Mr. Francis Galton has added a new flavour to life
for the few who love the study of pedigree, and who, beyond pedigree, like to have something of an inward picture of the ancestors from whom they are derived. He offers to distribute £500 in prizes for the best accounts of ancestors which he receives on the plan of the "Record of Family Faculty" (Macmillan), which be has in- vented and published. His object is to collect materials for his studies in heredity, and also to draw the attention of parents to the importance of considering the hereditary influences which are acting upon their children. We quite appreciate Mr- Galton's object, but how will he verify his facts ? We should expect him to accumulate a very large number of exceedingly untrustworthy facts. Relations are apt to take a very partial view of the " faculties " of their kindred and connections. Some- times it is partial in the sense of favourable ; sometimes it is partial in its spites. But without verification, such as we can hardly see any scope for, we should greatly distrust Mr- Galton's statistics of family faculty, as acquired in this way.
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