An Attempt to correct some of the Mis-state- 

 ments made by Sir Victor Horsley, P.RS., 

 F.R.C.S,, and Mary D. Sttirge, M.D,, in 

 their Criticisms of the Galton Laboratory 

 Memoir : 'A First Study of the hifluence 

 of Parental A Icoholisjn, &c' 



Dove si grida, non evera scientia. — Leonardo da Vinci. 



It is not possible to correct the whole of the mis- 

 statements and misunderstandings with regard to the 

 Galton Laboratory memoir exhibited in the recent papers 

 by Sir Victor Horsley and Dr. Sturge ; my time is much 

 better occupied. It must suffice here — and even this will 

 take considerable space — to illustrate the nature of these 

 authors' criticisms and the character of the phrases and 

 assertions which they confidently attribute to the Galton 

 Laboratory staff. In order to do this effectively it is need- 

 ful to place before the reader again the exact scope of the 

 Galton Laboratory memoir, and indicate the perversions of 

 that scope and of our very words that Sir Victor and 

 Dr. Sturge have not once, but many times repeated. The 

 scope of that memoir was distinctly stated in the paper itself, 

 namely to ascertain within the limits of our data, whether the 

 alcoholism of the parents had a marked influence on the 

 mentality and physique of the offspring as children. Now 

 there are two points here to be considered : (i) the definition 

 used by us of alcoholism, and (ii) the limitation of the inquiry 

 to the effect on the offspring as children. Sir Victor Horsley 

 and Dr. Sturge tells us that the correct title of our memoir 

 ought to have been * Children of School Age '. We did 



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