1 88 EVOLUTION AS D NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



science have permeated our minds as thoroughly 

 as the exploits of the heroic age had permeated 

 those of the Greeks of the time of Homer, we 

 may look for literary marvels which shall dwarf 

 everything which the ancient world could ac- 

 complish. 



Galton appears on the whole to have some- 

 what exaggerated the intellectual status of the 

 Athenians, when he says,* 



" It follows from all this that the average 

 ability of the Athenian race is, on the very 

 lowest possible estimate, very nearly two grades 

 higher then our own ; that is, about as much 

 as our race is above that of the African negro. 

 This estimate, which may seem prodigious to 

 some, is confirmed by the quick intelligence 

 and high culture of the Athenian commonalty, 

 before whom literary works were recited, and 

 works of art exhibited, of a far more severe 

 character than could possibly be appreciated by 

 the average of our race, the calibre of whose 

 intellect is easily gauged by a glance at the 

 contents of a railway book-stall." 



Now this reasoning looks plausible enough 



* " Hereditary Genius," p. 342. 



