Galton investigated the families of great men and suggested that genius was hereditary, and thus founded the science of Eugenics, although he did not coin the word until 1883 (see No. 230). Karl Pearson’s, The life, letters and labours of Francis Galton, 3 vols. in 4, Cambridge, 1914-30, is one of the most remarkable biographies ever published on a scientist.

Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, founded the science of Eugenics. In his important Inquiries he showed mathematically “the results of his experiments on the relations between the powers of visual imagery and of abstract thought, of the associations between the elements of different sense departments, of the correlation of mental traits, the associations of words, and the times taken in making the associations” (T. K. Penniman). The word “eugenics” first appears in the above book.

By the employment of statistical methods Galton propounded a “law of filial regression”. This book represents the first statistical study of biological variation and inheritance.

The use of fingerprints as identification marks was known to the Chinese, but Galton was among the first to explain their possibilities in the identification of criminals. “Galton’s delta” is a triangular area of papillary ridges on the distal pads of the digits.

Galton’s “law of ancestral heredity”.