Correlation and Application of Statistics to Problems of Heredity 101 



that the above historical facts throw upon it. Galton's tale of Sir Joseph 

 Banks and the young geologists was the parable which he provided in order 

 that he who runs might read. 



" Now that nearly a century has slipped past since the event, there can be no harm in 

 digging up and bringing to light a buried but amusing historical fact." 



Then follows the inner story of the foundation of the Geological Society. 

 " But," continues Galton, 



" it is not in the least my intention to insinuate that Biometry might be served by any modern 

 authority in so rough a fashion, but I offer the anecdote as forcible evidence that a new science 

 cannot depend on a welcome from the followers of old ones, and to confirm the former con- 

 clusion that it is advisable to establish a special Journal for Biometry." 



Speaking of those early difficulties of Biometry, Galton writes : 



" The new methods occupy an altogether higher plane than that in which ordinary statistics 

 and simple averages move and have their being. Unfortunately the ideas of which they treat, 

 and still more the technical phrases employed in them, are as yet unfamiliar. The arithmetic 

 they require is laborious, and the mathematical investigations on which the arithmetic rests 

 are difficult reading even for experts ; moreover they are voluminous in amount and still grow- 

 ing in bulk. Consequently this new departure in science makes its appearance under conditions 

 that are unfavourable to its speedy recognition, and those who labour in it must abide for some 

 time in patience before they can receive much sympathy from the outside world. It is astonish- 

 ing to witness how long a time may elapse before new ideas are correctly established in the 

 popular mind, however simple they may be in themselves. The slowness with which Darwin's 

 fundamental idea of natural selection became assimilated by scientists generally is a striking 

 example of the density of human wits. Now that it has grown to be a familiar phrase, it seems 

 impossible that difficulty should ever have been felt in taking in its meaning. But it was far 

 otherwise, for misunderstandings and misrepresentations among writers of all classes abounded 

 during many years and even at the present day occasional survivals of the early stage of non- 

 comprehension make an unexpected appearance. It is therefore important that the workers in 

 this new field who are scattered widely though many countries, should close their ranks for the 

 sake of mutual encouragement and support. They want an up-to-date knowledge of what has 

 been done and is doing in it. . . . 



" This Journal, it is hoped, will justify its existence by supplying these requirements either 

 directly or indirectly. I hope moreover that some means may be found, through its efforts, of 

 forming a manuscript library of original data. Experience has shown the advantage of 

 occasionally rediscussing statistical conclusions, by starting from the same documents as their 

 author. I have begun to think that no one ought to publish biometric results without lodging 

 a well arranged and well bound manuscript copy of all his data, in some place, where it should 

 be accessible under reasonable restrictions, to those who desire to verify his work. But this by 

 the way*. 



" There remains another urgent reason of a very practical kind for the establishment of this 

 Journal, namely that no periodical exists in which space could be allowed for the many biometric 

 memoirs that call for publication. Biometry has indeed many points in common with Mathe- 

 matics, Anthropology, Botany and Economic Statistics, but it falls only partially into each of 

 these. An editor of any special journal may well shrink from the idea of displacing matter 

 which he knows would interest his readers, in order to make room for communications that 

 could only interest or be even understood by a very few of them." (pp. 7-8.) 



Thus Galton in his eightieth year heartened his young lieutenants for 

 their task, and his words have been through some 28 years a guide to the 



* It is noteworthy that Galton's suggestion of a store of data (which has been provided in 

 the archives of the Galton Laboratory for all papers worked out there) has recently been 

 revived by Professor Julian Huxley, and suggestions made for storing measurements in the 

 British Museum (Natural History). 



