14 FRANCIS GALTON 



tion is not out of harmony with the genius of this 

 great and loveable man. 



I should Hke to express my appreciation of the 

 honour done me in asking me to give the first 

 Galton lecture. In many ways I am a bad choice, 

 since I have had no share in his science of eugenics, 

 neither has my research-work been directly con- 

 nected with evolution. I can only hope that in 

 consideration of my dehght in the fibre and flavour 

 of Galton 's mind, with its youth, its charm of 

 humour, and its ever-springing originality and 

 acuteness, — I say that I hope these considerations 

 may excuse me for having undertaken an office for 

 which I am in so many ways unfitted. 



One of his most obvious characteristics was 

 his love of method. I do not mean methodicalness, 

 but that he took delight in knowing how to do all 

 manner of things in the very best way. He also 

 liked to teach his methods to others. Those who 

 never saw him, or even read his books, will exclaim, 

 "What a bore he must have been." One might as 

 well call the lightning a bore for explaining that the 

 thunder was coming, or complain of the match for 

 boring the gunpowder as to the proper way of 

 exploding. With Galton 's explanations there was 

 a flash of clear words, a delightful smile or gesture, 

 which seemed to say : "That's all — don't let me 

 take up your time." Nobody was ever more 

 decidedly the very antithesis of a bore than Francis 

 Galton. 



He first appeared on the literary and scientific 

 stage as a traveller, geographer, and author of a 

 book on South Africa (1853), and it was the experi- 



