Areas of focus: Francis Galton, Richard F. Burton, JBS Haldane, Cyril Darlington, Cyril Burt. History of Evolution and Behavior, Behavior Genetics, Differential Psychology and related fields.
A supplementary volume of primary materials to Francis Galton: a Lifetime of Exploration, along w... more A supplementary volume of primary materials to Francis Galton: a Lifetime of Exploration, along with critical editions of key papers.
The material was originally prepared to be included as appendices to the two main volumes, Francis Galton's Nature and Nurture: 1822-1865 and Francis Galton's Genius: 1865-1911. But the material grew so bulky that it has been placed in a separate volume, one of seven supplements.
The papers in particular are not meant to be representative. For example, the technical memoirs on regression and correlation have not been included---merely because no critical editions of those were needed for preparation of the biography.
Included are contemporary reports of the famous BA debate of 1860 between Huxley and Wilberforce which, contrary to modern confusion of the "akshually" variety, was more or less exactly as described later by Huxley.
Charles John Andersson accompanied Francis Galton on an expedition to South-West Africa between 1... more Charles John Andersson accompanied Francis Galton on an expedition to South-West Africa between 1850 and 1852. His original diaries are transcribed here for the first time with editorial commentary and context.
Francis Galton's letters and diaries while he was Cambridge, between 1840 and 1844, including the... more Francis Galton's letters and diaries while he was Cambridge, between 1840 and 1844, including the diary entries by his father Samuel Tertius Galton. Editorial commentary clarifies the transcriptions and original page images are included.
Francis Galton constructed a science-fiction-like story about communication between Earth and Mar... more Francis Galton constructed a science-fiction-like story about communication between Earth and Martians by means of sun signals. He described a means for bootstrapping information transfer. The story includes entertaining details about the Martians, who are insect-like but highly-intelligent due to their practice of eugenics. However the expense and trouble of constructing equipment to improve communication with Earth raises a great deal of controversy in the Bellona Gazette. Transcribed from the barely-legible and much revised notebook with editorial commentary.
Francis Galton and the Swiss botanist and historian of science Alphonse de Candolle initiated a l... more Francis Galton and the Swiss botanist and historian of science Alphonse de Candolle initiated a long and extremely cordial disagreement by correspondence in 1873. Complete transcripts in English, with the French originals, are provided. Editorial commentary clarifies references and context where needed.
Letters exchanged between the pioneers of psychometrics, Francis Galton and Alfred Binet. Galton ... more Letters exchanged between the pioneers of psychometrics, Francis Galton and Alfred Binet. Galton had read Binet's work from the start. Binet was intimately familiar with Galton's work and used it as a conceptual springboard. Translations in English with French originals in text and page images.
Volume 2 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, t... more Volume 2 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, together with reminiscences by his contemporaries, arranged together in chronological order, making up roughly 800 items. Detailed annotations throughout clarify references. A Register provides biographical information about the principal players, while a detailed Chronology provides an overview of Burton's career. Many rare illustrations and plates are included.
Volume 4 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, t... more Volume 4 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, together with reminiscences by his contemporaries, arranged together in chronological order, making up roughly 800 items. Detailed annotations throughout clarify references. A Register provides biographical information about the principal players, while a detailed Chronology provides an overview of Burton's career. Many rare illustrations and plates are included.
Volume 3 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, t... more Volume 3 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, together with reminiscences by his contemporaries, arranged together in chronological order, making up roughly 800 items. Detailed annotations throughout clarify references. A Register provides biographical information about the principal players, while a detailed Chronology provides an overview of Burton's career. Many rare illustrations and plates are included.
Volume 1 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, t... more Volume 1 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, together with reminiscences by his contemporaries, arranged together in chronological order, making up roughly 800 items. Detailed annotations throughout clarify references. A Register provides biographical information about the principal players, while a detailed Chronology provides an overview of Burton's career. Many rare illustrations and plates are included.
JBS Haldane's abandonment of his former friend, the Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov, allowed hi... more JBS Haldane's abandonment of his former friend, the Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov, allowed him to show a finer appreciation of logical niceties than his Bloomsbury acquaintance E.M. Forster. Whereas Forster hoped to betray his country rather than his friend, Haldane knew that he could just as well betray both.
Based on the MI5 surveillance files and VENONA intercepts at the National Archives; the Haldane Archives at University College London; and many other primary sources previously overlooked. The VENONA intercepts dealing with Haldane are reproduced verbatim, in unredacted form. Haldane's unfinished autobiography, up to 1938, is also published here for the first time.
