If not for the work of his half cousin Francis Galton, Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory might have met a somewhat different fate. In particular, with no direct evidence of natural selection and no convincing theory of heredity to explain it, Darwin needed a mathematical explanation of variability and heredity. Galton's work in biometry -- the application of statistical methods to the biological sciences -- laid the foundations for precisely that. This book offers readers a compelling portrait of Galton as the ''father of biometry,'' tracing the development of his ideas and his accomplishments, and placing them in their scientific context.Though Michael Bulmer introduces readers to the curious facts of Galton's life -- as an explorer, as a polymath and member of the Victorian intellectual aristocracy, and as a proponent of eugenics -- his chief concern is with Galton's pioneering studies of heredity, in the course of which he invented the statistical tools of regression and correlation. Bulmer describes Galton's early ambitions and experiments -- his investigations of problems of evolutionary importance (such as the evolution of gregariousness and the function of sex), and his movement from the development of a physiological theory to a purely statistical theory of heredity, based on the properties of the normal distribution. This work, culminating in the law of ancestral heredity, also put Galton at the heart of the bitter conflict between the ''ancestrians'' and the ''Mendelians'' after the rediscovery of Mendelism in 1900. A graceful writer and an expert biometrician, Bulmer details the eventual triumph of biometrical methods in the history of quantitative genetics based on Mendelian principles, which underpins our understanding of evolution today.
AcknowledgmentsChronologyIntroduction1. A Victorian LifeFamily Background and EducationTravelsEastern Europe, 1840The Near East, 184546South West Africa, 185052Vacation ToursScientific CareerThe Royal Geographical SocietyExploration in Central AfricaThe British AssociationInventionsMeteorologyHeredity and EvolutionPsychologyPhotographyFingerprintsCharacterization2. Hereditary Ability""Hereditary Talent and Character"" (1865)Hereditary Genius (1869)English JudgesComparison of Results for All ProfessionsTransmission through Male and Female LinesThe Reception of Hereditary GeniusNature and NurtureEnglish Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture (1874)""The History of Twins"" (1875)Galton's HereditarianismEpilogueAppendix: Number of Kinsfolk3. EugenicsGaltonian EugenicsLater History of EugenicsBritainAmericaGermanyThe Rationale of Eugenics4. The Mechanism of HeredityGalton's Knowledge of Heredity in 1865Biparental InheritanceThe Non-Inheritance of Acquired CharactersThe Law of ReversionDarwin's Provisional Hypothesis of PangenesisReversionThe Inheritance of Acquired CharactersXenia and TelegonyGalton's Reaction to PangenesisGalton's Political Metaphor of PangenesisAn Experimental Test of PangenesisGalton's Theory of Heredity in the 1870sSimilarities Between RelativesGalton's Ideas on Heredity in 1889DiscussionWeismann and the Continuity of the Germ-PlasmDe Vries's Theory of Intracellular PangenesisSegregationBlending InheritanceFleeming Jenkin and the Problem of Swamping5. Four Evolutionary ProblemsThe Domestication of AnimalsThe Evolution of GregariousnessThe Fertility of HeiressesThe Extinction of SurnamesThe Evolution of Sex""A Theory of Heredity"" (1875)Three Unpublished Essays6. The Charms of StatisticsQuetelet and the Average ManGalton and the Normal DistributionHereditary Genius (1869)Natural Inheritance (1889)The Importance of the Normal Distribution to GaltonGalton's QuincunxRegression and the Bivariate Normal DistributionCorrelationTwo Concepts of ProbabilityThe Development of StatisticsAppendix: Regression Theory7. Statistical Theory of HeredityA Theory Based on Pangenesis""Typical Laws of Heredity"" (1877)An Experiment with Sweet PeasSolution of the ProblemJohannsen's Experiments with BeansThe Inheritance of Human HeightThe Advantages of HeightThe Regression of Offspring on Mid-ParentKinshipFraternal RegressionVariability in Fraternities and Co-Fraternities8. The Law of Ancestral HeredityGalton's Formulation of the Ancestral LawGalton's Derivation of the Law in 1885Derivation of the Law in 1897Galton's Law as It Should Have BeenKarl Pearson's Interpretation of the Ancestral LawThe Ancestral Law and MendelismWeldon and MendelismPearson and MendelismYule's Reconciliation of the Law with MendelismAppendix: The Regression on Mid-Ancestral Values9. Discontinuity in EvolutionGalton's Theory of Discontinuous EvolutionStability of TypePerpetual RegressionSelection ExperimentsThe Fallacy of Perpetual Regression""Discontinuity in Evolution"" (1894)Speciation and SaltationDe Vries and The Mutation TheoryPunctuated Equilibria10. BiometryThe Demonstration of Natural SelectionThe Career of W. F. R. WeldonThe Common ShrimpThe Shore CrabStabilizing Selection in SnailsBumpus's SparrowsMultivariate SelectionQuantitative GeneticsThe Multiple Factor HypothesisThe Hardy-Weinberg LawMendelian Theory of Quantitative GeneticsThe Response to SelectionCodaAppendix: Multivariate Selection TheorySelection Differentials and Selection GradientsThe Response to SelectionReferencesIndex
""Michael Bulmer's book is only partially about Galton the man. It begins with a biographical chapter but most of the book describes and evaluates Galton's quantitative work... Bulmer guides us skillfully through a great deal of the beginnings of our science. We are where we are because of the labors of people like Francis Galton. Science is not the same thing as progress but Galton's story is relevant to understanding something about the way in which science is related to progress. ""
