Francis Galton
# Francis Galton

Francis Galton, F.R.S. (16 de fevereiro de 1822 - 17 de janeiro de 1911) foi um polímata vitoriano britânico, antropólogo, eugenista, explorador tropical, geógrafo, inventor, meteorologista, protogeneticista, psicometrista e estatístico. Ele era meio primo de Charles Darwin.
    -One of the effects of civilization is to diminish the rigour of the application of the law of natural selection. It preserves weakly lives that would have perished in barbarous lands.
       -"Talento e caráter hereditário" na revista MacMillan's Vol. XII (maio - outubro de 1865), p. 326.
    -General impressions are never to be trusted. Unfortunately when they are of long standing they become fixed rules of life and assume a prescriptive right not to be questioned. Consequently those who are not accustomed to original inquiry entertain a hatred and horror of statistics. They cannot endure the idea of submitting sacred impressions to cold-blooded verification. But it is the triumph of scientific men to rise superior to such superstitions, to desire tests by which the value of beliefs may be ascertained, and to feel sufficiently masters of themselves to discard contemptuously whatever may be found untrue.
       -Citado em Modgil, Sohan e Celia Modgil, eds. Arthur Jensen: Consenso e Controvérsia. Vol. 4. Routledge, 1987.
    -What nature does blindly, slowly, and ruthlessly, man may do providently, quickly, and kindly. As it lies within his power, so it becomes his duty to work in that direction.
       -"Eugenia: sua definição, escopo e objetivos"; The American Journal of Sociology, Volume X (julho de 1904)
    -I do not plead guilty to a shallow view of human nature, when I propose to apply, as it were, a foot-rule to its heights and depths.
       -"Medição do Caráter". Popular Science Monthly, Volume 25 (outubro de 1884)

## Sobre

* Alguns escritores duvidaram se esses atributos mentais complexos, dos quais o gênio e o talento dependem, são herdados, mesmo quando ambos os pais são assim dotados. Mas aquele que estudar o trabalho capaz do Sr. Galton sobre 'Gênio Hereditário' terá suas dúvidas dissipadas.
    -Some writers have doubted whether those complex mental attributes, on which genius and talent depend, are inherited, even when both parents are thus endowed. But he who will study Mr. Galton's able work on 'Hereditary Genius' will have his doubts allayed
       -Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. Londres: John Murray, 1905, 1, 538.
* O tipo de mente excêntrica, cética, observadora, chamativa e líder de cavalaria de Galton o levou a se tornar o fundador do ramo mais importante, significativo e, eu acrescentaria, genuíno da sociologia que existe, a eugenia.
    -Galton’s eccentric, sceptical, observing, flashing, cavalry-leader type of mind led him eventually to become the founder of the most important, significant and, I would add, genuine branch of sociology which exists, namely eugenics.
       -John Maynard Keynes, Eugenics Review, 1946