• DOI:10.1038/093453b0
• Corpus ID: 3949964

Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into its Laws and Consequences

@article{GaltonHereditaryGA,
  title={Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into its Laws and Consequences},
  author={Francis Sir Galton},
  journal={Nature},
  volume={93},
  pages={453-453}
}

• F. Galton
• History
• Nature

Abstract“HEREDITARY GENIUS” was first published in 1869 and conies second in the series of works in which Galton's investigations on inheritance were given to the public, being preceded in 1865 by the papers in “Hereditary Talent and Character” which appeared in Macmillan's Magazine. A second edition appeared in 1892 from which the present issue has been reprinted. That after forty-five years there should still be a demand for this book is no source of wonder. It is the work of a master and for that reason one shrinks from praising it. But coming back to it after an interval one is struck again by its freshness, its readableness, and the wealth of apt comparison with which it is illustrated. Of the social significance of the subject it is also needless to speak. As Galton shows it bears on most things of interest to the human race from the doctrine of original sin to the vigorous growth of new colonies, and it led him in the last chapter to express views on individuality and the place of the individual in the living universe, which seem to be echoed in much modern sociological teaching on the subject.Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into its Laws and Consequences.By F. Galton. New edition. Pp. xxix + 379. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 5s. net.