Si8 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



heritance, without the least idea of carrying forward the present re- 

 search. It had always been a matter of grave doubt in my own mind 

 whether the exceptionally gifted of earth were better or worse than the 

 ordinary run of mankind. Examples like Napoleon, Bacon, Byron 

 and Catherine II. of Eussia come to mind, and then we all have a feel- 

 ing that the very good are perhaps a little simple-minded, and besides, 

 according to tradition, they 'die young.' This pessimistic view of 

 things is, however, not borne out by the facts. 



On looking over the number of individuals in each grade one sees 

 that nearly a half of all concerned fall in the two middle grades (5) 

 and (6). This exemplifies what is known as 'the law of deviation 

 from an average,' and means that when a large number of measure- 

 ments are taken of any biological characteristic and graded in a nimier- 

 ical series, they will fall so that proportionally more lie in the grades 

 approaching the mean and less and less as the measurements show 

 extreme variation. On this view, then, in any homogeneous group of 

 persons, fools are as rare as geniuses, and may differ much from the 

 mean ; but the great mass of humanity are such that in any given char- 

 acteristic, one is much like another. The social scale is not to be con- 

 ceived of as a pyramid in which the favored few are represented at the 

 apex, and the masses below, more and more numerous as we descend 

 the scale; but rather as a figure like a Rugby football with the masses 

 occupying the medium zone. Actual paupers are as rare as the very 

 rich. In the tables below we see the frequency in each of the ten 

 grades for moral qualities, the males and females having been studied 

 separately. 



Females. 



Space will not permit printing an entire list of 597 names or giving 

 bibliographical references. Such details will be included in a work on 

 the general subject of heredity in royalty which I hope will appear 

 shortly. The three upper and three lower grades are, however, given 

 below, and since the results of study of the extreme ends determine 

 largely the conclusion obtained, the majority who lie close to mediocrity 

 may just as well be given less attention. 



It is, of course, difficult, indeed impossible, for any one to arrange 

 people according to their reputed virtues in a perfectly satisfactory 

 manner. It is, however, not as difficult as it might at first sight seem, 

 especially if one remembers that by far tlie majority are to be in the 



