440 Longevity of Brain-Workers. (October, 
destined to excel manifests itself in future virtuosi—in poets, 
painters, &c., from their earliest youth.” 
Not only in poetry and painting, but also in philosophy, 
in science, and in invention—indeed, in every great depart- 
ment in which human nature has displayed itself—it is true, 
as Milton beautifully remarks, ‘‘ Childhood shows the man, 
as morning shows the day.” 
Madder, in his ‘‘ Infirmities of Genius,” says that “ John- 
son is indeed of the opinion that the early years of dis- 
tinguished men, when minutely traced, furnish evidence of 
the same vigour or originality of mind by which they are 
celebrated in after-life.” 
The more closely I study biography, the more strongly I 
become convinced that the number of really illustrious 
geniuses who did not give early manifestations of their 
genius is very limited. I do not forget that some of the 
currently-reported exceptions are very striking. ‘Thus we 
are told that Chalmers at school was stupid and mischiev- 
ous; that Adam Clarke, as a boy, could do nothing but roll 
huge stones about ; that of Sir Walter Scott, his teacher, 
Professor Dalzell, frankly said—‘‘ Dunce he was and dunce 
he would remain ;” that Burns, though a good athlete, 
showed, in his boyhood, no unusual gifts; that Goldsmith 
was ‘‘a plant that flowered late ;” that John Howard, and 
Napoleon, and Wellington were, to say the least, but little 
remarkable at school; and that the father of Isaac Barrow 
is reported to have said that ‘‘if it pleased God to take 
away any of his sons, he prayed that it might be his so 
Isaac, as being the least promising of them all.” 
These exceptions, apparent and real, may be explained in 
two ways :— 
1st. The stupidity attributed to men of genius may be 
really the stupidity of their parents, guardians, and bio- 
graphers. 
Men are precocious, if they are precocious at all, in the 
line of their genius. It is observed, as Wieland has stated, 
that almost all artists and musicians are recorded as preco- 
cious, the exceptions being very rare. Music and drawing 
appeal to the senses, attract attention, and are therefore 
appreciated, or at least observed by the most stupid parents, 
and noted even in the most superficial biographies. Philo- 
sophic and scientific thought, on the contrary, does not at 
once, perhaps may never, reveal itself to the senses—it is 
locked up in the cerebral cells. In the brain of that dull, 
pale youth, who is kicked for his stupidity and laughed at 
for his absent-mindedness, grand thoughts may be silently 
