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[Vol. 7I1I., No. 180 



MR. JAMES SULLY ON THE PRECOCITY 

 OF GENIUS. 



Whenever Mr. Sully turns his attention to a 

 problem in psychology or anthropology, he is sure 

 to give it a lively, interesting treatment, and to 

 accompany it with a wealth of illustration. His 

 paper on ' Genius and precocity ' in the June 

 number of the Nineteenth century is no exception 

 to this ; and it has the additional attraction of 

 dealing with a question quite within the popular 

 comprehension . 



Mr. Sully says that the idea that genius reveals 

 itself early in life is repugnant to common sense. 

 It seems more fitting that genius should be the 

 result of development and close application. To 

 test the question, two methods may be pursued. 

 First, it may be asked what proportion of those 

 who have shown marked precocity have after- 

 wards redeemed the promise of their youth? and, 

 secondly, what number of those who have un- 

 questionably obtained a place among the gi*eat 

 were previously distinguished by precocity ? The 

 former line of inquiry is evidently of great com- 

 plexity, and Mr. Sully therefore confines himself 

 to the second question, and also examines only 

 instances in modern times, where the evidence is 

 reasonably full and accurate, and in the depart- 

 ments of art and literature. The field of prac- 

 tical affairs, including statesmen, soldiers, and 

 ecclesiastics, is not entered upon. Mr. Sully's 

 precise question therefore is, in what proijortion 

 of cases, in the realms of art and literature in 

 modern times, has recognized intellectual emi- 

 nence been preceded by youthful distinction and 

 superiority to others. He distinguishes seven 

 groups : 1°, musicians ; 2", painters ; 3°, poets ; 4°, 

 novelists ; 5°, scholars, including liistorians and 

 critics ; 6°, men of science ; 7°, philosophers. 

 Any manifestations in childhood or youth of an 

 exceptional aptitude and bent, corresponding to 

 the special direction of the later development of 

 genius, are taken as indications of precocity. 

 Childhood and youth end, in Mr. Sully's data, at 

 the twentieth year of life. 



In his first group, the musicians, Mr. Sully cites 

 as precocious the well-known cases of Mozart, 

 Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Schubert ; and the 

 not so familiar cases of Meyerbeer, Hillier, Spohr, 

 Mehul (who was an organist at ten), Schumann, 

 Cherubini, Auber, Weber, David, Lotti, and Pur- 

 cell. Eubinstein played finely at ten, Liszt at 

 twelve. Of 40 musicians enumerated, 38 showed 

 a decided bent before twenty. Of these 38, 29 are 

 known to have had the gift as children, and there 

 is reason to believe that others betrayed it by the 

 age of twelve. In only two cases — the rather 



surprising ones of Eossini and Wagner — is there 

 a lack of early manifestation of musical ability. 



The second group includes painters and sculp- 

 tors, and among the precocious are to be found 

 Mantegna, Andrea del Sarto, Raffael, Tiziano, 

 Michael Angelo, Murillo, Holbein, Ruysdael, Cor- 

 nelius, Vernet, and Ary Schefi'er. Of the great 

 sculptors, Canova carved a lion at twelve, and 

 Thorwaldsen began work at eleven. Of the 58 

 representatives of this group, 42 showed decided 

 talent before fifteen, and 47 before twenty. In 

 none of the instances was artistic fame acquired 

 after the age of forty. 



Among the poets, comprising the third group, 

 Tasso wrote ' Rinaldo' at seventeen ; Calderon com- 

 posed very early ; Goethe wrote dialogues at six ; 

 Alfred de Musset had written poems before four- 

 teen. Beaumont, Cowley, Pope, Byron, and Col- 

 eridge were all precocious. Elizabeth Barrett 

 Browning wrote poetry at eight, and Mrs. He- 

 nians published her first volume at fourteen. Of 

 52 poets, 39 were distinctly precocious. 



The fourth group, novelists, tells a similar story, 

 Scott, Dickens, Lytton, Balzac, Hoffman, Charlotte 

 Bronte, and Miss Burney are familiar instances 

 of precocity. Of 28 novelists, 21 gave evidence of 

 great imaginative power before twenty. 



Of the fifth group, scholars, historians, and 

 critics, Grotius, Person, Niebuhr, Macaulay, and 

 Thirl wall are well-known instances. Of 36 rep- 

 resentative names, 30 showed preternatural ability 

 in childhood or early youth. 



The sixth group, men of science, has among the 

 affirmative instances Galileo, Tycho Brahe, New- 

 ton, Thomas Young, Clerk-MaxweU, Sir William 

 Rowan Hamilton, Cuvier, Haller, and Laplace. 

 Of 36 cases exammed, 27 gave evidence of a de- 

 cided bent to science before twenty ; of the re- 

 mainder, 5 took to science after twenty, and 4 

 are doubtful. 



The seventh and last group, philosophers, shows 

 as precocious Berkeley, — who, as his common- 

 place-book shows, hit upon his new principle of 

 idealism when a youth of eighteen at college, and 

 who wrote his ' New theory of vision ' at twenty- 

 four, — Hume, Leibnitz, Schellmg, and John Stuart 

 Mill. Of 37 eminent representatives of this group, 

 25 showed marked pliilosophical inquisitiveness 

 before twenty. 



The summation of the seven groups is remark- 

 able ; for it shows that out of 287 names chosen, 

 231, or 80.48 per cent, were precocious. As a 

 rule, the productive period also begins early. In 

 a total of 263 cases, we find 105, or 40 per cent, 

 produced works before the age of twenty ; and 

 211, or 80 per cent, before the age of thirty. 

 Moreover, a large majority of great men attain 



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