Galton

“ Galton is now a man of seventy, and it may not be uninteresting to review here his scientific work.
Two subjects perhaps have attracted his particular attention, Heredity and Identification. The former is dealt with in all his books, the latter in "Finger-Prints." Everywhere Mr. Galton is an anthropologist and a statistician. He reduces his results, wherever practicable, to mathematical form and statement. In "Hereditary Genius" he assumes that high reputation is a fairly accurate test of high ability (=genius) . From this assumption he proceeds to study certain groups of eminent men. ”

“ Galton—the Sir Francis does not come naturally—gives rather full details, as is becoming, of his parentage and early life. On both sides he was of quaker stock. He traces to inheritance his taste for science, for poetry and for statistics, and his endurance of physical fatigue. ”

“ No power in Heaven or Earth can ever confer upon us the right to create the unfit in order to hang them like millstones around the necks of the fit. The genius of Galton enabled him to see this clearly afresh and to indicate the reasonable path of human progress. ”

“ Galton Springle looked at the opening of this little paper from the corner of his eye and smiled to himself, for he saw that the contents were unknown to the young man. He made no observation, however, but calling for a candle, lighted his cigar and began to smoke. As he made no further offer of one to Arthur, the latter pocketed his roleau and leaned back against the wall, thinking over the past and hoping brightly for the future. ”

“ The Bishop raised his head and gave Mark absolution. When they came out of the sacristy he invited him to come up to his library and have a talk.
"I'm glad that you are going to Galton," he said, wagging his long neck over a crumpet. "I think you'll find your experience in such a parish extraordinarily useful at the beginning of your career. So many young men have an idea that the only way to serve God is to go immediately to a slum. You'll be much more discouraged at Galton than you can imagine. ”

“ Galton's successful remonstrances with Jonker had pacified the excited minds of our Damaras. It had inspired them with fresh confidence, and they no longer declined to accompany us. The worst of our Cape servants had been weeded out, and their places filled with useful and competent men. Our stud of draft-oxen, moreover, had been greatly increased, to say nothing of a large supply of live-stock. Matters thus once more looked bright and cheering, and we no longer hesitated to prosecute our journey. ”

“ Marjorie had insisted upon seeing her father alone, and she had worked it easily enough.
The Professor in his relief from the accursed emerald had fallen into a sprightly mood. He had compelled young Galton to take a second walk, and therein had bored the turfist to agonies; which only shows that God is just, and that we are punished in that by which we sinned; in Galton's case, the avenue. During that walk the crystallographist volubly explained his exciting experiences in the past as an amateur detective. ”

“ There was one obvious repository; an aged fool of that profession whose incompetence is stamped upon them; a native dupe. It should go into the pocket of his distinguished cousin, the Professor; it should pass into the unwitting possession of the expert on dodekahedral crystals. His mind thus decided, he was half at peace.
Lord Galton went down to breakfast. He found his host already at the table. ”

“ The chief result of it was an addition of about twenty oxen, and double that number of sheep and goats, to our live-stock. We were now pretty well provided against all emergences, at least for some time to come. Galton had, moreover, ascended the mountain, with which he expressed himself much struck and pleased. He fully corroborated the story of the natives as to its impregnability, for it was accessible only in one or two places, and these could easily be defended against a whole army by a mere handful of men. ”

“ The poor old man, embarrassed with his own thoughts, began with more circumlocution than explicitness, to relate the circumstances, and ended a most perplexed speech by abruptly informing Mrs. Galton of the proposal. "It is as I expected," calmly replied she. "Aye! aye!" exclaimed the delighted Baronet, "I knew if any one would guess it you would.—I should never have thought of it myself." "But have you given your consent, Sir Henry?" "Given my consent—Good Lord! what do you mean! Well to be sure, all the world's run mad to-day, I think! Why, bless my heart! ”

“ Galton forgets for the time being that there is an industrial class. He runs through the entire social scale, from “the judges of England between 1660 and 1865,” not omitting Lord Jeffreys, down through statesmen, commanders, literary men, poets, musicians, men of science, painters, divines, the boys in Cambridge, oarsmen, and wrestlers of the North Country, but has no word to say of the civil engineers, or of the inventors—those immortal men whose monuments in stone and iron exist in every corner of England. ”

“ The theory of Galton, that because the 316university-trained son of a distinguished man became distinguished, while the illiterate son of a burglar died unknown, ability is inherited, may have appealed powerfully to our ancestors, but to us it is symptomatic of that inability to reason which we think characterized the twentieth century. ”

“ Galton delighted in expatiating on the fine character of her dear Augustus, with whom she kept up a constant and confidential correspondence.
There were few characters so much respected by Lord Osselstone as that of Mrs. Galton. Candour and simplicity were the qualities of all others, which, by not calling forth from him the defensive armour of distrust and penetration, left his heart more open to the impressions of real worth. The Earl knew that on common subjects Mrs. Galton could have no interest in appearing to him other than she really was ”

“ This art she was in the daily habit of exercising towards all her associates; but to delude or flatter Mrs. Galton, Lady Eltondale always felt, was a task of no small difficulty. Her penetration and her modesty were both too great to be easily evaded; and her character was composed of such delicate tints, blended insensibly into so admirable a whole, that to bring forward only one part seemed to destroy that unity, which constituted its perfection. ”

