English men of science: their nature and nurture

Front matter

iMS 1 -IMIl- WJffiawU

;oon imam-circulation

DATE DUE fW*

Preface

I undertook the inquiry of which this volume is the result, after reading the recent work of M. de Candolle, a in which he analyses the salient events in the histoiy of 200 scientific men who have lived during the two past centuries, deducing therefrom many curious conclusions which well repay the attention of thoughtful readers. It so happened that I myself had been leisurely engaged on a parallel but more extended investigation — namely, as regards men of ability of all descriptions, with the view of supplementing at some future time my work on Hereditary Genius. The object of that book

vi PREFACE

was to assert the claims of one of what may be called the " pre-efficients " 1 of eminent men, the importance of which had been previously overlooked ; and I had yet to work out more fully its relative efficacy, as compared with those of education, tradition, fortune, opportunity, and much else. It was therefore with no ordinary interest that I studied M. de Candolle's work, finding, in it many new ideas and much confirmation of my own opinions ; also not a little criticism (supported, as I conceive, by very imperfect biographical evidence,) 2 of my published views on heredity. I thought it best to test the value of this dissent at once, by limiting my first publication to the same field as that on which M. de Candolle had worked — namely, to the history of men of science, and to investigate their sociology from wholly new, ample, and trustworthy materials. This I have done in the present volume ; and I am confident that

1 Or, " all that has gone to the making of." The word was suggested to me.

2 Reference may he made to a short review "by me of M. de Candolle's work, in the Fortnightly Review, March 1873.

PREFACE, vii

one effect of the evidence here collected will be to strengthen the utmost claims I ever made for the ■ recognition of the importance of hereditary influence.

A few of my results, and some of the evidence on which they were based, were given by me at a Friday evening lecture, February, 1874, before the Royal Institution. I have incorporated parts of that lecture into this volume, with emendations and large additions.

It had been my wish to work up the materials I possess with much minuteness ; but some months of careful labour made it clear to me that they were not sufficient to bear a more strict or elaborate treatment than I have now given to them.

The pleasant duty remains of acknowledging a debt to my friefid, Mr. Herbert Spencer, for many helpful suggestions, and for his encouragement when I was planning this work ; and to reiterate my deep sense of gratitude to numerous correspondents, which I have expressed elsewhere in the following pages.

viii PREFACE.

I may add that four of the scientific men who replied to my questions have passed away since I began to write. Of these, two had sent me complete returns, namely, Professor Phillips, the geologist, and Sir William Fairbairn, the engineer. As regards the other two — Six Henry Holland, the physician, had published his autobiography, but he gave me much help colloquially, and promised more ; and Sir Edmund, better known as Count Strzelecki, the Australian traveller and meteorologist, furnished me with very suggestive information, but too incomplete for statistical use.

Francis Galton.

42 Eutland Gate, November ', 1874.

P.S. — I have to apologise for some faults of style in the earlier pages, due to my not having had as full an opportunity as I had counted upon of correcting that portion of the press.

After I had sent the above to the printer, a friend, happened to point out to me the fol-

PREFACE. ix

lowing passage in the " Sartor Resartus " of Carlyle (Bk. ii. ? ch. 2). It expresses sentiments so nearly akin to those which induced me to write this book, that I am glad to quote it : —

" It is maintained by Helvetius and his set, that an / infant of genius is quite the same as any other infant, only that certain surprisingly favourable influences accompany him through life, especially through childhood, and expand him, while others lie close folded

and continue dunces With which opinion, cries

Teufelsdrockh, ' I should as soon agree as with this other — that an acorn might, by favourable or unfavourable influences of soil and climate, be nursed into a cabbage, or the cabbage-seed into an oak. Nevertheless/ continues he, c I too acknowledge the ail-but omnipotence of early culture and nurture : hereby we have either a doddered dwarf bush, or a high-towering, wide-shadowing tree ; either a sick yellow cabbage or an edible luxuriant green one. Of a truth, it is the duty of all men, especially of all philosophers, to note down with accuracy the characteristic circumstances of their Education, what furthered, what hindered, what in any way modified it. . . / "

