uld be issued by a suitably
constituted authority to those candidates who chose to apply for them
and were able to pass the necessary tests. Such certificates would imply
an inquiry and examination into the ancestry of the candidate as well as
into his own constitution, health, intelligence and character; and the
possession of such a certificate would involve a superiority to the
average in all these respects. No one would be compelled to offer
himself for such examination, just as no one is compelled to seek a
university degree. But its possession would often be an advantage. There
is nothing to prevent the establishment of a board of examiners of this
kind to-morrow, and we may be sure that, once established, many
candidates would hasten to present themselves.[153] There are obviously
many positions in life wherein a certificate of this kind of superiority
would be helpful. But its chief distinction would be that its possession
would be a kind of patent of natural nobility; the man or woman who held
it would be one of Nature's aristocrats, to whom the future of the race
might be safely left without further question.

IV

By happy inspiration, or by chance, Galton made public his programme of
eugenic research, in a paper read before the Sociological Society, on
February 14, the festival of St. Valentine. Although the ancient
observances of that day have now died out, St. Valentine was for many
centuries the patron saint of sexual selection, more especially in
England. It can scarcely be said that any credit in this matter belongs
to the venerable saint himself; it was by an accident that he achieved
his conspicuous position in the world. He was simply a pious Christian
who was beheaded for his faith in Rome under Claudius. But it so
happened that his festival fell at that period in early spring when
birds were believed to pair, and when youths and maidens were accustomed
to select partners for themselves or for others. This custom--which has
been studied together with many allied primitive practices by
Mannhardt[154]--was not always carried out on February 14, sometimes it
took place a little later. In England, where it was strictly associated
with St. Valentine's Day, the custom was referred to by Lydgate, and by
Charles of Orleans in the rondeaus and ballades he wrote during his long
imprisonment in England. The name Valentins or Valentines was also
introduced into France (where the custom had long existed) to des