446 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



velopment. The Darwinian law of the origin and descent of man has 

 undoubtedly indirectly contributed to a growing belief in the force of 

 heredity and has acted as a stimulus to its more exact study. Scientists 

 are assembling facts, and making accurate measurements where once 

 they were content with vague arguments and theories. 



The writings of Sir Francis Galton show that among Europeans a 

 large percentage of the most eminent men (about half the entire num- 

 ber) have been closely related to other more or less eminent persons. 

 This, however, leaves the question open how far unequal opportunities, 

 differences of education, and social influence may have favored the close 

 relatives of distinguished men. 



In Europe the caste system counts for much, and family patronage 

 may be thought to be at the bottom of many a public recognition of 

 distinction. But it can not be due to anything characteristically Euro- 

 pean that so many of the great men of the older civilizations of the 

 world are so often connected with others of the same type. For what 

 are we to say when the truth becomes discovered that right here in 

 America under our free and democratic institutions the same facts are 

 to be found? 



Galton mentions only three or four Americans, but a careful analy- 

 sis of our own history speaks no less strongly for the inherited nature 

 of exceptional ability. 



The Lees of Virginia, the Livingstons of New York, the Adamses, 

 Quincys and Lowells of Massachusetts, all illustrate the force of hered- 

 itary intellect. It is claimed that there are no less than 1,400 superior 

 Americans descended in a direct line from Jonathan Edwards, the great 

 philosopher of Puritan New England, whose blood has run through 

 thirteen college presidents, sixty-five professors, and many principals 

 of important academies. 



The Edwards blood has produced more than one hundred lawyers, 

 thirty judges, and some sixty more have attained distinction in author- 

 ship, the latest being Mr. Winston Churchill, of New Hampshire. 

 They have been mayors of New Haven, Cleveland and Troy, governors 

 of South Carolina, Connecticut and Ohio, and many diplomats, con- 

 gressmen, senators and one vice-president of the United States are re- 

 corded among their number. Eailways, steamship lines and banks have 

 also claimed their talent, but in general Edwards traits have found 

 their outlet in professional life. 



The two most notable families in America, considering descent in 

 the male lines alone (the remarkable Edwards showing includes the 

 female lines as well), are the Lees and Adamses, with the Lowells press- 

 ing close in third place. Taking into account international as well as 

 local fame, probably Henry Adams, who settled in Braintree, Massa- 

 chusetts, in 1632, has the honor of being the progenitor of more distin- 



