The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton

Abstract

THE completion of this great “Life” of a great man is an achievement, and we wish to express what all interested must feel, that the library of science has been enriched in a very noble way. We venture to congratulate Prof. Karl Pearson on the success of his undertaking; he has given us a painting by a master. No doubt it has been a labour of love and not without the artist's joy; but it has meant many years of strenuous sifting and appreciating and arranging to elaborate this worthy record of the life and work of one of the most notable pioneers in the history of civilisation. Therefore, if we may be a mouthpiece, we would simply thank Prof. Pearson for this monumental work, surely never excelled in completeness, acuracy, insight, and keen judgment flashing like a two-edged sword. We have to congratulate our science that such a biographer was available and willing, for no one else could have summed up Galton's labours with such competent authority or pictured the man with such sympathetic understanding.

The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton.

Prof. Karl Pearson. Vol. 3a: Correlation, Personal Identification and Eugenics. Pp. xiv + 440 + 44 plates. Vol. 3b: Characterisation, especially by Letters. Index. Pp. vi + 441â673 + 18 plates. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1930.) 69s. net.