To2 THE TREND OF THE RACE 
written in collaboration with Edgar Schuster, the first Galton 
Research Fellow in Eugenics in the University of London. Ma- 
terial for the Noteworthy Families was obtained from answers to 
circulars sent to all of the Fellows of the Royal Society whose 
names appeared in the Year Book for 1904. Replies were re- 
ceived from 207 of the 467 addressed, and as over half of these 
were incomplete in regard to several members of the family, the 
inquiry was limited to 100 of the most complete records. 
Probably a better selection could not be made for the purpose 
of studying the inheritance of ability. The Fellows of the Royal 
Society are very carefully chosen by the Council of that society on 
the basis solely of distinguished achievement. Political influence, 
financial status, or the many other aids which sometimes place 
men of mediocre talents in positions of prominence have practi- 
cally no weight in the choice of a man for the honor of a F.R.S. 
An inspection of the list of families with their imposing array of 
great names can scarcely fail to convince any one that they 
represent an aristocracy of ability of the most noteworthy kind. 
The first family on the list, the Balfours, includes: 
(1) Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister, 1902, President of the British 
Association, 1904, noted statesman and author. 
(2) Francis M. Balfour, F. R. S., his brother, Professor of Animal 
Morphology at Cambridge, brilliant investigator in Embryology, 
and generally regarded as one of the most able and promising of 
English biologists at the time of his early death. 
(3) The Right Hon. Gerald W. Balfour, P. C., Fellow of Trinity Col- 
lege, Cambridge, and president of the Board of Trade, in 1902. 
(4) Eleanor M. Balfour (Mrs. Henry Sidgwick), Principal of Newn- 
ham College, Cambridge. 
(5) Evelyn, wife of Lord Rayleigh, F. R. S.,and mother of Robert J. 
Strutt F. R. S. 
(6) The Marquis of Salisbury, K. G., P. C., F. R. S., Prime Minister, 
Chancellor of the University of Oxford, president of the British 
Association, statesman and essayist. 
Surely environment does not explain the distinction of a family 
like this, or of many others in Galton’s list. The appendix of the 
