Embossed gilded cover design for Francis Galton's 1869 book \Hereditary Genius\". The design shows lines of descent across five generations: where G and g is grandfather or grandmother on either side, F is father, f is mother, U or u is uncle or aunt, B is brother, b is sister, N or n is nephew or niece, S is son, s is daughter, P or p is grandson or grandaughter. The central star presumably represents 'a genius'. Galton was very influenced by his cousin Charles Darwin's book \"The Origin of Species\" 1859. He was inspired to look at human variation, from intelligence to fingerprints. His first interest was whether human 'genius' was heritable. He tested this by seeing if certain families produced more eminent men than others, while later trying to control for environment and nurture. This book reports his early findings that 'eminence' decreases with decreasing relatedness to a 'Genius'."