MacTutor
Francis Galton
Times obituary
We announce with much regret the death, in his 89th year, of Sir Francis Galton, F.R.S., which took place at Grayshott House, Haslemere, on Tuesday night
Sir Francis, following the practice of some years past, left London for Grayahott in the middle of August. He was then in feeble health—he was, indeed, so weak that he had to be carried from his house in Rutland Gate to the motor car which was to convey him to the railway station. There was, however, no loss of mental vigour and alertness, and to within ten days of his death Sir Francis continued to conduct his correspondence. But on Thursday last week he was taken seriously ill. So great was his desire to "have air," as he put it, that Sir Francis Galton sometimes went out of doors when it would have been more prudent to remain in his room, and it is supposed that it was on one of these occasions that he caught a chill, which was followed by a slight attack of bronchitis. Acute congestion of the lungs was set up and death took place from heart failure, Sir Francis passing away peacefully in his sleep.
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BEQUEST TO LONDON UNIVERSITY.
THE STUDY OF EUGENICS.
We understand that under the terms of the will of the late Sir Francis Galton, which has not yet been proved, the residuary estate is left to the University of London for the purpose of encouraging the study of national eugenics. Sir Francis Galton may be described as the founder of the study of eugenics. His principal contributions to science consisted in his anthropological inquiries, especially into the laws of heredity, where the distinguishing feature of his work was the application of statistical methods. In 1869, in "Hereditary Gonius," he endeavored to prove that genius is mainly a matter of ancestry, and he followed that up with many other books and papers on various aspects of the subject. Some time ago, as Mr. Crackanthorpe recalled in an interesting letter published in The Times of January 25, he ceased to engage in original research and devoted his energies to the spread of eugenics In 1904 he was awarded a Research Fellowship at the University of London to promote the study of national eugenics, and the following year he established a laboratory at University College for its prosecution.
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TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,
In the memoir of Sir Francis Galton which you publish today, you give a very full account of his work as a scientist. Will you permit me, as one of his intimate friends, officially associated with him during his last years, to say something of him as a man? The character of such a strenuous worker for the physical and intellectual improvement of our race has a special interest of its own.
Sir Francis Galton, who considerably exceeded the term beyond which the Psalmist counted the years as "labor and sorrow," and who experienced their incidental bodily infirmities, retained to the last a cheerful serenity. His first sore trial was his deafness, which cut him off from scientific gatherings where at one time he was a familiar figure. This defect he remedied with the help of an electrical instrument very much in the form of a camera. I well remember going to see him a day or two after this new acquisition. Pointing to it as it stood on the table by his side, he said: "That is my ear. If you will speak to it without raising your voice, I shall hear all you say." The experiment was successful, and he talked gaily on De Quetelet's letters and digressions from curve of frequency, for, however abstruse the subject, his treatment of it was never dull.
After a time, he lost the power of walking and had to exchange his daily "constitutional" for a bath chair, but no murmur of complaint escaped him. He dearly loved the fresh air and cared not how he got it, often sitting in his open balcony when most persons of his age would have crouched over the fire. Towards the end of his life, he was subject to attacks of bronchitis, which brought on violent fits of coughing. If these interrupted the conversation, he would apologize for them and give one to understand that things were not nearly as bad as they seemed.
In the summer of 1908, he came to my house (which was only a few doors from his own) to attend a meeting at which, at his request, I read a paper he had written. When a vote of thanks to him had been carried, he replied in a characteristically humorous little speech, exhibiting at once his power of observation and his statistical method:
When the Copley Medal was awarded him last October, he was hardly in a condition to feel the full emotion appropriate to finding himself linked for a second time with his fellow workers in the field of biology—Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. He had then for some time censured to engage in original research and was devoting his energies to the spread of engineering. It is not perhaps unreasonable to suppose that the rapid strides during 1909–10 made by that science, of which he was the founder, were regarded by the Royal Society as rounding off his useful and brilliant career.
If I were asked to sum up the distinctive traits of Sir Francis Galton's character, apart from his intellectual gifts, I should say they were (1) a sweet reasonableness in regard to his own ailments; (2) a generous, yet thoroughly manly, sympathy with the troubles of others; and (3) a remarkable power of inspiring the affectionate devotion of all who came into close contact with him
Coming, as he did, from a stock conspicuous for scientific precision, and marrying, as he did, into a family conspicuous for literary taste, it is indeed a pity that he left no issue. For his children might have afforded an interesting study of his own theory of transmission of parental qualities, and possibly have illustrated the Mendelian law of the segregation of those qualities in offspring.
I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
MONTAGUE CRACKANTHORPE
January 19
We announce with much regret the death, in his 89th year, of Sir Francis Galton, F.R.S., which took place at Grayshott House, Haslemere, on Tuesday night
Sir Francis, following the practice of some years past, left London for Grayahott in the middle of August. He was then in feeble health—he was, indeed, so weak that he had to be carried from his house in Rutland Gate to the motor car which was to convey him to the railway station. There was, however, no loss of mental vigour and alertness, and to within ten days of his death Sir Francis continued to conduct his correspondence. But on Thursday last week he was taken seriously ill. So great was his desire to "have air," as he put it, that Sir Francis Galton sometimes went out of doors when it would have been more prudent to remain in his room, and it is supposed that it was on one of these occasions that he caught a chill, which was followed by a slight attack of bronchitis. Acute congestion of the lungs was set up and death took place from heart failure, Sir Francis passing away peacefully in his sleep.
