Heredity and Education. 331 



doctor of divinity, one veterinarian, and one practicing physi- 

 cian and surgeon. Interest in this case is strengthened by the 

 fact that no one of special note in the educational world has 

 come from that district since. May it not be that natural abil- 

 ities are too often deadened by much of the work of the public 

 schools ? 



It has long been a matter of common observation that chil- 

 dren inherit their mental as well as their physical character- 

 istics from one or both parents. Poets and musicians are born 

 and not made. The same may be said of mathematicians, 

 authors and scientists. 



Mechanical geniuses are without exception adepts at mathe- 

 matical reasoning. That this power is inherited and not ac- 

 quired by the individual is shown by the uniform testimony of 

 those strong in mathematics and mechanics to the effect that 

 the power to solve problems and to work with machinery runs 

 in the family. Sporadic appearances of mathematical power in 

 such prodigies as Tom Fuller, an illiterate African, or Jedediah 

 Buxton, a stupid English boy, are unusual forms of heredity ; 

 but such mathematical prodigies as Zerah Colburn and the 

 Bidders, father and son, and relatives, who were members of 

 families noted in spots for great memory, mechanical ability 

 and mathematical power, were well educated and are not un- 

 common examples of inheritance of mathematical strength. 



The power to use language in a very effective way, in addi- 

 tion to the power to memorize the writings of others, character- 

 izes some of the most noted American families for several 

 generations. The Jonathan Edwards family, the Abbott 

 family and the Beecher family readilj^ come to mind as illustra- 

 tions. 



In biological science, and in its related geological science, 

 few names occur to one, for the observational sciences are still 

 too young to show the influence of heredity. The names, how- 

 ever, of Darwin, Dana and Agassiz have continued through 

 two or three generations of remarkable achievements. 



So many warriors and statesmen show the power of heredity 

 in their history that one wonders where else they got their 

 ability to win battles and build nations. Painters and sculp- 

 tors come, almost without exception, from families and nations 

 gifted in these lines of art. All the great musicians of Europe 

 come from peasant stock, much of it Jewish in origin. 



