But quantifying the heredity of “genius” wasn’t so easy: how, exactly, was one to measure just how notable his notable Englishmen were? Undeterred, Galton turned to human characteristics that could be more easily placed on a numerical scale, like height. As Galton and everyone else already knew, tall parents tend to have tall children. When a six-foot-two man and a five-foot-ten woman get married, their sons and daughters are likely to be taller than average. But now here is Galton’s remarkable discovery: those children are not likely to be as tall as their parents. The same goes for short
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