GENIUS AND PRECOCITY. 601 



First of all, then, we note that the order in respect of precocity 

 answers roughly to the degree of abstractness of the faculty employed. 

 At the one extreme musicians and artists represent sensuous faculty, 

 or the least abstract mode of mental activity, while philosophers at the 

 other extreme illustrate the highest degree of abstraction. Between 

 these come the men of imagination, the poets and novelists. And this 

 is the very order we should antecedently expect from a consideration 

 of the general laws of intellectual development ; for sense, imagina- 

 tion, and abstract thought are the three well-marked stages of intel- 

 lectual progress. Or, to express the same fact in physiological terms, 

 one may say that the nerve-centers specially engaged in the production 

 of sense impressions, mental images, and abstract ideas, develop and 

 are perfected in this order. 



Taking up the classes seriatim, one may say that the clear primacy 

 of musical genius is probably connected with the fact that the faculty 

 for music has, as its main ingredient, a very special and restricted 

 sense-endowment, viz., a fine sensibility to tones and their musical re- 

 lations, which, again, seems to be correlated with a special functional 

 endowment of the organ of hearing. One may add to this that musical 

 inventiveness presupposes no experience or knowledge of things, but 

 merely an accumulation of tone-material. 



Painting, like music, seems to depend on a special sense-endowment, 

 viz., an eye for form and color, and also a finely organized hand, which 

 endowments might be expected to be well marked from the first. On 

 the other hand, it involves much more in the way of external observa- 

 tion and a knowledge of objects. Hence, perhaps, its inferiority to 

 music in the matter of precocity. 



Passing to men of letters, we find that, on the whole, poets are the 

 most precocious class. Here, too, we note the presence of a clearly 

 marked sensuous ingredient, viz., a fine ear for rhythm and the musi- 

 cal qualities of verbal sounds. The poetic endowment includes, more- 

 over, as a principal act, or a lively, sensuous imagination, a faculty 

 that is in a manner based on a certain degree of perfection of the 

 senses, and so may be expected to become prominent at an early period 

 of life. If to this we add that lyrical poetry is to a very large extent 

 the expression of erotic and kindred feelings which are known to be 

 developed in great strength during the transition from childhood to 

 youth, we are able, I imagine, to understand much of the daring pre- 

 cocity of poets. It is to be remarked that, though there are several 

 instances of boys writing comedies, dramatic composition begins as 

 a rule considerably later than lyrical, and this accords with the fact 

 that dramatic conception presupposes much more objective knowledge 

 of men and things. 



The next class to claim attention is the scholars. At first one may 

 well be surprised to find these so high up in our first table, for the 

 critical faculty, judgment, is known to be late in its development. But 



