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Text extracted from opening pages of book: HEEEDITAEY GENIUS AN INQUIRY INTO ITS LAWS AND CONSEQUENCES BY FEANCIS GALTON, F. E. S., ETC. ILontion MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK 1892 Tht night of Translation and Reproduction is Mesand rved iCHAiin CLAY ANI SONS, LIMITI. U LONDON AM) BUNiJAY First Edition ( vo) l. H 0 Second Edition ( Extra Crown Ivo) ISC2 PREFACE TO THE OEIGINAL EDITION THE idea of investigating the subject of hereditary genius occurred to me during the course of a purely ethnological inquiry, into the mental peculiarities of different races; when the fact, that characteristics cling to families, was so frequently forced on my notice as to induce me to pay especial attention to that branch of the subject. I began by thinking over the dispositions and achievements of my contemporaries at school, at college, and in after life, and was surprised to find how frequently ability seemed to go by descent. Then I made a cursory examination into the kindred of about four hundred illustrious men of all periods of history, and the results were such, in my own opinion, as completely to establish the theory that genius was hereditary, under limitations that required to be investigated. Thereupon I set to work to gather a large amount of carefully selected biographical data, and in the meantime wrote two articles on the subject, which appeared in Macmilla'ris Magazine in June and in August, 1865. I also attacked the subject from many different sides and sometimes with very minute inquiries, because it was long before the methods I finally adopted were matured. I mention all this, to show that the foundation PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION for my theories is broader than appears in thebook, and as a partial justification if I have occasionally been be trayed into speaking somewhat more confidently than the evidence I have adduced would warrant. I trust the reader will pardon a small percentage of error and inaccuracy, if it be so small as not to affect the general value of my results. No one can hate inaccuracy more than myself, or can have a higher idea of what an author owes to his readers, in respect to precision; but, in a subject like this, it is exceedingly difficult to correct every mistake, and still more so to avoid' omissions. I have often had to run my eyes over many pages of large bio graphical dictionaries and volumes of memoirs to arrive at data, destined to be packed into half a dozen lines, in an appendix to one of my many chapters. The theory of hereditary genius, though usually scouted, has been advocated by a few writers in past as well as in modern times. But I may claim, to be the first to treat the subject in a statistical manner, to arrive at numerical results, and to introduce the law of deviation from an average into discussions on heredity. A great many subjects are discussed in the following pages, which go beyond the primary issue, whether or no genius be hereditary. I could not refuse to consider them, because the bearings of the theory I advocate arc too important to be passed over in silence. PREFATORY CHAPTER TO THE EDITION OF 1892 THIS volume is a reprint of a work published twenty three years ago, which has long been unpurchasable, except at second-hand and at fancy prices. It was a question whether to revise the whole and to bring the information up to date, or simply to reprint it after remedying a few staring errata. The lattercourse has been adopted, because even a few additional data would have made it necessary to recast all the tabulations, while a thorough reconstruction would be a work of greater labour than I can now undertake. At the time when the book was written, the human mind was popularly thought to act independently of natural laws, and to be capable of almost any achieve ment, if compelled to exert itself by a will that had a power of initiation. Even those who had more philosophical habits of thought were far from looking upon the mental faculties of each individual as b