66 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 235 



Whether temper is hereditary is a question not easily answered ; 

 but when asked of couples in which both parents are good-tem- 

 pered, or both parents bad-tempered, the answer is emphatically in 

 the affirmative. 30 per cent of the children of the former are 

 spoken of as good-tempered, and only 10 per cent as bad ; while, 

 with regard to the children of the bad-tempered, only 4 per cent 

 are good-tempered, and 52 per cent bad. Similarly, by a method 

 necessarily somewhat arbitrary and not easily described, Mr. Galton 

 concludes that in the ancestry of good-tempered persons, three per- 

 sons of good temper will occur to two of bad temper, and tiice versa 

 in the ancestry of a bad-tempered person. Apart from direct 

 heredity, education and circumstances evidently affect temper. A 

 large class of such influences are about as favorable to good as to 

 bad temper, and so tend to produce a variety of tempers. Another 

 class of influences, typically illustrated in the case of a not unusual- 

 ly docile woman becoming very docile as the wife of a masterful 

 husband, tends to divide persons (and this applies particularly to 

 the offspring) into distinct groups ; while the effect of a prepotent 

 ancestor may be working to continue one kind of temper through 

 many members of the family. Mr. Galton finds, that, in 14 cases 

 of 49, these domestic and social influences are too weak to overcome 

 the secondary influences in course of heredity, either by the pre- 

 potent temper of one member or the general concurrence of temper 

 in several. Finally, it may be noted, that, though so important and 

 readily observed a trait, temper is not a prime consideration in 

 marriage, men of each kind of temper about as frequently choosing 

 a wife of one temper as of another. 



This research, though necessarily not very definite, is well calcu- 

 lated to bring out the great variety of this important trait, and to 

 show, amidst this diversity, its tendency to continue its kind. 



Is Genius Universal? — The question, when asked with a 

 due appreciation of the kind of evidence upon which it is to be an- 

 swered, is by no means an idle one. To know whether the activity 

 for which the world reserves its highest prizes is dependent upon an 

 unusual strength of mental capacity in all directions, or upon the 

 acute specialization of one faculty of mind to the exclusion of any 

 thing like equal development of other faculties, is certainly an im- 

 portant piece of knowledge. Carlyle had no respect for a genius 

 that could not be any kind of genius, and his view is quite generally 

 repeated with approval by persons with less right to an opinion. 

 This is a mistake of all hero-worshippers. They exaggerate the 

 abilities of their hero in all directions in which he had a somewhat 

 more than average gift, and also exaggerate the share due to cir- 

 cumstances in his development. It is easy to cite quite a long list 

 of men eminent in more than one direction ; but, as Mr. Sully, 

 whose train of thought {Gentleman s Magazine, July, 1887) we are 

 now repeating, well points out, if we are careful to count only such 

 kinds of eminence as imply markedly different modes of mental 

 power, and demand first-rate ability in each, the number of 

 ' double-firsts ' is enormously diminished. We find that polynathy 

 has been mistaken for universal genius ; that the poet-scientist, for 

 example, was a great poet, but only an average scientist ; and that 

 the few eminent names that shine in several departments are de- 

 cidedly exceptional. " True genius very rarely shows itself in more 

 than one well-defined region of human activity." That this is due 

 to a more or less innate fitness for that kind of activity in which 

 greatness is won, is shown not only by the fact that it is a marked 

 characteristic of genius to show a decided bent that overcomes all 

 obstacles in the direction of future greatness, but also that often 

 tentative excursions in various directions result in failure, until the 

 right activity is found, and success follows. This conception of 

 genius is in harmony with the little we know of its physical sub- 

 stratum. " Universal genius is a biological absurdity," says Mr. 

 Sully. Genius depends upon the abnormal development of a cer- 

 tain group of brain-centres. Widely versatile talent is the outcome 

 of a spkndid, generally excellent brain ; and perhaps this is the 

 clew to the tendency of genius to go over to abnormal one-sidedness, 

 while talent keeps healthy as an " exalted common sense." 



