PREFACE. 



I UNDERTOOK the inquiry of which this volume 

 is the result, after reading the recent work of M. 

 de Candolle, 1 in which he analyses the salient 

 events in the history of 200 scientific men 

 who have lived during the two past centuries, 

 deducing therefrom many curious conclusions 

 which well repay the attention of thoughtful 

 readers. It so happened that I myself had been 

 leisurely engaged on a parallel but more ex- 

 tended investigation namely, as regards men 

 of ability of all descriptions, with the view of 

 supplementing at some future time my work 

 on Hereditary Genius. The object of that book 



1 " Histoire des Sciences et des Savants depuis deux 

 Siccles." Par Alphonse de Candolle. Corr. Inst. Acad. Sc. de 

 Paris, &c. Geneve, 1873. 



