MAN 237 



Franklin and Pasteur in some other way than by the bio- 

 graphical dictionary, they would probably be found to 

 have a fair share of natural gifts. Their family lines are 

 not to be compared with those of the notorious Zeros, 

 Jukes and Nams, where the individuals through their bad 

 heredity simply lacked even moderate capacity and were 

 unable to rise when given normal opportunity. They be- 

 longed to the good solid bourgeoisie stock which forms 

 the balance-wheel of modern democracy. But even grant- 

 ing to historical rank a justice which it does not have, 

 admitting no personal superiority in any of the relatives 

 of these two men and others like them, their very exist- 

 ence is a link in the proof of Mendelian combination in 

 the making of mentality. The great bulk of the population 

 inherits certain factors contributing toward ability. They 

 do not have any one of the numerous inherited complexes 

 which make a genius in the rough, but they have a random 

 sample of the constituent parts. As a mere fulfillment of 

 the laws of chance, matings between these individuals 

 must occasionally bring together the happy combination 

 of which we speak. 



Whether these talents lie wrapped in a napkin or not, 

 depends, of course, on a variety of circumstances. One 

 can keep a good man down, though with some difficulty. 

 It was probably the general attitude of society in those 

 particular epochs that gave a Golden Age to Greece, a 

 Eenaissance to Italy, an Elizabethan period to England, 

 a; Napoleonic era to France, rather than a concentrated 

 production of high mentality. Galton concluded the ablest 

 race in history was that built up in Attica between 530 and 

 430 B.C., when from 45,000 free-born males surviving the 

 age of fifty there came fourteen of the most illustrious 



