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CHAPTER VII

THE REAWAKENING : SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION


IN the absence of records for the period 1844-9 we are unable to trace the outside influences, if any, which again stirred Galton's latent scientific tastes, awakening once more those instincts for, the production of work of social value, which for six years had been lying fallow. We do not suggest that these years were without any profit for Galton's ultimate career. The accumulation of experience-however apparently aimless-is always capital of a final interest-bearing value to the man who has by heredity a receptive mind and an unusual power of storing observation. The knowledge gained hap-hazard in the Soudan and Syria, the pursuit of grouse on the Scottish and Yorkshire moors', the shooting of seals in the Hebrides, the observation of bird and beast, the ready presence of mind, which the hunting field encourages', the knowledge of human motive and human weakness in the gambling, wine-loving, tale-capping set of the Hunt Club at Leamington, whose typical representatives were the Jack Myttons, father and son4,-all these experiences were not without profit in later life. Even their value in African travel was not to be despised ; it is only their incongruity with the youth of 1840 and the man of 1850,

1 Well for Galton that it was before the days of the modern "drive"?

2 In later years Galton with characteristic modesty and the love of a joke even at his own expense, would say that he had learnt by experience to reduce falling off to a fine art.

3 The relief at hearing the simple truth told in simple words was, Galton once remarked, one of the new and pleasurable experiences associated with the family circle which his marriage introduced him to.

4 The life of Jack Mytton, Senior, has been written by "Nimrod" (J. C. Apperley) under the title : The Life of John Mytton Esq., of Halston, Shropshire, with his Hunting, Racing, Shooting, Driving and Extravagant Exploits (with colour illustrations by Alken and Rawlins). Jack Mytton, Junior, inherited his father's recklessness; he also got through a fortune and died prematurely. "There was no question of his ability or power over others," wrote Galton in his Memories, p. 110.

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