HEREDITY AND THE HALL OF FAME 45 i 



" gave promise of extraordinary genius." He was killed in the battle 

 of Ball's Bluff, aged twenty-one. Another nephew, Col. Charles Eus- 

 sell Lowell, was killed in the Civil War, aged twenty-nine. " He was 

 a young man of great promise," and already one of the most distin- 

 guished cavalry officers in the Federal service. 



The poetical gifts of William Cullen Bryant showed themselves in a 

 lesser degree in his brother, John Howard Bryant. 



William Ellery Channing, one of America's most eloquent preachers, 

 was a grandson of William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence. Two brothers and two nephews of the celebrated divine 

 became eminent in professional life. 



General William Tecumseh Sherman counts one " eminent " rela- 

 tive in his brother John Sherman, senator and member of the cabinet. 



George Bancroft, the famous historian, counts also one " eminent " 

 relative through his father, Eev. Aaron Bancroft. The father was also 

 noted as an author. Besides a great number of sermons, he published 

 a " Life of Washington " which obtained great popularity. 



Thus, 26 of the 46 men in the Hall of Fame show close eminent 

 relationships. In total relationships, they tally 57, which, as already 

 said, is from 500 to 1,000 times what random expectation calls for. 



Much might be said concerning the families of others in the Hall 

 of Fame, such as Emerson, Longfellow, Audubon, Eli Whitney, Phillips 

 Brooks and J. Lothrop Motley, but they do not happen to show 

 " eminent " relationships by the method here used. 



All the above material has been collected in a systematic way, in 

 order that its value may have a scientific and impartial basis. If the 

 names of more or less distinguished relatives do not have separate 

 articles devoted to them, in the afore-mentioned dictionaries, they have 

 not been utilized in the above list. These two books have been used, 

 not because they are considered infallible guides, but because they are 

 convenient and are good enough for the purpose at hand. The same 

 sort of result would be obtained if any good test were employed. 



The proportion is the same the world over, for men of the highest 

 caliber, one in two, or better, show relationship with other distinguished 

 men, and these usually in their own field of activity. 



The present writer has investigated the personalities and pedigrees 

 of some 3,000 members of the royal families of Europe — published 

 under the title "Mental and Moral Heredity in Eoyalty" — and has 

 found that the same principles hold. Nearly all of the great names, 

 or at least more than half, are closely associated by blood with those 

 of similar stamp. About half of all the greatest rulers have been the 

 descendants of comparatively mediocre ancestors; the other half have 

 been the direct and immediate descendants of those as great or nearly 

 as great as themselves. In other words, the vast horde (say ninety-nine 



