Some Eminent Men 39 



of 86 years from birth of grandfather to birth of 

 grandson. This may not appear much, but if 

 there is nothing in years of education given the 

 father and grandfather before they reproduce, 

 then it should be possible to find some other man 

 as good as Kelvin, who was bom less than 48 

 years after the birth of his grandfather. Try it. 



Hereditary kings are not usually of much im- 

 portance from the intellectual standpoint, but 

 Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is an exception. 

 He was born 98 years after the birth of his 

 grandfather, Gustavus Vasa. In ordinary popu- 

 lations, more persons are born within 44 years of 

 the births of their paternal grandfathers than are 

 bom 98 or more years after. Normally, heredi- 

 tary kings are the eldest son of the eldest son, 

 and great numbers of them are born within 44 

 years of the births of their grandfathers. Just 

 try to find one so born who is in any way com- 

 parable to Gustavus Adolphus from the intellect- 

 ual standpoint. 



In other contributions I have shown that 

 Charles Darwin was produced by an ancestry 

 which accumulated', in a few previous genera- 

 tions, an aggregate of more than, fifty years of 