Chapter I. Antecedents

Object of book, 1 ; Definition of " Man of Science," 2 ; Data, 10 ; Nature and nurture, 12 ; Race and birth-place, 16 ; Occupation of parents and position in life, 21 ; Physical peculiarities of parents, 27 ; Primogeniture, &c, 33 j Fertility, 36 ; Heredity, 39. Pedigrees, viz : — Alderson, 41 ; Bentham, 43 ; Carpenter, 43 ; Darwin, 45 ; Dawson Turner, 48 ; Harcourt, 50 ; Hill, 51 ; Latrobe, 54 ; Playfair, 55 ; Roscoe, 57 ; Strachey, 58 ; Taylors of Ongar, 60 ; Wedgewood, 62. Statistical results, 64 ; grandfathers and uncles of scientific men, 65 ; brothers and male cousins, 67 ; Family characteristics, 69 ; Distribution of ability in gifted families, 70 ; Relative influence of paternal and maternal lines, 72.

Chapter II. Qualities

Preliminary, 74 ; Energy, 75, viz :— much above average, 78 ; below average, 97. Size of head, 98 ; Health, 99 ; of parents, 101 ; Perseverance, 103 ; Impulsiveness, 104 ; Practical business i CONTENTS.

habits, 104 ; Memory, 107 ; viz.— good verbal, 109 ; good for facts and figures, 111 ; for form, 113 ; good, but no particulars given, 117 ; bad, 120. Independence of character, 121 ; ditto of the parents, 122 ; small religious sects, 123 ; Mechanical aptitudes, 124 ; Religious bias, 126 ; definition of religion, 127 ; religious sentiment weak, accompanied with scepticism, 130 ; intellectual interest in religious topics, 130 ; dogmatic interest, 131 ; religious bias, 131 ; ditto with intellectual scepticism, 134. Effect of creed on research, 135, viz.— no deterrent effect, 135 ; no dread of inquiry, 136 ; religion and science have different spheres, 136 ; liberality of early teaching, 137 ; have early abandoned creeds, 138 ; creed has had good effect on research, 139; has had some deterrent effect, 140. Truthfulness, 141.

Chapter III. Origin Of Taste For Science

Preliminary, 144 ; Extracts at length, viz : — physics, 149 ; mathematics, 155; chemistry, 158; geology, 161; zoology, 165; botany, 176 ; medicine, 180 ; statistics, 182 ; mechanics, 184. Analysis of replies, viz. : — tastes strongly innate, 186 ; decidedly not innate, 191 ; tastes bearing remotely on science, 194 ; innate tastes not very hereditary, 196 ; fortunate accidents, 198 ; indirect motives or opportunities, 199 ; professional duties, 202 ; encouragement at home, 205 ; influence and encouragement of friends, 211 ; ditto of tutors, 215 ; Scotch and English system of tuition, 215 ; travel in distant parts, 218 ; unclassed residuum, 221 ; Summary, 222 ; Deep movements in national life, 227 ; Waste of powers, 228 ; Partial failures, 230 ; Genius, 233.

CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Education

Preliminary, 235 ; Merits in education, viz.: — generally praised, 238 ; variety of subjects, 242 ; a little science at school, 243 ; simple things well taught, 243 ; liberty and leisure, 244 ; home teaching and encouragement, 244 ; Merits and demerits balanced, 245 ; Demerits in education, viz. : — narrow education, 246 ; want of system and bad teaching, 251 ; unclassed, 252; Summary, 253; Interpretation of educational needs, 255; Conclusion, 258.

Appendix

List of questions sent to scientific men, 261.

ERRATA.

Page 37, line 12, for " 30 " read " 50."

Page 78, line 4, in the heading, /or " forty cases '' read " fortytwo cases.''

ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE,

Chapter I. Antecedents

Object of Book — Definition of Man of Science — Data — Nature and Nurture — Race and Birthplace — Occupation of Parents and Position in Life — Physical Peculiarities of Parents — Primogeniture, &c. — Fertility — Heredity — Pedigrees — Statistical Results.

