Natural Inheritance

Abstract

IT is related that, when some boastful patriot was once describing the trees in his country as so high that a man could hardly see their tops, a stranger retorted “That is nothing to the trees in my country, which are so high that two men are required to see the top of them; one man looks as far as he can, and the other begins where the first stops.” A similar division of labour would be required in order to survey adequately the imposing scientific edifice which Mr. Galton has constructed; based as it is on a foundation of geometrical reasoning, and culminating in the clouds of biological hypothesis. The parts which are nearest to terra firma are most within our ken. The mathematical foundation and the structure which rests immediately thereupon appear to us solid and elegant. The author has restated the law of error in a form adapted to sociological investigations. He says truly and happily:—

Natural Inheritance.

By Francis Galton (London: Macmillan and Co., 1889.)