Characterisation, especially by Letters   495

The weather is improving here and the lilacs, laburnums, etc. will be glorious when the sun shines. There was a chilly geographical river party yesterday to see the Franklin remains at Greenwich, which I did not care to join. What is Arthur Galton's address in Sydney? I owe him a letter of thanks for a published lecture which he recently sent me (unaccompanied by an address).

The following is the Speech delivered by the Public Orator on presenting Mr Francis Galton, M.A., F.R.S., of Trinity College, for the honorary degree of Doctor in Science*.

Sedes olim sibi notas hodie revisit alumnus nester, qui flumine Nilo quondam explorato, et Africa Australi postea perlustrata, velut alter Mercurius omnium qui inter loca deserta et inhospita peregrinantur adiutor et patronus egregius exstitit. Idem, velut alter Aeolus, etiam ipsos ventos caelique tempestates suae provinciae audacter adianxit. Hodie vero Academiae nemora nuper procellis nimium vexata non sine misericordia contemplatus, e frondibus nostris caducis capiti tam venerabili coronam din debitam imponi patitur. Tempestatum certe in scientia iamdudmn versatus, ventoruin cursus tabulis fidelibus olim mandavit, gentesque varium caeli morem praediscere docuit, laudem philosopho cuidam antiquo a Nubium choro Aristophanico quondam tributam uno saltem verbo mutato meritus : ov yap uv a,\Xw y' v7raKovoat Ev rwv vvv tCETewpoXoyovvTwv. Longum est avorum et proavorum ingenia magna in ipsorum progenie contin uata ab hoc viro, Caroli Darwinii cognato, virorum insignium exemplis illustrata percensere. Longuni est tot honoree titulosque ab ipso per tot annos cumulatos cominemorare. Hoc autem in loco, eloquentiae eius undecim abhinc annos conscio, instituti anthropologici praesidem non corporis tantum sed etiam rnentis humanae mensorem appellaverim. Inter antiquos quidem celebratum erat illud Protagorae, omnium rerum mensuram esse hominem. Inter recentiores autem notum est hunc praesertim viruni hominum omnium, imprimis pessimorum, mensuram ad amussim velle exigere. Ceterum plura hodie dicere supervacaneum est; constat enim ne opsimorum quidem virorum a laudibus abesse debere mensuram. Duco ad vos virum de scientia anthropologica et meteorologica praeclare meritum, caeli et terrae indagatorem indefessum, studiorum denique geographicorum etiam inter nosmet ipsos fautorem insignem, Franciscum - Galton.

Translation of Dr Scandys' speech by Archdeacon Bree for the benefit of Miss Emma Galton, and possibly of some of my Readers.

The Public Orator, Dr Sandys, in presenting for the honorary degree of Doctor in Science Mr Francis Galton, F.R.S., M.A., Trinity, referred to Mr Galton's early travels on the White Nile and in the Damara- and Ovampo-lands in South Africa, adding that the author of the "Art of Travel," "velut alter Mercurius omnium qui inter loca deserta et inhospita peregrinantur adiutor et patronus egregius exstitit. Like another Aeolus, he had also taken the winds and tempests for his province, and on his return to his former haunts at Cambridge he had doubtless looked with pity on the "groves of Academe," lately laid desolate by a disastrous storm. As meteorologist he had been the first to map out the course of the winds on an extensive scale, and had thus facilitated the forecasting of the weather; the high regard in which he was held in this department of science might perhaps be expressed in language partly borrowed from the Clouds of Aristophanes: ov yap av iAXp y' inraKovaactiev Ti v vvv µeTewpoXoyovvrwv. Descended from the same grandfather as Charles Darwin, he had himself written largely on subjects connected with heredity. His Rede lecture, on "The Measurement of Human Faculty," delivered in the Senate-house 11 years ago, entitled the former president of the Anthropological Institute to be called a measurer, not only of the human body, but also of the human mind. Protagoras had in ancient days taught the doctrine that " Man was the measure of all things." Mr Galton had in modern times taken a leading part in insisting on taking the measure of men in general and of criminals in particular. It was, however, superfluous to expatiate any longer on his merits; even the praises of eminent men had their limiting law and their proper measure.

* Cambridge Reporter, May 21, 1895.