OCR Rendition - approximate

164 Hereditary Talent and Character. generation, their qualities being in, liarmony and not in contrast, according to rules, of which we are now ignorant, but which a study of the subject would be sure to evolve ! . It has been said by Bacon that " great men' have no continuance." I, howover, find that very great men are certainly not averse to the other sex, for some such have been noted for their illicit intercourses, and, I believe, for a corresponding amount of illegitimate issue. Great lawyers are especially to be blamed in this, even more than poets, artists, or great commanders. It seems natural to believe that a person who is not married, or who, if married, does not happen to have children, should feel himself knore vacant to the attractions of a pu lic or a literary career than if be had ~he domestic cares and interests of a family to attend to. Thus, if we take a list of the leaders in science of the present day, the small number of them who have families is very remarkable. Perhaps the best selection of names we can make, is from those whoa have filled the annual scientific office of President of the British .Association. We will take the.list, of the commoners simply, lest it should be objected, though unjustly, that some of the noblemen :who have occupied the chair were not wholly indebted to their scientific attainments for that high position. Out of twenty-two individuals, about onethird have children ; one-third are or have been married and have no children ; and-,brie-third have never been married. Aia n the children of those who have had families, the names of Frank Buckland and Alexander Herschel are already well-known to the public. There has been a. popular belief that men of great intellectual eminence, are usually of feeble constitution, and of a dry and cold disposition. There may be such instances, but I believe the general rule to be exactly the- opposite. Such men, so far as my observation and reading extend, are usually more manly` and genial than the average, and by the aid of these very qualities, they obtain a recognised as cendancy: It is a great and common mistake to suppose that high intellectual powers are commonly associated with puny frames and small physical strength. Men of remarkable eminence are almost always men of vast powers of work. Those among them that have fallen into sedentary ways will frequently astonish their friends by their physical feats, when they, happen to be in the mood of a vacation ramble. The Alpine Club contains a remarkable number of men of fair literary and scientific distinction; and these are among the strongest and most daring of the climbers. I believe, from my own recollections of the thews and energies of my contemporaries and friends of many years at Cambridge, that the first half-dozen class-men in classics or mathematics would have beaten, out of all proportion, the last half dozen .classmen in any trial of physical strength or endurance. Most notabilities have been Great eaters and excellent digesters, on literally the same principle that the furnace which can raise more steam than is usual for one of its size must burn more freely and well than is common. Most great men are vigorous animals, with exuberant powers, and an extreme devotion to a cause. There is no reason to suppose that, in breeding for the highest order of intellect, we should produce a sterile or a feeble race. Many forms of civilization have been peculiarly unfavourable to the hereditary transmission of rare talent. None of them were more prejudicial to it than that of the Middle Ages, where almost every youth of genius was attracted into the Church, and enrolled in the ranks of a celibate clergy. Another great hindrance to it is - a costly tone of society, like that of our owri, where it becomes a folly for a rising man to encumber himself with domestic expenses, which custom exacts, and which arc larger than his resources are able to meet. Here also genius is celibate, at least during the best period of manhood. A spirit of caste is also bad, which