628 Life and Letters of Francis Galton 



beads. First, that the general show was just what he had expected; secondly, that a crowd 

 of men was a nasty object, like flies on a plate ; thirdly, that he would never go again. However 

 I was assured that he did, and that in the very next year. 



I thought him a man of naturally a very strong constitution, ruined by over-work. When 

 about to utter remarks he was apt to clear his throat by a deep " hem," that testified to 

 a powerful chest. His natural strength is shown by the account in his autobiography of his 

 extraordinary walk, when a boy of 13, while he was half-starved, of more than 40 miles the 

 first day, 40 the second and 20 the third, to his destination. 



The mental process I most admired in him was that by which he generalised. It is too 

 common for persons to arrive at general conclusions through unconscious and unchecked steps, 

 so that when asked for evidence they cannot give it. Spencer had always a store of facts at 

 hand whenever he wished to justify himself. His wealth of ready illustration was marvellous. 

 Notwithstanding my admiration of his intellect and my sense of incompetence to treat subjects 

 in the wide manner that he did so easily, I cannot say that I have profited much by his 

 writings or taken pleasure in them. I rarely felt "forwarder" for reading them, least so in 

 subjects with which I was familiar and where I felt somewhat entitled to criticise his results. 

 I am far from being singular in saying this, as few of those with whom I have talked seem to 

 admire his work whole-heartedly, and I have often expressed a wonder how far their non- 

 appreciation would be justified by the judgment of posterity. 



Note top. 585, Chapter XVII. 



Galton had sent Miss Elderton a ticket for a meeting at which sex- 

 problems were discussed under the presidency of Dr Slaughter. The meeting 

 was not, as Galton supposed, held under the auspices of the Eugenics 

 Education Society. The exact origin of the latter Society is somewhat 

 obscure. We have Galton's letter to Montague Crackanthorpe of December 16, 



1906 (see Vol. iii a , p. 339), but we do not know what part the latter took 

 in the matter until the spring of 1908. Meanwhile there existed in or before 



1907 a body termed the "Moral Education League." At a meeting held on 

 November 15, 1907, a section of this League reconstituted itself as a new 

 Society — the " Eugenics Education Society." Members of the Committee of 

 the League resigned their posts to become members of the Council of the 

 new Society. Dr Slaughter was the first Chairman of this Council, and the 

 guiding spirit of the infant Society during the early days of its existence. 

 Galton did not join the Society until its practical control had passed into 

 the hands of Montague Crackanthorpe, which was the state of affairs by 

 June, 1908 (see Vol. m A , p. 346). 



Note to p. 618, Chapter XVII. 



Plenty of illustrations can be given of Galton's good temper and sense 

 of humour. He used to write in a minute diary l""5 x l //- 7 a brief record of 

 events in the smallest of handwritings ; some of these diaries have survived. 

 Thus the entry for Easter Sunday in Seville, 1899, runs: "Cocks, Bulls, and 

 Fire," which signifies a cockfight before breakfast, a bullfight in the afternoon 

 and his niece Eva setting her room on fire while dressing for dinner in the 

 evening. For the latter occurrence he had to pay eight guineas, and yet, 

 Mrs Ellis tells me, he never said a word in reproof: see p. 508. 