Two new books on behaviour genetics and heredity argue that the effects from ‘non-shared environm... more Two new books on behaviour genetics and heredity argue that the effects from ‘non-shared environment’ are due to random noise, a combination of measurement error and chance developmental variation.1 • Robert Plomin Blueprint (MIT Press, 2018). ISBN: 9780262039161. 280 pp. • Kevin J. Mitchell Innate (Princeton University Press, 2018). ISBN: 9780691184999. 304 pp. http://galton.org/reviews/Plomin-Mitchell/plomin-mitchell.html.
An analogy between rectangles and the combination of nature and nurture is a staple of popular di... more An analogy between rectangles and the combination of nature and nurture is a staple of popular discussions of the subject, and has even crossed over into more technical presentations. It is supposed to make the point that nature and nurture are inseparable and cannot be compared (here the details vary). The analogy is based on a misunderstanding, which can be clarified using elementary mathematics. Nature and nurture, like the sides of rectangles, can and have been disentangled. To say that they are equally essential is not to say that they are equally important. In 1958, the psychologist Donald Olding Hebb (1904-1985) introduced an analogy between the nature-nurture controversy and areas of rectangles. It has proved highly influential, particularly among those who argue that nature and nurture are logically inseparable, and have expressed the wish that the whole question be dropped. Hebb’s textbook original was couched in terms of the area of a farmer’s field. Sometimes it is recog...
In the "Terminal Essay" to the tenth volume of his translation of the 1001 Nights, Richard Burton... more In the "Terminal Essay" to the tenth volume of his translation of the 1001 Nights, Richard Burton included a remarkable passage which would over time develop into perhaps the most widely-known of all the many stories told about his early career. It is not unusual to come across people today who, though they have only the vaguest idea who Burton was or why he is worth bothering with now, know at least some variant of it. The incident it refers to has come to be known as the Karachi Brothel Report. Burton described it as a first-hand investigation into pederasty-for-hire in the town where he was stationed in Sindh in the mid-1840s. Written up as an official report, this got him into trouble with the authorities, or so the story goes. Some sources even claim that it blighted his career in the Indian Army. The difficulty is that no such document has ever been found, leading some to doubt whether it ever existed, suggesting that Burton may have made the whole story up. New evidence is assembled here that provides powerful corroboration for the existence of the original investigation and the report. Remarkably, it seems that this is the first time any attempt has been made to gather this information in coherent form.
In the last comprehensive review by Mackintosh et al. Cyril Burt, Fraud or Framed? (London: Oxfor... more In the last comprehensive review by Mackintosh et al. Cyril Burt, Fraud or Framed? (London: Oxford University Press, 1995) of the fraud charges posthumously leveled against the once eminent psychologist Sir Cyril Burt, Mackintosh and Mascie-Taylor asserted that statistical anomalies they detected in his social mobility data of 1961 provided crucial evidence of guilt. The anomalies included apparent departures from normality in some parts of the data, incommensurate cell totals, and suspicious uniformity within IQ bands across fathers and sons. It is shown here that the departures from normality were a natural consequence of unavoidable rounding when inverting the cumulative normal distribution to construct the class IQ bands used in the tables. Elementary procedures are given, known since at least the 1930s, which could have been used by Burt to simultaneously preserve both the normality of his IQ data and the desired population proportions of occupational classes. Other anomalies first noticed by the statistician Donald Rubin are explainable as artifacts produced by fixing marginal totals in the presence of rounding to IQ scores, then using the same weighting procedures to conform to margins. The grounds given by Mackintosh and Mascie-Taylor for finding fraud in Burt's social mobility data are therefore dismissed.
This is the first full-length biography of the once well-known and widely-read geneticist Cyril D... more This is the first full-length biography of the once well-known and widely-read geneticist Cyril Dean Darlington (1903-1981). The only other substantial source is a notice in the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (Lewis, 1983), but Harman has not taken his opportunity; he fails to engage convincingly with Darlington’s rich intellectual life, which extended from differential psychology to race and universal history, far beyond the chromosomes he made his name in. The author is also guilty of plagiarism.
A supplementary volume of primary materials to Francis Galton: a Lifetime of Exploration, along w... more A supplementary volume of primary materials to Francis Galton: a Lifetime of Exploration, along with critical editions of key papers.
The material was originally prepared to be included as appendices to the two main volumes, Francis Galton's Nature and Nurture: 1822-1865 and Francis Galton's Genius: 1865-1911. But the material grew so bulky that it has been placed in a separate volume, one of seven supplements.
The papers in particular are not meant to be representative. For example, the technical memoirs on regression and correlation have not been included---merely because no critical editions of those were needed for preparation of the biography.
Included are contemporary reports of the famous BA debate of 1860 between Huxley and Wilberforce which, contrary to modern confusion of the "akshually" variety, was more or less exactly as described later by Huxley.
Charles John Andersson accompanied Francis Galton on an expedition to South-West Africa between 1... more Charles John Andersson accompanied Francis Galton on an expedition to South-West Africa between 1850 and 1852. His original diaries are transcribed here for the first time with editorial commentary and context.