The intent of this book is to supply what may be termed a Natural History of the English Men of Science of the present day. It will describe their earliest antecedents, including the hereditary influences, the inborn qualities of their mind and body, the causes that first induced them to pursue science, the education they received and their opinions on its merits. The advantages are great of confining the investigation to men of our own period and nation. Our knowledge of them is more complete, and where deficient, it may be supplemented by further inquiry. They are subject to a moderate range of those influences which have the largest disturbing power, and are therefore well fitted for statistical investigation ; lastly, the results we may obtain are of direct practical interest. The inquiry is a complicated one at the best ; it is advantageous not to complicate it further by dealing with notabilities whose histories' are seldom autobiographical, never complete and not always very accurate ; and who lived under the varied and imperfectly appreciated conditions of European life, in several countries, at numerous periods during many different centuries.

Definition of "Man of Science" — I do not attempt to define a "scientific man/ 7 because no frontier line or definition exists, which separates any group of individuals from the rest of their species. Natural groups have nuclei but no outlines ; they blend on every side with other systems whose nuclei have alien characters.

A naturalist must construct his picture of nature on the same principle that an engraver in mezzotint proceeds on his plate, beginning with the principal lights as so many different points of departure, and working outwards from each of them until the intervening spaces are covered. Some definition of an ideal scientific man might possibly be given and accepted, but who is to decide in each, case whether particular individuals fall within the definition'? It seems to me the. best way to take the verdict of the scientific world as expressed in definite language. It may be over lenient in some cases, in others it may never have been uttered, but on the whole it appears more satisfactory than any other verdict which exists or is attainable. To have been elected a Fellow of the Eoyal Society since the reform in the mode of election, introduced by Mr. Justice Grove nearly thirty years ago, is a real assay of scientific merit. Owing to various reasons, many excellent men of science of mature ages, may not be Fellows, but those who bear that title cannot but be considered in some degree as entitled to the

B 2 epithet of "scientific." I therefore look upon this fellowship as a "pass examination/' so to speak, and from among the Fellows of the Royal Society I select those who have yet further qualifications. One of these is the fact of having earned a medal for .scientific work ; another, of having presided over a learned Society, or a section of the British Association ; another, of having been elected on the council of the Eoyal Society ; another, of being professor at some important college or university. These and a few other similar signs of being appreciated by contemporary men of science, are the qualifications for which I have looked in selecting my list of typical scientific men. I have only deviated from these technical rules in two or three cases, where there appeared good reason for their relaxation and where the returns appeared likely to be of peculiar interest. On these principles I drew up a list of 180 men; most of them were qualified on more than one count, and many on several counts. Also, the list appeared nearly exhaustive in respect to those men of mature age who live in or near London, .since other private tests suggested few additions. As two of these tests have been proposed byseveral correspondents, it may be well to describe them. The one is the election of individuals, on account of their scientific eminence, to a certain well-known literary and scientific club, the name of which it is unnecessary to mention. The "committee of this club have the power of electing annually, out of their regular turn, nine persons eminent for science, literature, art, or public services. The two or three men w T ho have in each year received this coveted privilege on the ground of science now amount to a considerable number, and they are all on my list. Again, there are certain dining clubs in connection with the Royal Society, the one meeting on the afternoon of every evening that it meets, and the other more rarely, and there are about fifty members to each of these clubs, the same persons being in many instances members of both. The election to either of the clubs is a testimony of some value to the estimation of the scientific status of a man by his contemporaries ; almost all their members

ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [chap.

are on my list. No doubt, many persons of considerable position living in Edinburgh, Dublin, and elsewhere at a distance from London, are not among those with whose experiences

1 am about to deal. But that is no objection ; I do not profess or care to be exhaustive in my data, only desiring to have a sufficiency of material, and to be satisfied that it is good so far as it goes, and a perfectly fair sample. I do not particularly want a list that shall include every man of science in England, but seek for one that is sufficiently extended for my purposes, and that contains none but truly scientific men, in the usual acceptation of that word.

