72 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP.
is however one group in that book, consisting of divines, whose general eminence is not so great as the rest, and which also resembles the scientific men in the family distribution of ability. My former figures for 100 divines gave 22 notable fathers, 42 brothers, 28 grandfathers, and 42 uncles ; my present results for 100 scientific men are 28, 36, 20, and 40 respectively.
As regards the relative influence of the paternal and maternal lines, I find close equality. My method of comparison is by setting off paternal grandfathers and paternal uncles against maternal grandfathers and maternal uncles, no other near degree of kinship being available for the purpose. My results for 100 scientific men are:-paternal grandfathers, public characters, 10 ; of high private reputation, 3 ; paternal uncles, 13 and 8 ; making a total on the paternal side of 34. On the other hand, the maternal grandfathers are 11 and 4 ; maternal uncles, 15 and 7 ; making a total on the maternal side of 37.'
1 In '1 Hereditary Genius," p. 196, having fewer cases of scientific men to deal with, I extended my inquiries to
