Books by Francis Galton

A half-cousin of Charles Darwin, Francis Galton was uniquely positioned to be one of the first to consider how the principles Darwin laid out in his "Origin of the Species" could be applied to the human race. Indeed, Galton would be the one to coin the word 'eugenics.' In Galton's influential "Hereditary Character and Talent", he argued that if physical attributes could be subjected to Darwinian principles of selection, 'mental qualities' could be as well. He generated a list of 'notable persons' in order to demonstrate that intelligence and excellence were hereditary. Today, such applications of Darwinism are cavalierly dismissed as 'pseudo-science,' but there was a time, not so long ago, when they were simply accepted as pure, straight-forward, rock solid, science. This edition is carefully reproduced from Galton's essay, published in two parts, in MacMillan's Magazine, in 1865.

CONTENTS: The Possible Improvement of the Human Breed under Existing Conditions of Law and SentimentEugenics, its Definition, Scope, and AimsRestrictions in MarriageStudies in National EugenicsEugenics as a Factor in ReligionProbability, the Foundation of EugenicsLocal Associations for Promoting EugenicsSir Francis Galton (1822-1911) was a Victorian polymath: geographer, meteorologist, tropical explorer, founder of differential psychology, inventor of fingerprint identification, pioneer of statistical correlation and regression, convinced hereditarian, eugenicist, proto-geneticist, half-cousin of Charles Darwin and best-selling author.

In this book, published in 1902 as the second edition of the 1884 original, Sir Francis Dalton conveys his hope that, through the scrupulous use of this record book throughout life, hereditary physical, mental and other health problems may be anticipated and avoided by the owner of the book and their descendants.

Despite the increasing use of DNA evidence in crime solving, fingerprints still serve as an indispensable tool of modern-day criminal investigation. This book, originally published in 1892, offers an investigation of this anatomical peculiarity and its application in establishing individual identity for use in law enforcement.