THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 109 



rare even amongst the most civilised peoples. 

 Mathematical genius of a hisrh order, not bein^ 

 useful to the individual or the tribe under rude 

 conditions, nor even under more advanced con- 

 ditions, has not been selected as a characteristic 

 of the species homo (in the way in which the 

 capacity for language has been) ; nor has it 

 become the special characteristic of any marked 

 division of mankind, like any particular race- 

 characteristic. Under rude conditions such 

 high scientific capacity would even be in- 

 jurious ; under fairly settled conditions it ceases 

 to be injurious, its possessor is under no great 

 disadvantage, and thus under favourable con- 

 ditions mathematics is cultivated. Senior 

 Wranglers may not always be useful members 

 of society ; but the society that can produce 

 mathematicians of the quality of the average 

 Senior Wrangler is likely to have good stuff 

 in it for success in the struggle with Nature 

 and with other societies. We must remember 

 also that, besides the inheritance of a brain, 

 which by accumulated favourable combinations 

 of ancestry is capable of high mathematical 

 thinking, various other conditions are requisite 

 for the proper development of this capacity. 



