80 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 24. 



the pvactical purpose of their author is im- 

 pressed upon us more clearly than ever. Mr. 

 Galton means to introduce to our notice new 

 aspects of the study of human character. He 

 wishes to make this stud}' more exact and sci- 

 entific by founding it upon detailed investiga- 

 tions of facts previousl}' neglected ; and he 

 proposes to offer the results as useful for a 

 future science or art of eugenics, which shall 

 teach the human race how to breed so that its 

 best stock shall be preserved and improved, and 

 its worst stock gradually eliminated. This 

 seeminglj' Utopian end is to be graduallj' ap- 

 proached bj- the formation of a public senti- 

 ment that shall encourage a new sort of family' 

 pride and exclusiveness ; namely, when eu- 

 genic science has taught us what are the most 

 useful human qualities, what their accompanj'- 

 ing marks, what qualities are best transmitted 

 to posteritj', and what are the conditions that 

 favor such transmission, then people otherwise 

 not known to fame will be able, by a proper 

 studj- of their family histor}*, to discover their 

 inherited wealth of valuable qualities, and their 

 resulting eugenic rank ; and such persons will 

 be respected bj' an enlightened pubhc accord- 

 ing to their rank. People who rank high in 

 the eugenic scale will be unwilling to contam- 

 inate their stock by unions with persons much 

 lower in the scale, and their feelings in this 

 matter will be appreciated. Thus marriages 

 will become less blind, and civilization will 

 progress faster. 



That Mr. Galton's researches will be of 

 much immediate use to young people about to 

 marrj', no truthful reviewer can promise ; but 

 to the psychologist, at least, thej'' are in their 

 present condition both attractive and useful ; 

 and, for the rest, it is much for Mr. Galton 

 merel}^ to have suggested, more definitely' than 

 Plato was able to do, that there ought to be, 

 and some day maj* be, a real art of eugenics, 

 which may be of practical importance for man- 

 kind. Just 3"et, neither Mr. Galton nor anj' 

 one else can hope to do much more than to 

 insist that the best parents ma}' be expected 

 to produce the best children ; but there are 

 manj' ways of insisting. Mr. Galton's most 

 important contribution to this practical aspect 

 of the subject lies in the facts that he has col- 

 lected to give new importance to the matter 

 b}" proving the vast predominance in ordinarj' 

 cases of the influences of nature over those of 

 nurture. Nature means for Mr. Galton the 

 sum of all the inherited qualities of the indi- 

 vidual, while nurture stands for the educating 

 influences of the environment. In case of 

 twins, Mr. Galton collects facts to show that 



in one strong!}' marked class of such ))ersons 

 the resemblance between the twins is A'ery 

 strong from the outset, and then often extends 

 through life to the smallest possible matters of 

 physical and mental condition, even when the 

 twins live far apart. But in other cases, which 

 form a second equally marked class, the twins, 

 contrasting somewhat strongly from the outset, 

 never are brought nearer to likeness, notwith- 

 standing all the similarity of the circumstances 

 of their nurture and training. Thus, when the 

 physiological conditions of their origin give 

 them like nature, difference of nurture does 

 not prevent very striking similarity throughout 

 life ; while, where the conditions of origin favor 

 unlikeness, likeness of nurture goes but a little 

 way to overcome the contrast. A similar result 

 is indicated, according to Mr. Galton, by our 

 experience with races of animals, some of 

 which seem by nature disposed to domestica- 

 tion, while the stubborn nature of others resists 

 the advantages of any nurture, so that they 

 remain wild, however much we may try to 

 tame them. From whatever side, then, the 

 matter is viewed, nature seems superior in 

 its persistence to the forces of nurture that 

 opposed this persistence ; and, if we want 

 human stock to grow better through volun- 

 tary effort, we must undertake to study and 

 improve pre-natal and ancestral influences yet 

 more than we try to better the influences of 

 education. 



This, then, is Mr. Galton's most significant 

 practical result. His researches upon various 

 problems of the science of character, that have 

 not yet been long enough studied to have much 

 immediate practical significance, cannot easily 

 be summed up in one short notice. The psy- 

 chologist is most interested in his researches on 

 mental imagery and on association of ideas. 

 Mr. Galton is of the opinion that introspec- 

 tion can be made a more exact science than 

 psychologists have previously found it. And 

 so, indeed, it can be, no doubt, at least when it 

 is limited to the lowest orders of mental facts. 

 Here introspection is greatly aided by plain 

 and simple questions. Ask a man to tell you all 

 he can about what now goes on in his mind, and 

 he will answer as wildly as you could wish ; 

 but ask him to call up in mind the picture of 

 his hat or of his house, or to tell you whether in 

 some concrete instance he can vividl}' remem- 

 ber musical harmony as distinct from melody, 

 and most honest men can then answer intelli- 

 gibly and usefully. It is Mr. Galton's ser- 

 vice to have shown how much can be done by 

 thus systematizing and simplifying the method 

 of introspection, so that people who are 



