PREFACE

TO THE SECOND AMERICAN EDITION.

THE first American edition of this work having been sold, and a second being called for, the publishers have acceded to requests made from various quarters that the book should be made more generally accessible by reissuing it in a cheaper and more convenient form.

The principle of hereditary descent, by which the characteristics of races and species are preserved, is a fundamental law of life, and the investigation of its action, limits, and causes, as displayed in both the vegetable and animal kingdoms, is the task of biological science. Coupled with the principle of variation, it is the basis of the art of breeding and improving stock; while these two agencies are held by Mr. Darwin and his school to afford the true clue to the origin of the numerous forms of life.

To the operation of this principle, man is confessedly no exception; those peculiarities, physical, intellectual, and moral, which distinguish the various races being per

petuated by descent through all the generations of history. Yet there has been much confusion in people's notions concerning the descent of mind in families. For, while, on the one hand, observing persons are constantly remarking the obvious transmission of certain mental traits from parents to children, on the other hand there has been a general denial of the inheritance of talent; in other words, it is held that, while certain mental characteristics are trasmissible the characteristic of genius is not.

It is clear, therefore, that what the subject required was a searching and systematic inquiry into the facts, and that has been now supplied by the present work. The following pages embody the result of the first vigorous and methodical effort to treat the question in the true scientific spirit, and place it upon the proper inductive basis. Mr. Galton maintains that mind offers no exception to the principle of hereditary descent, and he makes out his case conclusively. He proves, by overwhelming evidence, that genius, talent, or whatever we term great mental capacity, follows the law of organic transmission-runs in families, and is an affair of blood and breed; and that a sphere of phenomena, hitherto deemed capricious and defiant of rule, is nevertheless within the operation of ascertainable law.

The argument has three stages. In the first there is an analysis of the elements of human greatness, and of the conditions that must conspire to its attainment. A scale of mental valuations is constructed as a basis for classification, and the method of arriving at generalized results in social phenomena is elucidated. An ingenious and simple notation is adopted which the reader will acquire with a

little attention, and will find of great service in prosecuting the discussion.

In the second stage of his work, Mr. Galton enters upon a pains-taking and exhaustive research of the historical data by which his thesis is supported. The question is here one of difficult detail respecting family affiliations, and could only be safely pursued in the home district. The number of great men and women of various types which England has produced, the intensity of the family feeling there, and the consequent completeness of the genealogical records, render that country an especially favorable field for such an investigation, and Mr. Galton has accordingly concentrated his labors upon it. The subjects of his inquiry have been judges, statesmen, commanders, literary men, men of science, poets, musicians, painters, and divines. The results of this extensive research are given in alphabetical and tabulated forms, and they bring the author to the conclusion "that a man's natural abilities are derived by inheritance under exactly the same limitations as are the form and physical features of the whole organic world."

In the third part of his work Mr. Galton passes to a comparison of his results, and to the general conclusions which they appear to justify. He here considers the vari ous agencies by which the descent of talent is counteracted, and is led to a consideration of the comparative worth of different races, and to the influences which affect the natural ability of nations. His problem is comprehensive and profound, involving as it does the causes of human advancement and degeneracy, and what may be termed

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the dynamics of civilization. Of the interest of these topics it is unnecessary to speak; of the ability with which they are treated the reader can judge; the work may be commended to the students of human nature as an original and valuable contribution to the science of mind in that larger aspect which it is now assuming as a result of modern inquiries.