Sir Francis Galton and the birth of eugenics.

Key Words Galton, eugenics, pedigrees, biometrics, correlation

* Abstract The eugenics movement was initiated by Sir Francis Galton, a Victorian scientist. Galton's career can be divided into two parts. During the first, Galton was engaged in African exploration, travel writing, geography, and meteorology. The second part began after he read the Origin of Species by his cousin Charles Darwin. The book convinced Galton that humanity could be improved through selective breeding. During this part of his career he was interested in the factors that determine what he called human "talent and character" and its hereditary basis. Consequently, he delved into anthropometrics and psychology and played a major role in the development of fingerprinting. He also founded the field of biometrics, inventing such familiar statistical procedures as correlation and regression analysis. He constructed his own theory of inheritance in which nature and not nurture played the leading role. He actively began to promote eugenics and soon gained important converts.

INTRODUCTION

On January 11, 1999, Time magazine ran a series entitled "The Future of Medicine" devoted to the effects of the genetic revolution on the human race. In an article entitled "Cursed by Eugenics" (33), Paul Gray wrote that the "rise and fall of the theory known as eugenics is in every respect a cautionary tale. The early eugenicists were usually well-meaning progressive types. They had imbibed their Darwin and decided that the process of natural selection would improve if it were guided by human intelligence. They did not know they were shaping a rationale for atrocities." With the rapid advances in modem human genetics the specter of eugenics is with us once more, although dressed in somewhat different garb. Insurance companies are interested in data relating to genetic maladies with regard to risk assessment. Although most governments currently limit or deny the use of genetic-test information by insurers, a British government committee recently decided to grant insurers access to the results of the genetic t est for Huntington's disease (43). Thus a precedent is now in place for access that could eventually widen to more genetic diseases. Meanwhile, employers worry about susceptibility genes. Sperm banks exist, as does the possibility of elective abortion of genetically defective children and, in some countries, embryos of an unwanted sex.

In view of current concerns about the emergence of a new eugenics, it seems appropriate to present a profile of Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) (Figure 1) who coined the word and initiated the original eugenics movement. Galton was a man of diverse interests. To those who follow the history of Africa, he is remembered as an explorer and geographer. He was also a well-known travel writer who authored The Art of Travel (12), an immensely popular guide book for amateur and professional alike who ventured into the bush over a century ago, that was just reissued by Phoenix Press. Meteorologists recognize Galton as the man who discovered the anticyclone. Those who delve into the history of statistics will find Galton's name associated with regression, correlation, and the founding of biometrics. Psychologists, especially those whose research is on mental imagery, acknowledge their debt to Galton. Forensic experts recognize Galton's central role in giving fingerprinting scientific legitimacy. And last, but certainly not least, Francis Galton's name will always be associated with the dawn of human genetics and, of course, eugenics.

Because of his vast array of interests Galton may appear a dilettante, but this is not the case. His research and published work revolve around two central themes. During the first part of his career Galton was absorbed in exploration, geography, and travel writing. Meteorology was a natural extension of this interest as the explorer is often at the mercy of the vagaries of the weather. The second part of Galton's career opened when he read On The Origin of Species (8) and concluded that it might be possible to improve the human race through selective breeding. In order to study the heritability of fitness, what Galton referred to as "talent and character," he made use of pedigrees, twin studies, and anthropometric measurements. Although he believed that favorable physical characteristics signaled aboveaverage mental capacity, he had no way to measure the latter, the IQ test being in the distant future. Hence, he tried to probe personal characteristics through studies of mental imagery, composite photographs of men with similar backgrounds, whether in crime or in military service, and by developing rigorous criteria for fingerprint identification. To analyze the masses of anthropometric data he also succeeded in accumulating, Galton invented new statistical tools including regression and correlation analysis.

Although this catalog of pursuits may seem astonishingly broad to a modem scientist, the diversity of Galton's manifold investigations was not atypical for a Victorian scientist. For example, William Whewell (1794-1866), the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, while Galton was a student, there had written tracts about philosophy, mathematics, mechanics, theology, and moral philosophy. He published a book on his theory of Gothic design, taught mineralogy, and wrote a text on the classification of minerals. Galton, like Charles Darwin, was independently wealthy and could spend full time on whatever attracted him, but most scientists were not so lucky. T.H. Huxley, who had no fortune to depend on, had to work hard to support himself and his family as a scientist and teacher. Many Victorians studied science in their spare time, depending on other occupations to put bread on the table. For instance, Galton's friend, the mathematician William Spottiswoode, was Printer to the Queen, and Charles Booth, whose 17-vol ume work Life and Labour of the People of London (7) is a classic in early sociology, founded and chaired a successful steamship company with his brother. If one were to choose two words to characterize Francis Galton, they would be optimism and quantification. He was by nature enthusiastic about his work and where it would lead. He also believed in the power of numerical data whether they related to longitudes, latitudes, or altitudes; measurements of arm, leg length, etc., which led him to the concept of correlation; or counting the frequency of fidgits of his friends and colleagues at some august meeting of the British Association of the Advancement of Science or the Royal Institution.

The focus of this review is on the second half of Galton's career, following his reading of the Origin of Species when the ideas that led him eventually to the notion of eugenics began to crystallize. However, it is first necessary to make a few points concerning Francis Galton's background and education, which are critical to understanding his overall philosophy.

BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION

Francis Galton was born on February 16, 1822, the youngest of nine children, seven of whom survived infancy. His mother, Violetta Darwin Galton, was the daughter of Erasmus Darwin by his second marriage to Elizabeth Collier Sacheveral-Pole, whereas Charles Darwin, 13 years older than Galton, was a grandson of Erasmus Darwin by his first marriage to Mary (Polly) Howard. His father, Samuel Tertius Galton, was the scion of an old and wealthy Quaker family that converted to Anglicanism, an important point as dissenters were not admissable to Oxford or Cambridge.

The relationship between Charles Darwin and his younger cousin proved crucial at several points in Galton's life, most notably when Galton started to think seriously about improving humanity through selective breeding. Like Darwin, Galton initially pursued medical studies and seems to have been better adapted to them than Darwin ever was. After…