Characterisation^ especially by Letters 555 



Enclosed. " Extension of the Nomenclature of Kinship." The method I adopted in your 

 columns, August 11, 1904, of briefly expressing kinship has proved most convenient; it lias 

 been used in a forthcoming volume by Mr E. Schuster and myself on Noteworthy Families. 

 I write now to show that it admits of being particularised by the use of foot-figures, as in the 

 following example, which refers to the more highly placed relatives of the newly elected King 

 of Norway. 



Haakon VII, King of Norway (b. 1872). 



Frederick, Crown Prince of Denmark (b. 1843). 



Christian IX, King of Denmark (b. 1818). 



George I, King of the Hellenes (b. 1845). 



Dagmar, widow of Alexander III, Tsar of Russia, who d. 1894. 



Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia (b. 1868). 



Alexandra, Queen of England (b. 1844). 



George, Prince of Wales (b. 1865). 



also wife, Princess Maud (b. 1869) of England. 



The formulae are to be read thus: "His (the King of Norway's) father is the 1st (eldest) son, 

 and is Frederick, Crown Prince of Denmark"; "his (the K. of Norway's) father's father is 

 Christian IX"; ... "his father's 2nd sister's 1st son is Nicholas II"; ... "his father's 1st sister's 

 3rd daughter, who is also his (the K. of Norway's) wife, is the Princess Maud." These foot- 

 figures need not interfere with the simplicity of the general effect, while they enable a great 

 deal of additional information to be included. Francis Galton. Nature, December 14, 1905. 



HOTEL d'Angleterre, Biarritz. December 17, 1905. 



Dearest Milly, All goes on here steadily and well, but it is mostly overcast and foggy 

 with only occasional sunny days, suitable for excursions to the battle-fields. It seems English 

 ground. We possessed it for 299 years (from 1100) and occupied it in 1813-14. How 

 Wellington's army did fight! His movements were so quick and sure. I see that one important 

 success was due to the then newly invented Congreve rockets. He got with difficulty and at 

 the close of a day a comparatively small body of his men across the Adour, upon whom a many- 

 fold larger body of French swooped down from Bayonne. Each English soldier had two rockets 

 in his knapsack and others in store. They launched these against the French, who had never 

 seen the like before, and who were seized with panic and ran back. I find I was wrong in 

 saying that bayonets got their name from Bayonne. It was from a neighbouring village, 

 Bayonnette. 



"Explain the relationship between (1) a gardener, (2)a billiard-player, (3) an actor, (4)a verger." 

 The gardener attends to his p's (peas), the billiard player to his q's (cues), the actor to his p's 

 and q's, and the verger to his keys and pews. If you want a short novel to read, try The lost 

 Napoleon, by Sir Gilbert Parker (who is here). How happy you must be with your housefull. 

 I suppose Amy's headache at the time you wrote is long since a thing of the past. The im- 

 pending dissolution has stopped for a time the publication of books, as Murray told me it 

 would some time ago. So I suppose mine is delayed for that reason. People are found to read 

 little else than newspapers at the time of General Elections, Eva is particularly well and 

 I ditto, with reasonable reservations due to getting older and less mobile by far. This is an 

 excellent place for carriages, but driving is usually too cold now to be pleasant. I want 

 vicarious exercise, like being tossed in a blanket (of course, not occasionally bumped on the 

 floor as in school-boy days). Some mechanism ought to be devised for shaking elderly people 

 in a healthful way, and in many directions*. Music might go on mechanically at the same time, 

 with its rhythms and shakes all in harmony. Excuse nonsense. With much love. 



Ever affectionately, Francis Galton. 



Hotel d'Angleterre, Biarritz. December 22, 1905. 



Dear Schuster, I am glad you wrote; the point raised requires careful consideration. 

 I had thought of it from time to time, and have done so more carefully now. The precise 



* Cf. Sir Alfred Yarrow's electrically-driven rocking or rolling bed ! 



70—2 



