104 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP. 



industry. A willing mind and determination 

 to persevere is, in my opinion, the most direct 

 road to success ; we must, however, exercise a 

 sound judgment in the selection of subjects 

 on which to exercise our thoughts." 



I do not think it necessary to quote the 

 instances where either parent is also spoken of 

 as being remarkably persevering ; these may be 

 taken for granted. I find that the father is 

 referred to in strong terms eight times, ^ and the 

 mother only twice. 



As a set-off to the above, Impulsiveness is not 

 confessed to by a single physicist, chemist, or 

 mechanician. It is equally absent in their 

 parents, with the exception of the mother of 

 one of them. Among the remaining men of 

 science, I only find 5 cases, but these are 

 mostly combined with some tenacity of purpose, 

 and they are all inherited. 



PRACTICAL BUSINESS HABITS. 



Some prevalence of practical business habits 

 might also have been anticipated, but they prove 



