well-fed classes. In the notes I made, previous to writing this book, I had begun to make memoranda of the physical gifts of my heroes, and regret now, that I did not continue the plan, but there is even almost enough printed in the Appendices to warrant my assertion. I do not deny that many men of extraordinary mental gifts have had wretched constitutions, but deny them to be an essential or even the usual accompaniment. University facts are as good as any others to serve as examples, so I will mention that both high wranglers and high classics have been frequently the first oarsmen of their years. The Hon. George Denman, who was senior classic in 1842, was the stroke of the University crew. Sir William Thompson, the second wrangler in 1845, won the sculls. In the very first boat-race between the two Universities, three men who afterwards became bishops rowed in one of the contending boats, and another rowed in the other. It is the second and third-rate students who are usually weakly. A collection of living magnates in various branches of intellectual achievement is always a feast to my eyes; being, as they are, such massive, vigorous, capable-looking animals.

I took some pains to investigate the law of mortality in the different groups, and drew illustrative curves in order to see whether there was anything abnormal in the constitutions of eminent men, and this result certainly came out, which goes far to show that the gifted men consist of two categories—the very weak and the very strong. It 'was, that the curve of mortality does not make a single bend, but it rises to a minor culminating point, and then, descending again, takes a fresh departure for its principal

arc.

There is a want of continuity in the regularity of its sweep. I conclude that among the gifted men, there is a small class who have weak and excitable constitutions, who are destined to early death, but that the remainder consists of men likely to enjoy a vigorous old age.

This double culmination was strongly marked in the group of Artists, and distinctly so in that of the Poets, but it came out with most startling definition when I laid out the cases, of which I had made notes, 92 in number, of men remarkable for their precocity. Their first culmination was at the age of 38, then the death-rate sank till the age of 42; at 52 it had again risen to what it was at 38, and it attained its maximum at 64. The mortality of the men who did not appear to have been eminently precocious, 180 cases in all, followed a perfectly normal curve, rising steadily to a maximum at 68 years, and then declining as steadily. The scientific men lived the longest, and the number of early deaths among them was decidedly less than in any of the other groups.

The last general remark I have to make is, that features and mental abilities do not seem to be correlated. The son may resemble his parent in being an able man, but it does not therefore follow that he will also resemble him in features. I know of families where the children who had not the features of their parents inherited their disposition and ability, and the remaining children had just the converse gifts. In looking at the portraits in the late National Exhibitions I was extremely struck with the absence of family likeness, in cases where I had expected to find it. I cannot prove this point without illustrations; the reader must therefore permit me to leave its evidence in an avowedly incomplete form.

In concluding this chapter, I may point out some of the groups that I have omitted to discuss. The foremost Engineers are a body of men possessed of remarkable natural qualities; they are not only able men, but are also possessed of singular powers of physical endurance and of boldness, combined with clear views of what can and what cannot be effected. I have included Watt and Stephenson among the men of science, but the Brunels,

and the curious family of Mylne, going back for nine, if not twelve generations,—all able and many eminent in their professions,—and several others, deserve notice. I do not, however, see my way to making a selection of eminently gifted engineers, because their success depends, in a very great degree, on early opportunities. If a great engineering business is once established, with well-selected men at the heads of its various departments, it is easy to keep up the name and credit for more than one generation, after the death of its gifted originator.

The Actors are very closely connected—so much so as to form a caste; but here, as with the Engineers, we have great difficulty in distinguishing the eminently gifted from those whose success is largely due to the accident of education. I do not, however, like to pass them over without a notice of the Kemble family, who filled so large a space in the eyes of the British world, two generations ago. The following is their pedigree :

Roger Kemble.

Manager of a theatrical company; tall and comely; made an excellent Falstaff.

I was desirous of obtaining facts bearing on heredity from China, for there the system of examination is notoriously strict and far-reaching, and boys of promise are

sure to be passed on from step to step, until they have reached the highest level of which they are capable. The first honour of the year in a population of some 400 millions-the senior classic and senior wrangler rolled into one- -is the "Chuan-Yuan." Are the Chuan-Yuans ever related together? is a question I have asked, and to which a reply was promised me by a friend of high distinction in China, but which has not reached me up to the time I am writing these lines. However, I put a question on the subject into the pages of the Hong-Kong Notes and Queries (Aug. 1868), and found at all events one case, of a woman who, after bearing a child who afterwards became a Chuan-Yuan, was divorced from her husband, but marrying again, she bore a second child, who also became a Chuan-Yuan, to her next husband. I feel the utmost confidence that if the question were thoroughly gone into by a really competent person, China would afford a perfect treasury of facts bearing on heredity. There is, however, a considerable difficulty in making these inquiries, arising from the paucity of surnames in China, and also from the necessity of going back to periods (and there are many such) when corruption was far less rife in China than it is at present.

The records of the Olympian Games in the palmy days of Greece, which were scrupulously kept by the Eleans, would have been an excellent mine to dig into, for facts bearing on heredity; but they are not now to be had. However, I find one incidental circumstance in their history that is worth a few lines of notice. It appears, there was a single instance of a married woman having ventured to be present, while the games were going on, although death was the penalty of the attempt. She was found out, but excused, because her father, brothers, and son had all been victors.

CHAPTER XX.

THE COMPARATIVE WORTH OF DIFFERENT RACES.

I HAVE now completed what I have to say concerning the kinships of individuals, and proceed, in this chapter, to attempt a wider treatment of my subject, through a consideration of nations and races.

Every long-established race has necessarily its peculiar fitness for the conditions under which it has lived, owing to the sure operation of Darwin's law of natural selection. However, I am not much concerned, for the present, with the greater part of those aptitudes, but only with such as are available in some form or other of high civilization. (Wę may reckon upon the advent of a time, when civilization, which is now sparse and feeble and far more superficial than it is vaunted to be, shall overspread the globe. Ultimately it is sure to do so, because civilization is the necessary fruit of high intelligence when found in a social animal, and there is no plainer lesson to be read off the face of Nature than that the result of the operation of her laws is to evoke intelligence in connexion with sociability. Intelligence is as much an advantage to an animal as physical strength or any other natural gift, and therefore, out of two varieties of any race of animal who are equally endowed in other respects, the most intelligent variety is sure to prevail in the battle of life. Similarly, among animals as