A STUDY OF BRITISH GENIUS. 375 



furnished by the 'Dictionary' by the help of portraits, more especially 

 those in the National Portrait Gallery. I have information on this 

 point concerning 334 of the eminent persons on our list. In classify- 

 ing by pigmentation I have relied in the first place on the eye-color, 

 but have allowed hair-color a certain influence in modifying the class 

 in those cases in which there was marked divergence between the two 

 in lightness or darkness. I have sorted the eminent persons into three 

 classes, according as their eyes were unpigmented (blue), highly pig- 

 mented (brown), or occupying an intermediate position (combinations 

 of blue with yellow, orange or brown). This intermediate class has 

 necessarily been large, and I have comprised within it three sub- 

 divisions: a fair medium, a dark medium, and, between these two, a 

 doubtful medium. Then the question arose as to how the results thus 

 obtained might be conveniently formulated, so as to enable us to com- 

 pare the different groups of eminent persons. I finally decided to 

 proceed with each of these groups as follows: The doubtful medium 

 persons in each of these classes were divided equally between the fair 

 medium and the dark medium; then two-thirds of the fair-medium 

 persons were added to the fair class, the remaining third to the dark 

 class, and, likewise, two-thirds of the dark medium were added to the 

 dark class, the remaining third to the fair class; the five classes were 

 thus reduced to two, and, on multiplying the fair by 100 and dividing 

 by t'he dark, we obtain what may be called an index of pigmentation. 

 This method of notation is really simple, and is quite sufficiently ac- 

 curate for the nature of the data dealt with ; it will be seen that by its 

 use an index of 100 means that fair and dark people are equally numer- 

 ous in a group, while indices over 100 mean an excess of fair persons, 

 and indices under 100 an excess of dark persons. I have been able to 

 obtain the index of pigmentation in the cases of ten groups, the remain- 

 ing groups being too small to permit of assured results. I present 

 them, with their index of pigmentation, in the order of decreasing 

 fairness: Men of science, 150; Artists, 108; Lawyers, 100; Sailors, 

 100; Soldiers, 83; Statesmen, 83; Poets, 78; Men of letters, 67; 

 Divines, 43 ; Actors, 20. 



It will be seen that the range is considerable; but I believe we 

 may have considerable confidence in the results, and the more so since 

 they are not altogether unexpected, for (although I do not wish to 

 assume that these phenomena are entirely explicable by race) it is cer- 

 tainly true that men of science and artists tend largely to come from 

 fair districts of the country, divines and actors from dark districts. 

 The fact that allied classes tend to fall together — soldiers and sailors, 

 poets and men of letters — also gives confidence in the reality of the 

 relationship thus brought out. It may be noted, as a fact probably not 

 without significance, that the more active and unemotional classes tend 



