THE INHERITANCE OF ABILITY 79 



Percentage of Eminent Men in each Degree of Kinship to the 

 286 Judges of England between 1660 and 1865. 



0.2 Great-grandfathers. 



I 

 2.6 Grandfathers. 



9.1 Fathers. 1.6 uncles. 



I i I 



The judges. 8.2 brothers. 0.5 first cousins. 



"I I 



12.6 Sons. 1.7 nephews. 



I I 



3.7 Grandsons. 0.7 great-nephews. 



I 

 0.5 Great-grandsons. 



The percentage of eminent relatives in still more 

 distant degrees of kinship was found to be inappreciable, 

 at all events below o.i. 



These results are very remarkable. When it is 

 remembered that, on Galton's scale, the proportion 

 of eminent men in the population is only about two 

 hundred and fifty in a million, or 0.025 in a hundred, 

 we see how much more likely eminent abilities are to 

 be found in the fathers, sons, and brothers of eminent 

 men than in the mass of the population. The chance 

 of the son of a Judge showing great ability is five 

 hundred times as great as that for a man taken at 

 random. 



From the point of view of heredity, these results 

 would be strengthened immensely if particulars and 

 estimates of ability were available and forthcoming in 

 the cases of the wives of the men considered. The 

 ability of women, naturally destined to be used in work 

 even more honourable and important than that of men, 