“ The modern doctrine of the individual as the trustee of the germ-cells and of the non-transmission of acquired characters is Mr. Galton's. Mr. Galton himself does not question and never has questioned the possibility that alcohol may cause feeble-mindedness. There is no reason why he should. If we take the somewhat unusual course of consulting the words of the masters before we swear by them, we find—as has been shown—that Weismann, who subsequently stated and has so greatly supported Mr. Galton's view, has expressly repudiated the Commissioners' idea of his “theory.” ”

“ Galton's studies, although they deal largely with psychical phenomena, are made upon the basis of organic conditions and physical characteristics. The subject of composite portraiture, to which Mr. Galton has given much attention, and which, indeed, he has created as an important branch of investigation, is fully treated in this volume, the result of his latest methods being given and pictorially illustrated, while graphic and diagrammatic resources are extended to other subjects of inquiry. ”

“ On asking him one day whether he had any intention of again marrying, he replied in his strange patois, "No, maser; me no more marry; women too great rascals in the Kaap!"
But it was not only of a handsome face and good figure that Timbo could boast, for he possessed, in addition, many excellent qualities, such as even temper, generosity, honesty, prudence, industry; and, like our cook, he was sincere in his attachment to the interest of his employer. With Galton and myself he was a great favorite. He possessed, moreover, the most cheerful disposition, and an inexhaustible store of fun. ”

“ To her elasticity of spirits and brilliancy of imagination, which, but for an uncommon superiority of talent, might have degenerated into frivolity of mind, this calm and almost masculine education formed an admirable counterpoise. But yet such was her natural pliability of character, that Mrs. Galton scarcely deemed even this antidote sufficient; and looked forward with trembling anxiety to the period of her being introduced to society, knowing how probable it was, that her fancy, and even her heart, might be seriously affected, long before her reason or understanding were called into action. ”

“ Galton was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. His Art of Travel; or, Shifts and Contrivances in Wild Countries was first published in 1855. In 1860 he visited the north of Spain, and published the fruits of his observations of the country and the people in the first of a series of volumes, which he edited, entitled Vacation Tourists. ”

“ Galton agreed, knowing that no speaker in the world, certainly no masculine speaker, could resist the appeal of a large, warm, admiring audience when once he got to his feet. "The only difficulty will be stopping him," she thought rather sadly. It would be wise, too, she thought, to put someone next to him at luncheon who would please him. Flattery from an ugly old woman like herself wouldn't be enough. Then she remembered Lydia, whom, after their unfortunate meeting at luncheon in the autumn, she had taken through one of the men's prisons in an effort to enlist the girl's coöperation. ”

“ Galton justly remarks, is one of the most powerful among human attractions, and often accounts for what might otherwise seem unaccountable preferences. But after all is said and done, there remains a vast mass of instinctive and inexplicable elements: a power deeper and more marvellous in its inscrutable ramifications than human consciousness. ”

“ Galton’s was one of those important books that are studied by all Europe. Seeing that he makes no mention of adverse criticism in his second edition, and Mr. Zimmern sees no reason to qualify the statement, it is fair to assume that no serious objection has been made in England or Europe during nearly half a century. So amazingly does classical enthusiasm pervade the thought of the world! ”

“ Galton, with an air of the most perfect innocence in the world, places man in the category of plants and animals, and in principle simply reproduces for our instruction the Man-Plant, from which there is but a step to the Man-Machine of the cynical Lamettrie, the atheistical professor of mathematics in the university of Berlin, and friend of Frederick the Great. ”

“ Galton thinks that all except cranks would agree as to including health, energy, ability, manliness and courteous disposition amongst qualities uniformly desirable—alike in poet and pathologist. We should desire also uniformity as to the absence of the anti-social proclivities of the born criminal. So much uniformity being granted, let us have with it the utmost conceivable variety,—more, indeed, than most of us can conceive. ”

“ Galton published his "English Men of Science; their Nature and Nurture." It was a summary of the results which he had obtained from inquiries addressed to the most eminent scientific men of England, respecting the hereditary and other circumstances which might have been influential in directing them toward the careers in which they shone, and promoting their success in them. His criterion, in selecting men as typical for his purpose, was somewhat like that which M. de Candolle adopted. ”

“ When Marjorie had divorced Galton—having got married to him by way of preliminary—she was herself divorced by Pemberton—who had no further use for Lady Meinz—and then married—only last year—an extraordinarily fleshy man called (at the moment) Henry Munster. They are still happy—at least, she is. The child of the first union—if I may so describe it—is a girl; so that's the end of the Galton peerage.
Aunt Amelia is dead: and high time. ”

“ On 29 Sept. 1806 Miss Galton married Lambert Schimmelpenninck of Berkeley Square, Bristol, a member of a branch of the noble Dutch family of that name. He was connected with the shipping trade at Bristol, and there the newly married couple settled. Mrs. Schimmelpenninck took an active part in local charities and education, holding classes for young people at her own house. ”

“ Galton considers the Negro race two grades in his scale of ability below the English. But he believes that we are surpassed by the Athenians at their prime by at least an equal amount. This claim may be true, but it is not palatable. In this discussion the author strikes the key-note of his work, the underlying idea of all his study. He believes that we ought to raise the grade of ability of our race, that we should breed a nobler posterity. Earlier marriage of the capable is the only way for the intellectually and morally fit to survive. ”

“ Galton believes to have been far above that of the average of any modern nation—and the elevation, at once intellectual and moral, displayed in the writings of Confucius, Zoroaster, and the Vedas, they point to the conclusion that, while in material progress there has been a tolerably steady advance, man's intellectual and moral development reached almost its highest level in a very remote past. ”