186 THE RIGHT TO BE WELL BORN 



up this practice. He proves tMs by tables 

 and, among other things, states that, al- 

 though the oldest son gets the best show, 

 only seventeen per cent, of the English 

 judges came from oldest sons, eleven per 

 cent, from only sons ; thirty-eight per cent, 

 from second sons ; and twenty-two per cent, 

 from third sons, showing that the greater 

 preponderance of mental acumen and 

 brains comes from the offspring of the ma- 

 turer life and from the more experienced 

 fathers ; that the only excuse he could find 

 for the oldest son getting the larger share 

 of his father's properties was to make up 

 for the lack of mental and physical ability 

 he had inherited. For this reason, the eld- 

 est son's needs were greater, as he usually 

 made ducks and drakes of whatever he 

 inherited. 



The Almighty, seeing all this, established 

 the American, and other Eepublics, so that 

 every son might have a fair chance to 

 prove his own worth. 



Havelock Ellis, in his "A Study of Brit- 

 ish Genius," page 120, made a very signifi- 

 cant analysis of 299 fathers who had pro- 