Francis Galton's letters and diaries while he was Cambridge, between 1840 and 1844, including the... more Francis Galton's letters and diaries while he was Cambridge, between 1840 and 1844, including the diary entries by his father Samuel Tertius Galton. Editorial commentary clarifies the transcriptions and original page images are included.
Francis Galton constructed a science-fiction-like story about communication between Earth and Mar... more Francis Galton constructed a science-fiction-like story about communication between Earth and Martians by means of sun signals. He described a means for bootstrapping information transfer. The story includes entertaining details about the Martians, who are insect-like but highly-intelligent due to their practice of eugenics. However the expense and trouble of constructing equipment to improve communication with Earth raises a great deal of controversy in the Bellona Gazette. Transcribed from the barely-legible and much revised notebook with editorial commentary.
Francis Galton and the Swiss botanist and historian of science Alphonse de Candolle initiated a l... more Francis Galton and the Swiss botanist and historian of science Alphonse de Candolle initiated a long and extremely cordial disagreement by correspondence in 1873. Complete transcripts in English, with the French originals, are provided. Editorial commentary clarifies references and context where needed.
Letters exchanged between the pioneers of psychometrics, Francis Galton and Alfred Binet. Galton ... more Letters exchanged between the pioneers of psychometrics, Francis Galton and Alfred Binet. Galton had read Binet's work from the start. Binet was intimately familiar with Galton's work and used it as a conceptual springboard. Translations in English with French originals in text and page images.
Volume 2 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, t... more Volume 2 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, together with reminiscences by his contemporaries, arranged together in chronological order, making up roughly 800 items. Detailed annotations throughout clarify references. A Register provides biographical information about the principal players, while a detailed Chronology provides an overview of Burton's career. Many rare illustrations and plates are included.
Volume 4 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, t... more Volume 4 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, together with reminiscences by his contemporaries, arranged together in chronological order, making up roughly 800 items. Detailed annotations throughout clarify references. A Register provides biographical information about the principal players, while a detailed Chronology provides an overview of Burton's career. Many rare illustrations and plates are included.
Volume 3 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, t... more Volume 3 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, together with reminiscences by his contemporaries, arranged together in chronological order, making up roughly 800 items. Detailed annotations throughout clarify references. A Register provides biographical information about the principal players, while a detailed Chronology provides an overview of Burton's career. Many rare illustrations and plates are included.
Volume 1 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, t... more Volume 1 of the first comprehensive collection of correspondence by Sir Richard Francis Burton, together with reminiscences by his contemporaries, arranged together in chronological order, making up roughly 800 items. Detailed annotations throughout clarify references. A Register provides biographical information about the principal players, while a detailed Chronology provides an overview of Burton's career. Many rare illustrations and plates are included.
JBS Haldane's abandonment of his former friend, the Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov, allowed hi... more JBS Haldane's abandonment of his former friend, the Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov, allowed him to show a finer appreciation of logical niceties than his Bloomsbury acquaintance E.M. Forster. Whereas Forster hoped to betray his country rather than his friend, Haldane knew that he could just as well betray both.
Based on the MI5 surveillance files and VENONA intercepts at the National Archives; the Haldane Archives at University College London; and many other primary sources previously overlooked. The VENONA intercepts dealing with Haldane are reproduced verbatim, in unredacted form. Haldane's unfinished autobiography, up to 1938, is also published here for the first time.
Two new books on behaviour genetics and heredity argue that the effects from ‘non-shared environm... more Two new books on behaviour genetics and heredity argue that the effects from ‘non-shared environment’ are due to random noise, a combination of measurement error and chance developmental variation.1 • Robert Plomin Blueprint (MIT Press, 2018). ISBN: 9780262039161. 280 pp. • Kevin J. Mitchell Innate (Princeton University Press, 2018). ISBN: 9780691184999. 304 pp. http://galton.org/reviews/Plomin-Mitchell/plomin-mitchell.html.
An analogy between rectangles and the combination of nature and nurture is a staple of popular di... more An analogy between rectangles and the combination of nature and nurture is a staple of popular discussions of the subject, and has even crossed over into more technical presentations. It is supposed to make the point that nature and nurture are inseparable and cannot be compared (here the details vary). The analogy is based on a misunderstanding, which can be clarified using elementary mathematics. Nature and nurture, like the sides of rectangles, can and have been disentangled. To say that they are equally essential is not to say that they are equally important. In 1958, the psychologist Donald Olding Hebb (1904-1985) introduced an analogy between the nature-nurture controversy and areas of rectangles. It has proved highly influential, particularly among those who argue that nature and nurture are logically inseparable, and have expressed the wish that the whole question be dropped. Hebb’s textbook original was couched in terms of the area of a farmer’s field. Sometimes it is recog...
