i.] ANTECEDENTS 35 



treated more as companions by their parents, and 

 have earlier responsibility, both of which would 

 develop independence of character ; probably, 

 also, the first-born child of families not well-to-do 

 in the world would generally have more atten- 

 tion in his infancy, more breathing space, and 

 better nourishment, than his younger brothers 

 and sisters in their several turns. 



The opposing disadvantage of primogeniture, 

 in producing less healthy children and half as 

 many idiots again as the average of the rest of 

 the family, has not been sensibly felt, partly 

 because the latter risk is very small, and partly 

 because the mothers of the scientific men are 

 somewhat less youthful than those from whom 

 the above statistical results were calculated. (See 

 Duncan "On Fertility," &c., second edition, pp. 

 293, 4, for tabulations of Dr. A. Mitchell's results.) 

 An unusual number of the mothers of the scientific 

 men were between 30 34 at the time of their 

 birth; this is a very suitable age, according to 

 the views of Aristotle, but undoubtedly older 

 than what Dr. Duncan's statistics (pp. 387, 390) 

 recommend. According to these, the most favour- 