________________________________________________________________
BEQUEST TO LONDON UNIVERSITY.
THE STUDY OF EUGENICS.
We understand that under the terms of the will of the late Sir Francis Galton, which has not yet been proved, the residuary estate is left to the University of London for the purpose of encouraging the study of national eugenics. Sir Francis Galton may be described as the founder of the study of eugenics. His principal contributions to science consisted in his anthropological inquiries, especially into the laws of heredity, where the distinguishing feature of his work was the application of statistical methods. In 1869, in "Hereditary Gonius," he endeavored to prove that genius is mainly a matter of ancestry, and he followed that up with many other books and papers on various aspects of the subject. Some time ago, as Mr. Crackanthorpe recalled in an interesting letter published in The Times of January 25, he ceased to engage in original research and devoted his energies to the spread of eugenics In 1904 he was awarded a Research Fellowship at the University of London to promote the study of national eugenics, and the following year he established a laboratory at University College for its prosecution.
__________________________________________________________________
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,
In the memoir of Sir Francis Galton which you publish today, you give a very full account of his work as a scientist. Will you permit me, as one of his intimate friends, officially associated with him during his last years, to say something of him as a man? The character of such a strenuous worker for the physical and intellectual improvement of our race has a special interest of its own.
Sir Francis Galton, who considerably exceeded the term beyond which the Psalmist counted the years as "labor and sorrow," and who experienced their incidental bodily infirmities, retained to the last a cheerful serenity. His first sore trial was his deafness, which cut him off from scientific gatherings where at one time he was a familiar figure. This defect he remedied with the help of an electrical instrument very much in the form of a camera. I well remember going to see him a day or two after this new acquisition. Pointing to it as it stood on the table by his side, he said: "That is my ear. If you will speak to it without raising your voice, I shall hear all you say." The experiment was successful, and he talked gaily on De Quetelet's letters and digressions from curve of frequency, for, however abstruse the subject, his treatment of it was never dull.
After a time, he lost the power of walking and had to exchange his daily "constitutional" for a bath chair, but no murmur of complaint escaped him. He dearly loved the fresh air and cared not how he got it, often sitting in his open balcony when most persons of his age would have crouched over the fire. Towards the end of his life, he was subject to attacks of bronchitis, which brought on violent fits of coughing. If these interrupted the conversation, he would apologize for them and give one to understand that things were not nearly as bad as they seemed.
In the summer of 1908, he came to my house (which was only a few doors from his own) to attend a meeting at which, at his request, I read a paper he had written. When a vote of thanks to him had been carried, he replied in a characteristically humorous little speech, exhibiting at once his power of observation and his statistical method:
I was not able [he said] to hear my paper read, but I was able to watch the bearing of the audience. My experience is that when ladies are interested, they indulge in fidgets, and the average of their fidgets is about two per minute. Now the average of the fidgets of the ladies present did not exceed two per five minutes. This proves to me that they have not been bored, and this is as much as I could hope for.
Honour and renown came to him more than 40 years ago when he published his "Hereditary Genius." But honors, in the sense of State recognition of his services, came to him very late. He was in his 89th year when the Prime Minister offered to submit his name to the King for a knighthood. With his usual modesty, he accepted, and as soon as his name appeared in the list, I called to congratulate him (save the mark!) on the fact. I found him just going on for his morning "trundle." "Why, they should have made you a K.C.B.!" were my first words. With a twinkling eye, he replied, "Well, I am a sort of K.C.B. I am a Knight of the Bath Chair."
When the Copley Medal was awarded him last October, he was hardly in a condition to feel the full emotion appropriate to finding himself linked for a second time with his fellow workers in the field of biology—Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. He had then for some time censured to engage in original research and was devoting his energies to the spread of engineering. It is not perhaps unreasonable to suppose that the rapid strides during 1909–10 made by that science, of which he was the founder, were regarded by the Royal Society as rounding off his useful and brilliant career.
If I were asked to sum up the distinctive traits of Sir Francis Galton's character, apart from his intellectual gifts, I should say they were (1) a sweet reasonableness in regard to his own ailments; (2) a generous, yet thoroughly manly, sympathy with the troubles of others; and (3) a remarkable power of inspiring the affectionate devotion of all who came into close contact with him
Coming, as he did, from a stock conspicuous for scientific precision, and marrying, as he did, into a family conspicuous for literary taste, it is indeed a pity that he left no issue. For his children might have afforded an interesting study of his own theory of transmission of parental qualities, and possibly have illustrated the Mendelian law of the segregation of those qualities in offspring.
I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
MONTAGUE CRACKANTHORPE
January 19
