TRANSMISSION OF CHARACTERISTICS 103 



are entirely fallacious. Examining them in detail, we 

 find this strange anomaly, that whereas a statesman's 

 chances of having an eminent grandfather are 28 per 

 cent, a poet's chances in the same direction are only 

 5 per cent, and an artist's 7. Galton himself is struck 

 by the fact that the eminent kinsmen of poets, painters, 

 and musicians are mostly of the first degree. Could 

 the influence of patronage be eliminated from his 

 tables, the apparent ramification of talent in the official 

 classes would probably diminish to a considerable 

 extent. Even in the case of literary and artistic 

 talent there are dangerous pitfalls awaiting the statis- 

 tician. Sons have a tendency to adopt their father's 

 calling, and even to achieve distinction in it with the 

 help of their father's name. Family circumstances 

 always help to determine a young man's career. 

 There have been many families of actors, but it 

 would be rash to conclude that their members had, 

 all of them, an hereditary bent for the stage ; example 

 and opportunity would count for something in the 

 shaping of their lives. 



Still Galton has unquestionably a case, although 

 he attempts to make too much of it. It is difficult 

 to deny the existence of hereditary talent when we 

 find that among the Bachs there were twenty eminent 



