Eugenics as a Creed and the Last Decade of Galton's Life 335 



It is good news that you have taken " Moorcroft " for Easter. It will tempt me to stay 

 on longer here than I had in my mind. I am glad the Eugenics Education Society's meeting 

 was hopeful. Crichton-Browne may make a useful president, but lie has many irons in the fire. 

 However it is all in his way, and if he is hopeful about it, he will throw energy in. I wish 

 I could see your show at the University College soiree. My book is nearly finished in draft, and 

 is typed, but much has yet to be done to it, in verificating [sic] and the like, which will bo 

 troublesome. May you have a healthy relief from your excessive work here in Hindhead ! 



Affectionately yours, Francis Galton. 



Quedley, Haslemere. March 16, 1908. 



My dear Karl Pearson, In reply to your card asking me for something to exhibit at 

 tin' (J.C. soiree, I have thought of an effective, yet somewhat absurd thing. But I have failed 

 to got it. It is a Punch cartoon, published I fancy in the early '70's, of a weedy nobleman 

 addressing his prize bull : 



Nobleman — By Jove, you are a fine fellow ! 



Bull — So you would have been, my Lord, if they had taken as much pains about your ancestors, as you did 

 about mine. 



I wrote to Punch to make inquiries, but they have not succeeded in identifying the picture. 

 It would have been a capital thing to frame and to let lie among other exhibits. I should have 

 been much disposed towards utilising it in some way farther on my own account. I cannot 

 think of anything else suitable. Your Tables of the Coefficients of Hereditary Resemblance 

 ought to be shown somewhere. A model of the old kind but differently arranged, like this 

 perhaps, would be effective. [Here is inserted a rough drawing of a geniometer without figures 

 (see our p. 30 and Plate I) working by aid of a lever to indicate the average regression of 

 an individual on various ancestors.] Heron might devise one, say 2 ft. high, to stand on the 

 table, and to be worked there and explained. If so, it ought to be rough. People would under- 

 stand it quicker. 



I am reading J. Arthur Thomson's new book on Heredity. The first part seems forcible 

 and good. I had no idea that there was so much to be said about Acquired Faculties. I am 

 curious to get on with it, but am obliged to be slow, and am now just at Mendel. By the way 

 I find that I had the honour of being born in the same year, 1822, as he was. All goes on well 

 here. I trust that " Moorcroft" will be a great success and no "April 1st" venture. 



Ever affectionately, Francis Galton. 



7, Well Road, Hampstead, N.W. March 26, 1908. 



My dear Francis Galton, I am hoping to see you so soon that I should not write, were 

 it not to tell you that I may be rather later in coming to Haslemere than I intended, and 

 somewhat more inclined to be discontented. My youngest child has got whooping cough, so our 

 party must be broken up. My Wife stays to look after her, and my Sisters-in-law come down 

 with two of my children on Saturday to Moorcroft. I hope to get down early next week. 

 I shall stay here as long as my Wife will allow, as I am not very easy about my bairn. She 

 does not take these sort of things lightly, and I dislike whooping cough more than most diseases 

 for its sequelae. 



We have had a busy day, or rather three days. Lord Rosebery — the Chancellor — came 

 to open the new wing to-day and walked round our new rooms. I showed him our skulls and 

 the Eugenics Laboratory. He said : " Now how do you pronounce that word 1 I shall call it 

 Eughennics," i.e with a hard g and a short e. And so he did in his speech afterwards ! Then 

 to lead him back to his past I showed him hair from mane, tail and flanks of nearly 100 

 chestnut horses. But he looked solemn and said : " Ah, Mr Gladstone had a great interest in 

 chestnut horses, owing to the coloration of the Homeric steeds." In his speech later he paid 

 you and your Laboratory quite a pretty compliment. We had many guests, but whether there 

 were any worth showing things to is another question. 



You would see that has been convicted of an indecent assault. The whole thing is so 



improbable, and sounds so impossible that we must wait for the appeal. But it must at present 

 be a bad blow for the Eugenics Education Society. He was giving six lectures on Eugenics ! 

 Luckily that word has not been mentioned and I hope may not be, and I can't think this 



