INHERITANCE IN MANKIND 59 



more than thirty times as great as the average mathe- 

 matical ability of the candidates, while an exception- 

 ally brilliant Senior Wrangler would far exceed that 

 estimate. 



There is no reason to suppose that different results 

 would appear, could we estimate ability of other kinds 

 in an equally exact way. The ability of a Marlborough 

 or a Napoleon must exceed that of the average soldier 

 by at least as much. In fact, so many different kinds 

 of ability are needed in a successful general, that the 

 greatest commanders must be regarded as amongst the 

 most eminent of mankind. 



Such considerations show at once the absurdity of 

 the old fallacy that all men are born equal, and that 

 success depends only on opportunity and environment. 

 Men are not born equal, and in nothing do such 

 great differences exist as in their mental capacities. 

 We must estimate the ability of an eminent man as 

 at least a hundred times that of the average of the race. 



We now see that, even with qualities which show an 

 insensible gradation from man to man, selection has 

 enough variation on which to work. In the characters 

 that follow definite Mendelian principles, we get a sharp 

 division and segregation. A man either has brown 

 pigment in his eyes or he has not ; he is either brachy- 

 dactylous or possesses normal fingers. But, in the 

 qualities we are now considering, no such line of 

 division is possible. We could find men whose height 

 lay within each tenth of an inch from five feet to six, 

 and others who possessed every shade of general ability 

 from that of a genius to that of a fool. 



General ability is too complicated a thing to show 