The editor of Petermann's Mittheilungen is in receipt of a 

 letter containing the news that Lupton Bey is safe in Khartum, al- 

 though still a prisoner of Osman Digma. 



BOOK -REVIEWS. 

 The Pleasures of Life. By Sir John Lubbock. London and 

 New York, Macmillan. 16". 



There are in every age certain leaders of thought, who, by their 

 successes already won, have gained for themselves the right to 

 speak on topics important to the general culture of the age which 

 they represent. In an age in whose culture science occupies a 

 place exalted far beyond what was ever allotted it before, it is 

 natural to find in the eminent scientist the spokesman of culture. 

 Amongst those entitled to such a distinction. Sir John Lubbock 

 stands amongst the first. The versatility of his talents, the 

 success with which he has utilized them in so many directions, the 

 practical interest he has always taken in the doings of the nation 

 to which he belongs, — all have contributed to his well-merited 

 fame. The author of the ' Origin of Civilization ' and of ' Pre- 

 historic Times ' does not think it a whit less worthy to minutely 

 record the doings of ' ants, bees, and wasps ; ' and that, too, in the 

 leisure hours of a busy parliamentary career. In educational and 

 all scientific movements his name has always been prominent. 

 Such a man is naturally often called upon to make short addresses 

 of welcome or of congratulation on the many occasions on which 

 such are customary. These addresses are here collected, and 

 make a verj' pleasing volume. " Being myself naturally rather 

 prone to suffer from low spirits," says the author, " I have at several 

 of these gatherings taken the opportunity of dwelling on the 

 privileges and blessings we enjoy," etc. 



The changed conditions of modern life form the subject of many 

 an essay. That these changes cause a variation in the order and 

 importance of the pleasures of life, goes without saying. This 

 change Sir John Lubbock fully appreciates, and the liveliness of his 

 little book is beyond question. That much pf what he says is not 

 new, will be foreseen : such a volume must be judged by lenient 

 standards. If what is said is well and pleasantly said, if it appeals 

 to the good sense of cultured people by the liberality and nobility of 

 the thought, it answers its purpose. It must certainly have been a 

 privilege to have heard these addresses : in the reading of them 

 many will find a ' pleasure of life.' 



Under the two titles ' The Duty of Happiness ' and ' The Hap- 

 piness of Duty ' is advocated a scientifically justifiable optimism 

 the practical realization of which will be a universal blessing. The 

 importance of literature in the lives of the people at large is repre- 

 sented in ' A Song of Books,' and in the much-disputed ' The 

 Choice of Books.' The social virtues find their praises recorded 

 in ' The Blessings of Friends ' and ' The Pleasures of Home.' The 

 practical problems of modern life are touched upon in the essays 

 on the value of time, on science, and on education. The plea for 

 science is a just one : it aims to dispel the notion that science is all 

 drudgery, or all grossly and immediately practical ; the scientist a 

 bug-hunter, and nothing more. The culture-worth of science, the 

 educational value of its instructions, are amongst the most precious 

 treasures of our civilization. The office of these in widening the 

 mental horizon, in checking a narrowing dogmatism, in keeping 

 alive a healthy communion with nature, can hardly be exaggerated. 

 In the education of the future, science is destined to play a still 

 more important part than it does now. One may well join the author 

 in the wish for a glimpse of a science-primer of the twentieth 

 century. 



Home Sanitation : A Manual for Housekeepers. By the Sani- 

 tary Science Club of the Association of Collegiate Alum- 

 na. Boston, Ticknor. 16°. 



The Sanitary Science Club of the Association of Collegiate 

 Alumnae was organized in 1883, for the study of home sanitation. 

 Two years were devoted to general study and research before any 

 attempt was made to extend the work beyond the limits of the 

 club. Since that time the material presented in this little book of 

 eighty pages has gradually taken form. It consists of a series of 

 short essays on the different subjects connected with home sanita- 

 tion, each of which is followed by a series of questions formulated 

 with reference to the topics discussed, and so framed that an af- 

 firmative answer implies a satisfactoiy arrangement of that part of 

 the home, while, if the answer is negative, a remedy for the defect 

 is suggested. These questions have been practically tested by the 



