18 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [cHar.
quarters. Some haphazard selecting which I tried confirmed this view. Then comes the important question, Is this a sign that a mixture of one or more of the various civilized races is conducive to form an able offspring? No doubt the varied " nurture " due to separate streams of tradition has great influence in awakening original thought, but we are not speaking of this now ; the question is about "nature." On an analysis of the scientific status of the men on my list, it appeared to me that their ability is higher in proportion to their numbers among those of pure race. The Border men and lowland Scotch come out exceedingly well ; the AngloIrish and Anglo-Welsh, notwithstanding eminent individual exceptions, would as a whole rank last. Owing to my list not being exhaustive, I hardly like to attempt conclusions as to the precise productiveness of scientific ability of the Scotch, English, and Irish severally, but there cannot be a shadow of doubt that its degrees are in the order I have named.