However, I have made some further estimates, and conclude that an exhaustive list of men of the British Isles, of the same mature ages and general scientific status as those of whom I have been speaking, would amount to 300, but not to more.

Some of my readers may feel surprise that so many as 300 persons are to be found in the United Kingdom who deserve the title of scientific men ; probably they have been accustomed to concentrate their attention upon a few notabilities, and to ignore their colleagues. It must, however, be recollected that all biographies, even of the greatest men, reveal numerous associates and competitors whose merit and influence were far greater than had been suspected by the outside world. Great discoveries have often been made simultaneously by workers ignorant of each other's labours. This shows that they had derived their inspiration from a common but hidden source, as no mere chance would account for simultaneous discovery. In illustration of this view it will suffice to mention a few of the great discoveries in this generation. That of photpgraphy is most intimately associated with the names of Ni£j)ce, Daguerre and Talbot, who were successful in 1839 along different lines of research, but Thomas Wedgewood was a photographer in 1802, though he could not fix his pictures. As to the origin of species, Wallace is well known to have had an independent share in its discovery, side by side with the far more comprehensive investigations of Darwin. In spectrum analysis the remarks of Stokes were anterior to and independent of the works of KirchhofF and Bunsen. Electric telegraphy has numerous parents, German, English and American. The idea of conservation of energy has unnumbered roots. The simultaneous discovery of the planet Neptune on theoretical grounds by Leverrier and Adams is a very curious instance of what we axe considering. < In patent inventions the fact of simultaneous discovery is notoriously frequent. It would therefore appear that few discoveries are wholly due to a single man, but rather that vague and imperfect ideas, which float in conversation and literature, must grow, gather, and develop, until some more perspicacious and prompt mind than the rest clearly sees them. Thus, Laplace is understood to have seized on Kant's nebular hypothesis and Bentham on Priestley's phrase, "the greatest happiness of the greatest number," and each of them elaborated the idea he had so seized, into a system.

The first discoverers beat their contemporaries in point of time and by doing so they become leaders of thought. They direct the intellectual energy of the day into the channels they opened ; it would have run in other channels but for their labour. It is therefore due to them, not that science progresses, but that her progress is as rapid as it is, and in the direction towards which they themselves have striven. We must neither underrate nor overrate their achievements. I would compare the small band of men who have achieved a conspicuous scientific position, to islands, which are not the detached objects they appear to the vulgar eye, but only the uppermost portions of hills, whose bulk is unseen. To pursue this metaphor ; the range of my inquiry dips a few fathoms below the level at which popular reputation begins.

It is of interest to know the ratio which the numbers of the leading scientific men bear to the population of England generally. I obtain it in this way. Although 180 persons only were on my list, I reckon, as already mentioned, that it would have been possible to have ineluded 300 of the same ages, without descending in the scale of scientific position ; also it appears that the ages of half of the number on my 4 list lie between 50 and 65, and that about three-quarters of these may be considered, for census comparisons, as English. I combine these numbers, and compare them with that of the male population of England and Wales, between the same limits of age, and find the required ratio to be about one in 10,000. What then are the conditions of nature, and the various circumstances and conditions of life, — which I include under the general name of nurture, — which have selected that one and left the remainder'? The object of this book is to answer this question.

DATA.

My data are the autobiographical replies to a very long series of printed questions addressed severally to the 180 men whose names were in the list I have described, and they fill two large portfolios. I cannot sufficiently thank my correspondents for the courteousness with which they replied to my very troublesome queries, the great pains they have taken to be precise and truthful in their statements, and the confidence reposed in my discretion. Those of the answers which are selected for statistical treatment somewhat exceed 100 in number. In addition to these, I have utilized several others which were too. incomplete for statistical purposes, or which arrived late, but these also have been of real service to me ; sometimes in corroborating, at others in questioning previous provisional conclusions. I wish emphatically to add that the foremost members of the scientific world have contributed in full proportion to their numbers. It must not for a moment be supposed that mediocrity is unduly represented in my data.

