THE INHERITANCE OF MENTAL ABILITY 103 



work contains a list of 32 noteworthy fathers of 38 Fellows of the 

 Royal Society. 



One of the most striking illustrations of the inheritance of 

 ability is afforded by the descendants of Erasmus Darwin. On 

 the originality, general ability, and productiveness of Erasmus 

 Darwin it is not necessary to comment. Robert Waring Darwin, 

 his son, was a distinguished physician, and, like his father, a 

 F. R. S. Another son, Charles, was a man of remarkable promise, 

 and although he died at the age of 20, he gained the first gold 

 medal of the ^sculapian Society for experimental research. 

 Charles Robert Darwin, the author of the Origin of Species, and 

 by common consent one of the world's greatest men of science, 

 was the son of Robert W. Darwin. He married his cousin, Emma 

 Wedgewood, a granddaughter of Josiah Wedgewood, F. R. S., 

 the founder of the pottery works that produced the famous 

 Wedgewood ware. Charles Darwin's four sons became men of 

 note: Francis Darwin, F. R. S., a prominent English botanist; 

 George Darwin, F. R. S., noted astronomer, and Professor of 

 Astronomy at Cambridge; Horace Darwin, F. R. S., a prominent 

 engineer; Major Leonard Darwin, author of works on political 

 economy, president of the Eugenics Education Society, and 

 president of the International Eugenics Congress. Finally must 

 be mentioned Francis Gal ton, cousin of Charles Darwin, grand- 

 son of Erasmus Darwin, and an excellent illustration of the 

 hereditary genius, the potency of which he did so much to demon- 

 strate. 



The inheritance of mental and moral traits has been studied 

 by Pearson and some of his colleagues by statistical methods 

 similar to those employed in the study of the inheritance of 

 physical traits. An intensive investigation was carried out by 

 Pearson upon from three to four thousand school children. In- 

 stead of attempting to compare the mentality of parents and off- 

 spring, Pearson studied the resemblance in mental and moral 

 traits of offspring of the same parents. The data upon which the 

 comparisons were based were obtained from the teachers whose 

 judgment of the mental and moral status of their pupils may be 



