72 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP 



is however one group in that book, consisting 

 of divines, whose general eminence is not so 

 great as the rest, and which also resembles the 

 scientific men in the family distribution of 

 ability. My former figures for 100 divines 

 gave 22 notable fathers, 42 brothers, 28 grand- 

 fathers, and 42 uncles ; my present results 

 for 100 scientific men are 28, 36, 20, and 40 

 respectively. 



As regards the relative influence of the paternal 

 and maternal lines, I find close equality. My 

 method of comparison is by setting off paternal 

 grandfathers and paternal uncles against maternal 

 grandfathers and maternal uncles, no other near 

 degree of kinship being available for the purpose. 

 My results for 100 scientific men are : paternal 

 grandfathers, public characters, 10 ; of high 

 private reputation, 3 ; paternal uncles, 13 and 8 ; 

 making a total on the paternal side of 34. On 

 the other hand, the maternal grandfathers are 1 1 

 and 4 ; maternal uncles, 1 5 and 7 ; making a 

 total on the maternal side of 37. 1 



1 In "Hereditary Genius," p. 196, having fewer cases 

 of scientific men to deal with, I extended my inquiries to 



