Francis Galton (1822–1911)

Francis Galton mailed surveys to a bunch of scientists to find out if interest in science was due to nature or nurture. He decides nature, but fails to account for class in any meaningful sense, which seems like a major foul-up. He may have invented both statistics and surveys, but judging by this book, he was not very good at it, probably because he also invented eugenics. You're better off reading The Victorian Scientist: The Growth of a Profession by Jack Meadows, which summarizes all the show more bits that are useful to a modern-day scholar. show less

Best advice I received from this book? When travelling through Africa, you'll need about 15 soldiers, 150 porters, and an entire herd of cattle.

Fascinating tips for the Victorian traveller/explorer.

FIRST EDITION. Half title, 2pp ads. Orig. burgundy cloth; recased. Ownership inscriptions of Percy John Paley. Sir Francis Galton, 1822-1911, was an anthropologist, explorer, geographer, meteorologist, polymath, eugenicist, and pro-geneticist. He coined the term eugenics and in his book Hereditary Genius puts forward the notion that intelligence is genetically inherited, an idea that was praised by his contemporaries including Alfred Russel Wa...