[Enclosure]

Heredity during 3 generations,—of a habit that only occurs during sleep

(Mem in using this information, do not quote D^r. Butler’s name)

The Rev^d. D^r. George Butler formerly Head Master of Harrow in Lord Byron’s time, & afterwards Dean of Peterborough, used to take after dinner naps in his arm chair, during which he had a strange habit of raising & laying his forearm across the top of his head,—whence, as he nodded, it dropped in front of his face, striking his nose as it fell, usually awakening him with a start. The bridge of his somewhat prominent nose was frequently sore & sometimes raw from this curious habit.

Precisely the same habit is inherited by his son D^r. Montagu Butler, the present Head Master of Harrow who was first told of it by his wife,⁴ she having never known his father nor heard of the father having the peculiarity. D^r. Montagu Butler is aware of the last stage of the occurrence, namely of the dropping of his hand, because it often awakens him more or less completely & he believes that if his nose had been as prominent as his fathers, it would have suffered quite as much.

This discovery of his wife’s became a subject of family conversation before it was noticed, quite recently, that his child, a daughter,⁵ also inherits the habit. She when asleep in bed, continually raises her arm, rests it on her head & lets it fall over her face

Francis Galton Dec 22/71