38 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAI 



namely, that a relative deficiency of health an 



energy, in respect to that of their own parents, i 



very common among them. Their absolute healt 



and energy may be high, far exceeding those of 



people generally ; but I speak of a noticeable 



falling off from the yet more robust condition of 



the previous generation : it is this which appears 



to be dangerous to the continuance of the race. 



My figures give the remarkable result that there 



are no children at all in one out of every three of 



these cases. I think that ordinary observation 



corroborates this conclusion, and that those of my 



readers who happen to have mixed much in what 



is called intellectual society will be able to recall 



numerous instances of persons of both sexes, but 



especially of women, possessed of high gifts of 



every kind, including health and energy, but of 



less solid vigour than their parents, and who have 



no children. I do not overlook the fact that the 



scientific men are an urban population, being 



mindful of results I have published elsewhere 



(Statistical Journal, 1873), which show a similar 



diminution in the average fertility of townsmen 



as compared with country folk ; but this would 



