. 



