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354   Life and Letters of Francis Galton

Memories of my Life'. Galton's letters indicate how busy he was during the latter half of ,1908 with this book. It would not be fitting-were it indeed feasible-to give an analysis of his work here. Our biography has, indeed, endeavoured to give a picture of Galton's personality, his deep affection for his relatives and for his friends ; it has been able to say what he could not say of himself. An autobiography can only indirectly characterise its subject, unless its writer be as unabashed as Benvenuto Cellini, or as self-soddened as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. But beyond this .characterisation, we have endeavoured to lay stress on Galton's contributions to science and to reproduce' his thoughts in his own words. The reader will find little of this in the Memories ; they deal not wholly, but chiefly, with the men-many of them noteworthy in their day-whom Galton had known in the course of a long lifetime. They are delightful reading, full of anecdotes and reminiscences, but the Galton of our volumes-the scientific originator, the modest inquirer, the intensely affectionate and reliable friend-is not easily recognised in the pages of his autobiography.

There are, however, two or three passages I should like to quote here for the benefit of those who are unable to read the Memories-now, alas, out of print. The first illustrates the depth of Galton's feelings for his friends. He is speaking of his college friend, Henry Fitzmaurice Hallam, born in 1824, only to die when he was 26 years old. He was the younger son of the historian, and brother to Arthur Hallam, who died at 22 and was the subject of Tennyson's In Memoriam.

"Henry Hallam had a singular sweetness and attractiveness of manner, with a love of harmless banter and paradox, and was keenly sympathetic with all his many friends. He won the Second Chancellor's Medal. Through him I became introduced to his father's house, still

shadowed by the sudden death of his son Arthur and of a daughter. Mr Hallam was very kind to me, and the friendship of him and of his family- was one of the corner-stones of my lifehistory.... Henry Hallam, like his brother and sister, died suddenly and young, to my poignant grief. His death occurred while I was away in South Africa. I have visited the quiet church at Clevedon, where all the Hallams lie, each memorial stone bearing a briefly pathetic inscription, and kneeling alone in a pew by their side, spent part of a solitary hour in unrestrained tears." (pp. 65-6.)


Another passage I wish to cite bears upon the nature of Time ; it should be compared with Galton's view of Time in the Inquiries into Human Facultyl.

" I will mention here a rather weird effect that compiling these `Memories' has produced on me. By much dwelling upon them they became refurbished and so vivid as to appear as sharp and definite as things of to-day. The consequence has been an occasional obliteration of

the sense of Time, and the replacing of it by the idea of a permanent panorama, painted throughout with equal vividness, in which the point to which attention is temporarily directed becomes for that time the Present. The panorama seems to extend unseen behind a veil which bides the Future, but is slowly rolling aside and disclosing it. That part of the panorama which is veiled is supposed to exist as vividly coloured as the rest, though latent. In short, this experience


* Methuen & Co., London, 1908.

t There was another daughter Julia Hallam, who travelled with Emma and Francis Galton see Vol. i, p. 180, and also pp. 140-1, 171, 191, 205-207, and 238. $ See Vol. ii, p, 263.


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