In the "Terminal Essay" to the tenth volume of his translation of the 1001 Nights, Richard Burton... more In the "Terminal Essay" to the tenth volume of his translation of the 1001 Nights, Richard Burton included a remarkable passage which would over time develop into perhaps the most widely-known of all the many stories told about his early career. It is not unusual to come across people today who, though they have only the vaguest idea who Burton was or why he is worth bothering with now, know at least some variant of it. The incident it refers to has come to be known as the Karachi Brothel Report. Burton described it as a first-hand investigation into pederasty-for-hire in the town where he was stationed in Sindh in the mid-1840s. Written up as an official report, this got him into trouble with the authorities, or so the story goes. Some sources even claim that it blighted his career in the Indian Army. The difficulty is that no such document has ever been found, leading some to doubt whether it ever existed, suggesting that Burton may have made the whole story up. New evidence is assembled here that provides powerful corroboration for the existence of the original investigation and the report. Remarkably, it seems that this is the first time any attempt has been made to gather this information in coherent form.
In the last comprehensive review by Mackintosh et al. Cyril Burt, Fraud or Framed? (London: Oxfor... more In the last comprehensive review by Mackintosh et al. Cyril Burt, Fraud or Framed? (London: Oxford University Press, 1995) of the fraud charges posthumously leveled against the once eminent psychologist Sir Cyril Burt, Mackintosh and Mascie-Taylor asserted that statistical anomalies they detected in his social mobility data of 1961 provided crucial evidence of guilt. The anomalies included apparent departures from normality in some parts of the data, incommensurate cell totals, and suspicious uniformity within IQ bands across fathers and sons. It is shown here that the departures from normality were a natural consequence of unavoidable rounding when inverting the cumulative normal distribution to construct the class IQ bands used in the tables. Elementary procedures are given, known since at least the 1930s, which could have been used by Burt to simultaneously preserve both the normality of his IQ data and the desired population proportions of occupational classes. Other anomalies first noticed by the statistician Donald Rubin are explainable as artifacts produced by fixing marginal totals in the presence of rounding to IQ scores, then using the same weighting procedures to conform to margins. The grounds given by Mackintosh and Mascie-Taylor for finding fraud in Burt's social mobility data are therefore dismissed.
This is the first full-length biography of the once well-known and widely-read geneticist Cyril D... more This is the first full-length biography of the once well-known and widely-read geneticist Cyril Dean Darlington (1903-1981). The only other substantial source is a notice in the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (Lewis, 1983), but Harman has not taken his opportunity; he fails to engage convincingly with Darlington’s rich intellectual life, which extended from differential psychology to race and universal history, far beyond the chromosomes he made his name in. The author is also guilty of plagiarism.
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Books by Gavan Tredoux
The material was originally prepared to be
included as appendices to the two main volumes, Francis Galton's Nature and Nurture: 1822-1865 and Francis Galton's Genius: 1865-1911. But the material grew so bulky that it has been placed in a separate volume, one of seven supplements.
The papers in particular are not meant to be representative. For example, the technical memoirs on regression and correlation have not been included---merely because no critical editions of those
were needed for preparation of the biography.
Included are contemporary reports of the famous BA debate of 1860 between Huxley and Wilberforce which, contrary to modern confusion of the "akshually" variety, was more or less exactly as described later by Huxley.
Based on the MI5 surveillance files and VENONA intercepts at the National Archives; the Haldane Archives at University College London; and many other primary sources previously overlooked. The VENONA intercepts dealing with Haldane are reproduced verbatim, in unredacted form. Haldane's unfinished autobiography, up to 1938, is also published here for the first time.
In press, Encounter Books, April 2018.
Papers by Gavan Tredoux
Book Reviews by Gavan Tredoux
The material was originally prepared to be
included as appendices to the two main volumes, Francis Galton's Nature and Nurture: 1822-1865 and Francis Galton's Genius: 1865-1911. But the material grew so bulky that it has been placed in a separate volume, one of seven supplements.
The papers in particular are not meant to be representative. For example, the technical memoirs on regression and correlation have not been included---merely because no critical editions of those
were needed for preparation of the biography.
Included are contemporary reports of the famous BA debate of 1860 between Huxley and Wilberforce which, contrary to modern confusion of the "akshually" variety, was more or less exactly as described later by Huxley.
Based on the MI5 surveillance files and VENONA intercepts at the National Archives; the Haldane Archives at University College London; and many other primary sources previously overlooked. The VENONA intercepts dealing with Haldane are reproduced verbatim, in unredacted form. Haldane's unfinished autobiography, up to 1938, is also published here for the first time.
In press, Encounter Books, April 2018.