442 Longevity of Brain-Workers. [OGtober, 
ness of biographies, and the ignorance of parents and 
teachers, a very considerable proportion of the greatest geniuses 
of the world are known to have been as remarkable in their pre- 
cocity as in their genius; and in spite of this precocity were 
exceedingly long-lived. 
Great precocity, like great genius, is rare. Although I 
have known but few children whom fond parents did not at 
some time believe to be more or less superior to the average, 
yet I do not remember that I ever saw a very precocious 
child. Thereis in some children a petty and morbid smart- 
ness that is sometimes mistaken for precocity, but which 
in truth does not deserve that distinCtion. 
The manifestation of genius in childhood is as normal 
and as healthful as its manifestation in maturity ; but in 
childhood, as in extreme old age, the effects of overtaxing 
the powers are more severely felt than in maturity. Petty 
smartness is oftentimes a morbid symptom ; it comes from 
a diseased brain, or from a brain in which a grave predispo- 
sition to disease exists. Such children may die young, 
whether they do or do not early exhibit unusual quickness. 
The morbidly precocious soon wear themselves out, early 
find their level, and in after life are stupid or ordinary; the 
normally physiologically precocious go on from strength to 
strength, and do not reach their maximum until between 
thirty and forty; and live longer and are capable of work- 
ing harder than those of average gifts. There have been 
noted and oft-quoted instances where the precocious 
geniuses have died in early manhood, or just at reaching 
the maximum of their strength, between thirty and forty. 
The names of Pascal, Mozart, Keats, will be at once 
recalled. But we forget the infinite number who have 
died at the same age or earlier, and of the same diseases ; 
but who neither in childhood nor in manhood exhibited 
any superior genius. The only method of arriving at the 
truth on the question is the one I have adopted; that is, to 
obtain the average longevity of a large number, who were 
known to have been greatly precocious, and compare it with 
the average longevity of other able men in the same depart- 
ments. 
Those who have not given special thought to this theme 
will be suprised to learn how early and how strikingly the 
genius of some of the greatest and longest-lived heroes was 
displayed. Leibnitz, at twelve, understood Latin authors 
well, and wrote a remarkable production. Gassendi, “ the 
little doctor,” preached at four, and at ten wrote an im- 
portant discourse. Goethe, before ten, wrote in several 
