196 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP. 



care for science, and an extremely small propor- 

 tion of that half succeed in it. Nay, further, it 

 appears (though I cannot publish facts in evi- 

 dence, without violating my rule of avoiding 

 personal allusions) that of the men who have 

 no natural taste for science and yet succeed 

 in it, many belong to gifted families, and may 

 therefore be accredited with sufficient general 

 abilities to leave their mark on whatever sub- 

 ject it becomes their business to undertake. 

 We may therefore rest assured that the pos- 

 session of a strong special taste is a precious 

 capital, and that it is a wicked waste of 

 national power to thwart it ruthlessly by a 

 false system of education. But I can give 

 no test which shall distinguish in boyhood 

 between a taste that is destined to endure 

 and a passing fancy, further than by remark- 

 ing that whenever the aptitudes seem heredi- 

 tary, they deserve peculiar consideration. 



Instinctive tastes for science are, generally 

 speaking, not so strongly hereditary as the more 

 elementary qualities of the body and mind. I 

 have tabulated the replies, and find the proper- 



