228 , POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



matically weeded away by this condition might be submitted in some 

 appropriate way to the independent votes of fellow-students on the 

 one hand, and of tutors on the other, whose ideals of character and 

 merit necessarily differ. This ordeal would reduce the possible winners 

 to a very small number, out of which an independent committee might 

 be trusted to make the ultimate selection. They would be guided by 

 personal interviews. They would take into consideration all favorable 

 points in the family histories of the candidates, giving appropriate 

 hereditary weight to each. Probably they would agree to pass over un- 

 favorable points, unless they were notorious and flagrant, owing to the 

 great difficulty of ascertaining the real truth about them. Ample ex- 

 perience in making selections has been acquired even by scientific socie- 

 ties, most of which work well, including perhaps the award of their 

 medals, which the fortunate recipients at least are tempted to consider 

 judicious. The opportunities for selecting women in this way are un- 

 fortunately fewer, owing to the smaller number of female students 

 between whom comparisons might be made on equal terms. In the 

 selection of women, when nothing is known of their athletic proficiency, 

 it would be especially necessary to pass a high and careful medical 

 examination ; and as their personal qualities do not usually admit of 

 being tested so thoroughly as those of men, it would be necessary to lay 

 all the more stress on hereditary family qualities, including those of 

 fertility and prepotency. 



Correlation between Promise in Youth and subsequent Performance. 



No serious difficulty seems to stand in the way of classifying and 

 giving satisfactory diplomas to youths of either sex, supposing there 

 were a strong demand for it. But some real difficulty does lie in the 

 question — Would such a classification be a trustworthy forecast of 

 qualities in later life ? The scheme of descent of qualities may hold good 

 between the parents and the offspring at similar ages, but that is not 

 the information we really want. It is the descent of qualities from 

 men to men, not from youths to youths. The accidents that make or 

 mar a career do not enter into the scope of this difficulty. It resides 

 entirely in the fact that the development does not cease at the time of 

 youth, especially in the higher natures, but that faculties and capa- 

 bilities which were then latent subsequently unfold and become promi- 

 nent. Putting aside the effects of serious illness, I do not suppose there 

 is any risk of retrogression in capacity before old age comes on. The 

 mental powers that a youth possesses continue with him as a man; but 

 other faculties and new dispositions may arise and alter the balance of 

 his character. He may cease to be efficient in the way of which he gave 

 promise, and he may perhaps become efficient in unexpected directions. 



