F.— ECONOMIC SCIKNCE AND STATISTICS. 153 



first generation is concerned, mainly when it is viewed in its eugenic setting, 

 (1) Heredity in genius exists to a definite extent, and this fact has economic 

 value to the community, since, if one dare put a qualitative aspect in quanti- 

 tative terms, a community of 100 persons of n degrees of ability flus one 

 with 100 n degrees, will reach higher economic levels than a community 

 of 101 persons each with n-\-\ degrees. 



The starting-point of any consideration of the inheritance of ability 

 is Sir Francis Galton's great work on ' Hereditary Genius,' published in 

 1869, and recently quoted with approval by the Whethams in their book 

 on ' The Family and the Nation,' in which the most recent eugenic and 

 biological views confirm Galton's works. Galton found that the propor- 

 tion of eminent men in the population — that is, eminent in the sense of 

 having manifested unusual ability — was about 250 in the million, or about 

 "025 per cent., and it was found that the chance of the son of a man of 

 great ability, such as a judge, himself showing great ability, was five 

 hundred times as great as that for a man taken at random. (You must 

 refer to these works to see the effect, upon these chances, of marriage 

 with an able or an ordinary woman respectively.) The Whethams state 

 as a conclusion : ' As long as ability marries ability a large proportion of 

 able offspring is a certainty, and ability is a more valuable heirloom in a 

 family than mere material wealth, which, moreover, will follow ability 

 sooner or later.' 



They say : ' Since the assumption of the responsibility of offspring 

 falls on those of the younger generation whose financial position, even in 

 the upper classes, is usually not yet secure, it should become an increasing 

 habit for the older generation, where they have it, to distribute a sub- 

 stantial part of their property during their lifetime. Such a distribution 

 should not excite the animosity of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

 Security or affluence often comes too late to make easy the heavy burdens 

 of early maturity, and when it comes provides but bitter reflection over 

 lost opportunity. Those in the prime of life can make the best use of 

 wealth in the service of the nation. May each generation as they grow 

 older learn to relinquish it in time to watch their successors meet their 

 responsibilities fully.' 



Let us assume that the peak responsibility of the average married 

 couple is reached at a period in their lives when they have not got to their 

 highest earning power, and that they could do better for their families — 

 educate them better, and bring them up in a superior style — if they had 

 some assistance from outside. 



There could be no better eugenic or sociological institution than a 

 kind of moving annuity which should pass from generation to generation, 

 not at the death of each person, but from him to his children at a point 

 when his personal need for it has become less, and when his son's need for 

 it has become greatest. The inheritance would not, therefore, be one 

 passing at death, but would be one passing at middle life ; it would be 

 like a permanent endowment of the family at its most difficult periods, 

 and there could be no more honourable object of ambition than to endow 

 one's family and descendants in this way, because it would be of the 

 highest eugenic value to the community. In middle life a man cannot 

 both save for his old age and retirement and also spend the best of his 