Natural history is an impersonal result ; I am therefore able to treat my subject anonymously, with the exception of one chapter in which the pedigrees of certain families are given.

NATURE AND NURTURE.

The phrase "nature and nurture" is a convenient jingle of words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumerable elements of which personality is composed. Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world ; nurture is every influence from without that affects him after his birth. The distinction is clear : the one produces the infant such as it actually is, including its latent faculties of growth of body and mind ; the other affords the environment amid which the growth takes place, by which natural tendencies may be strengthened or thwarted, or wholly new ones implanted, Neither of the terms implies any theory ; natural gifts may or may not be hereditary ; nurture does not especially consist of food, clothing, education or tradition, but it includes all these and similar influences whether known or unknown.

"When nature and nurture compete for supremacy on equal terms in the sense to be explained, the former proves the stronger. It is needless to insist that neither is self-sufficient • the highest natural endowments may be starved by defective nurture, while no carefulness of nurture can overcome the evil tendencies of an intrinsically bad physique, weak brain, or brutal disposition. Differences of nurture stamp un-^\^ mistakable marks on the disposition of the soldier, clergyman, or scholar, but are wholly in- - sufficient to efface the deeper marks of individuals character. The impress of class distinctions is superficial, and may be compared to those which give a general resemblance to a family of daughters at a provincial ball, all dressed alike, and so similar in voice and address as to puzzle a recently-introduced partner in his endeavours to recollect with which of them he is engaged to dance ; but an intimate friend forgets their general resemblance in the presence of the far greater dissimilarity which he has learned to appreciate. There are twins of the same sex so alike in body and mind that not even their own mothers can distinguish them. Their features, voice, and expressions are similar ; they see things in the same light, and their ideas follow the same laws of association. This close resemblance necessarily gives way under the gradually accumulated influences of difference of nurture, but it often lasts till manhood. I have been told of a case in which *twe. twin brothers, both married, the one a medical man, the other a clergyman, were staying at the same house.

One morning, for a joke, they changed their neckties, and each personated the other, sitting by his wife through the whole of the breakfast without discovery. Shakespeare was a close observer of nature ; it is, therefore, worth recollecting that he recognizes in his thirty-six plays three pairs of family likeness so deceptive as to create absurd confusion. Two of these pairs are in the " Comedy of Errors," and the other in "Twelfth Night" (v. 1.) I heard of a case not many years back in which a young Englishman had travelled to St. Petersburg, then much less accessible than now, with no letters of introduction, and who lost his pocket-book, and was penniless. He was walking along the quay in some despair at his prospects, when he was startled by the cheery voice of a stranger who accosted him, saying he required no introduction because his family likeness proclaimed him to be the son of an old friend. The Englishman did not conceal his difficulties, and the stranger actually lent him the sum he needed on the guarantee of his family likeness, confirmed, no doubt, by some conversation. Tn this and similar instances how small has been the influence of nurture ; the child had developed into manhood, along a predestined course laid out in his nature. It would be impossible to find a converse instance in which two persons, unlike at their birth, had been moulded by similarity of nurture into so close a resemblance that their nearest relations failed to distinguish them. Let us quote Shakespeare again as an illustration ; in "A Midsummer- Night's Dream" (iii. 2), Helena and Hermia, who had been inseparable in childhood and girlhood, and had identical nurture —

" So we grew together, Like to a double cherry, seeming parted, But yet a union in partition," —

were physically quite unlike : the one was short and dark, the other tall and fair ; therefore, the similarity of their nurture did not affect their features. The moral likeness was superficial, because a sore trial of temper, which produced a violent quarrel between them, brought out great dissimilarity of character. In the competition between nature and nurture, when the differences in either case do not exceed those which distinguish individuals of the same race living in the same country under no very exceptional conditions, nature certainly proves the stronger of the two.

RACE AND BIRTHPLACE.

