THE INHERITANCE OF ABILITY 87 



may be traced no less clearly than can the general 

 ability hitherto considered. 



Galton gives a remarkable pedigree of the Bach 

 family extending to eight generations, all showing great 

 musical talent, which gradually increased in intensity 

 for four generations, culminated in John Sebastian 

 Bach (1685 -1750), and diminished again in his 

 descendants. To investigate the causes of the rise and 

 fall, further knowledge of the women than Galton gives 

 is necessary ; but it is known that at that date young 

 musicians frequently sought their wives in families 

 belonging to the Guild of Musicians. 



A family showing the descent of qualities of a very 

 specialized nature — religious fervour, combined with a 

 musical and emotional character — is that of the Wesleys, 

 of whom the best-known members are John, the founder 

 of Methodism, and his brother Charles, the hymn- 

 writer, fifteenth and eighteenth children respectively. 

 Their grandfather and his brother were among the 

 non-juring ministers ejected in 1662 ; while the sons 

 of Charles, Charles and Samuel, were well-known 

 organists and composers ; and a grandson, Samuel 

 Sebastian Wesley, who died in 1876, was also an 

 organist and composer. 



Galton notices that some apparent exceptions to 

 the general law of inheritance of special characteristics 

 are explicable if we regard instability of disposition as 

 a heritable factor. 



For example, certain types of excitable religious 

 feeling flourish best in minds liable to want of balance, 

 and subject to alternative periods of great depression 

 and of high exaltation. Here we have probably two 



