Eugenics as a Creed and the Last Decade of Galton's Life 291 



Jan. 1897, Bateson, Godman, Heape, Lankester, Maxwell, Masters, Salvin, were elected 

 members, and Bateson attended. 



Feb. 26 (clearly of the same year, from the above facts) when Bateson, etc. were present, it 

 was resolved to ask that the objects of the Ottee should include "accurate investigation of 

 Variation, Heredity, Selection and other phenomena relating to Evolution." In this year it 

 was briefly called (?for the first time) the "Evolution Cttee." 



June 15, 1899, the question was raised "whether the Cttee ought not to cease to exist." 



Nov. 29, 1899, Discussed and read a letter (about to be sent?) from me to the Sec. R. Soc. 

 expressing my view "that the Cttee would not serve any useful purpose by continuing to exist," 

 but asking reappointment for one year. 



Jan. 25, 1900, Dyer, Meldola, Pearson, Weldon and I all resigned. (The Cttee still lingers 

 on and meets about once a year.) 



There is no indication of any previous Cttee for this or any allied purpose, but Weldon had 

 many grants, personally, for his shrimp experiments, etc. Neither was there any break in the 

 continuity of the Evolution Cttee. 



I quite see your difficulty about the history of proceedings connected with Huxley and the 

 University of London, — how to satisfy the reader and yet not be too explicit on painful 

 subjects. 



The allusions to the poem (which I return with Weldon's letters) are not understood by 

 me. I do not even yet recall who "Macrobius" was — (not a Macrobe, the inverse of a "Microbe"!). 



I still think that I must have a lot of Evolution Cttee correspondence someivhere in my 

 cupboards, etc. If I can find anything worth sending you shall have it, of course. 



Affectionately yours, Francis Galton. 



7, Well Road, Hampstead, N.W. Oct. 22, 1906. 



My dear Francis Galton, I am rather distressed that I have heard no more of you. 

 I trust no news is good news and that with mild weather you have had a quick recover}*. Please 

 let me have a line as to your locus and "status." 



I still want to talk to you about many things of which it is almost impossible to write. 

 Item. The Weldon Medal and Premium. This now amounts to £870, but I have endeavoured 

 to adopt your original wishes as to the conditions. As I understood them, they involved : (i) The 

 institution of a biennial prize and medal— not for an essay ad hoc, but for some piece of published 

 work during the previous four years, which forms an advance in biometry, (ii) That the prize 

 should not be confined to any one nation or men of any one university, (iii) That the paper 

 must consist (a) of the application of statistical theory to the study of special problems in 

 Zoology, Botany, Anthropology, Sociology or Medicine, or (6) of such extensions of statistical 

 methods as may be of value in such investigations. These are in general terms what I have 

 put before the Hebdomadal Council and that body will discuss the point to-day. I think the 

 perfect openness of the medal and premium is what Weldon himself would have wished. It would 

 hardly be possible to find a fitting man every two years in Oxford itself. If Oxford finds it 

 impossible to give prizes outside its own body, it will be best, will it not, to try London 1 



I have been somewhat surprised to hear from Schuster that he was resigning the Eugenics 

 Fellowship immediately. I wrote at once to him, saying I was sorry to hear it, and feel that 

 lie would have done better to talk it over with you first. At the same time, I think I see his 

 position, he feels that his work, which he very frankly says is limited to certain directions, 

 is not on the lines you want. I think what he has recently done on inheritance of mental 

 characters is very good, but it will not attract much attention, and much popular attention is 

 going in the next few years to be attracted to Eugenics. The difficulty will be to get a man 

 who is really sound and yet can catch the popular ear. I don't know where to find the right 

 man for you, although men who will do good bits of work, if one suggests them, are always 

 forthcoming. I hope you won't be worried about it all.... 



Affectionately yours, Karl Pearson. 



The death of Weldon was a terrible disaster to Francis Galton and his 

 biographer, but while equally felt by both, the effects of the shock were more 



37—2 