As regards the race of the scientific men on my list, it has already been mentioned that for the purposes of a census enumeration threefourths may be considered English, but j their precise origin is as follows. Omitting a few Germans, out of every 10 scientific taen, 5 axe pure English ; 1 is Anglo- Welsh ; 1 is Anglo- Irish ; 1 is pure Scotch ; 1 includes Anglo-Scotch, Scotch-Irish, pure Irish, Welsh, Manx and Channel Islands; finally, 1 is "unclassed." These unclassed are of extremely mixed origin. One is in about equal degrees English, Irish, French, and German ; another is English, Scotch- Creole, and Dutch ; another English, Dutch, Creole, and Swedish ; and so on. (I trust the reader knows what " Creoles " are — namely, the descendants of white families long settled in a tropical colony ; and that he does not confound the term with " mulattoes.") I give this information without being able to make much present use of it. It is chiefly intended to serve as a standard with which other natural groups may hereafter be compared, such as groups of artists or of literary men.

One would desire to know whether persons in England generally show so great a diversity of origin ; but it is somewhat difficult to answer the question owing to a want of precision in the word " generally." If we were to go to rural districts^ or small stagnant towns, we should find much less variety of origin ; but I think there would be quite as much in the more energetic classes of the metropolis, who have immigrated from all

c quarters. Some haphazard selecting which I tried confirmed this view. Then comes the important question, Is this a sign that a mixture of one or more of the various civilized races is conducive to form an able offspring? No doubt the varied "nurture" due to separate streams of tradition has great influence in awakening original thought, but we are not speaking of this now; the question is about "nature." On an analysis of the scientific status of the men on my list, it appeared to me that their ability is higher in proportion to their numbers among those of pure race. The Border men and lowland Scotch come out exceedingly well; the Anglo- Irish and Anglo- Welsh, notwithstanding eminent individual exceptions, would as a whole rank last. Owing to my list not being exhaustive, ; I hardly like to attempt conclusions as to the precise productiveness of scientific ability of the Scotch, English, and Irish severally, but there cannot be a shadow of doubt that its degrees are in the order I have named.

The birthplaces of scientific men and of their parents are usually in towns, away from the sea ^ coast. Out of every 5 birthplaces I find that 1 lies in London or its suburbs ; 1 in an important town, such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Birmingham, Liverpool, or Manchester ; 1 is in a small town ; and 2 either in a village or actually in the country. These returns are given with more detail in the foot-note. 1 The branch of science pursued is often in curious disaccord with the * surrounding influence of the birthplace. Mechanicians are usually hardy lads born in the country,, biologists are frequently pure townsfolk. Partly in consequence of the prevalence of their urban distribution I find that an irregular plot may be marked on the map of England which includes much less than one-half of its area, but more than 92 per cent, of the birthplaces of the English scientific men or of their parents. The accompanying diagram shows its position ; one thin

1 London, 16 ; suburbs, 5; = 21. Edinburgh and Glasgow* 7 ; Cork, Belfast, and Dublin, 6 ; Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, 5; total = 18. Smaller towns, 21; elsewhere, 40. General total, 100.

C 2 arm abuts on the sea between Hastings and Folkestone, and runs northwards over London and Birmingham, where it is joined by another thin arm proceeding from Cornwall and Devonshire, crossing the Bristol Channel to Swansea, and thence to Worcester. The two arms are now combined into one of double breadth ; it covers Nottingham, Shrewsbury, Liverpool, and Manchester. Above these latitudes it again narrows, and after sending a small branch to Hull, proceeds northwards to Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Thus there are large areas in England and Wales outside this irregular plot which are very deficient in aboriginal science. One comprises the whole of the Eastern Counties, another includes the huge triangle at whose angles Hastings, Worcester, and Exeter, or rather Exmouth, are situated.

OCCUPATION OF PARENTS AND POSITION IN LIFE.

My list contains men who have been born in every social grade, from the highest order in the peerage down to the factory hand and ^ simple peasant, but the returns which I shall discuss do not range quite so widely. These are 96 in number, and may be classified as , follows — but the same name appears in two classes on eleven occcasions, so that the total