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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 162 



is in abstract science, mathematics and astronomy, 

 that Jews show to more advantage. The history 

 of pure mathematics during this century would 

 show large blanks if the names of Jacobi. Syl- 

 vester, Kronecker, and Cremona, were removed. 

 In astronomy we have the cluster of Herschels, 

 Goldschmidt (who discovered fourteen asteroids in 

 the 'fifties' and 'sixties.' when such discoveries 

 were not an every -day occurrence), and W. Meyer- 

 beer (brother of the musician, and author of the 

 first great chart of the moon). Altogether, then, 

 we must conclude that Jews take their full share 

 in the scientific work of the day. In Sir John 

 Lubbock's ' Jubilee speech at York,' we find eight 

 Jewish names out of the two hundred and eighty- 

 nine who are mentioned as contributing to the last 

 fifty years of science : this is considerably above 

 their proper proportion, even when including the 

 Russian Jews. Again : in M. de Candolle's book, 

 • Histoire de science,' there are ten Jews holding 

 sixteen out of the eight hundred and twenty-four 

 chairs as foreign members of the scientific acade- 

 mies, which fact he uses as a test of scientific 

 ability. This is just the right proportion, the 

 Jews of Europe being seven out of three hundred 

 and thirty-three million. 



Less surprise will be felt at the subjects in 

 which Jews seem to show superiority. In acting, 

 a profession better recognized on the continent 

 than here, — and the same may be said of medi- 

 cine, — in Austria, one may say ubi tres medic i 

 duo Judaei. The Jewish merchants who get into 

 the dictionaries are, of course, the great financiers. 

 But it is chiefly in music and philology that Jewish 

 superiority is most marked : in music there seems 

 to be six times, and in philology nine times, as 

 much Jewish talent as European. For the 

 former, besides the great names of Mendelssohn, 

 Halevy, Meyerbeer, and Rubinstein, already men- 

 tioned, we have many lesser lights, like Sir Julius 

 Benedict, Sir M. Costa, F. Co wen, Joachim, Pau- 

 line Lucca, Moscheles, and Sir A. Sullivan. Eng- 

 lish music, to say the least, would he almost non- 

 existent without these Jewish names. Even more 

 striking is the number of Jewish names distin- 

 guished in philology. These are not alone con- 

 nected with oriental and Semitic philology, like 

 Ben fey and Oppert ; but they count a goodly 

 number of classical scholars, — Bernays, Bern- 

 hardy, Lehrs, Friedlilnder. and H. Weil, to whom 

 we may add Freund, the author of the Latin dic- 

 tionary, which is the basis of all those used in 

 England. The names of Lazarus and Steinthal 

 are known wherever the principles of philology 

 are studied. In modern languages, too, Jews 

 hare done good work. Sanders has done for Ger- 

 man what Littre did for French : and a Jew. the 



well-known Ollendorff, may claim to have taught 

 languages to the largest number of people by the 

 clumsiest method of teaching. 



If we may venture to inquire into the causes of 

 the Jewish superiority established on these some- 

 what hypothetical grounds, there are various 

 reasons which can be given. We have to take 

 account of their residence in cities, always more 

 conducive to the life intellectual. From this, 

 too, follows their addiction to commerce as dis- 

 tinguished from industry ; and as the former im- 

 plies head work, and the latter handicraft, mental 

 capacity must be aided by this fact. The care 

 Jews give to their children's education is well 

 known, and must help. All Jewish boys have 

 hitherto had to leam Hebrew, as well as the ver- 

 nacular, and this must further mental progress. 

 Dissenters generally seem more intellectual, be- 

 cause they have early to think out their differ- 

 ences from the generality. In the case of Jews, 

 persecution, when not too severe, has probably 

 aided in bringing out their best powers : to a high- 

 spirited race, persecution, when there is a hope of 

 overcoming it, is a spur to action. The solidarity 

 of Jews, and the aid they willingly give to young 

 men of promise, assist in developing whatever 

 talent there may be in the community. The 

 happy home-life of the Jewish people, and the 

 practical and undogmatic character of their re- 

 ligion, together with the absence of a priesthood, 

 have contributed to give the corpus sanum, and 

 thus the mens sana. Jewish reason has never 

 been in fetters : and finally the weaker members of 

 each generation have been weeded out by persecu- 

 tion, which tempted or forced them to embrace 

 Christianity, and thus contemporary Jews are the 

 survival of a long process of unnatural selection, 

 which has seemingly fitted them excellently for 

 the struggle for intellectual existence. 



Turning from these general causes, it would be 

 of interest to discover the reasons for the special 

 ability of Jews in music, mathematics, metaphys- 

 ics, philology, and finance. The chief cause of 

 the musical pre-eminence of Jews, lies, in all prob- 

 ability, in the home-character of their religion, 

 which necessarily makes music a part of every 

 Jewish home ; this, too, was the only direction in 

 which their artistic sensibilities could be gratified. 

 Jewish philology is in part due to their frequent 

 change of country, and also to the fact that they 

 have had an additional sacred language besides 

 the vernacular. As regards finance, the Jews 

 have had their greatness thrust upon them : the 

 world forced them to become financiers centuries 

 before finance became a power, and must not com- 

 plain if Jews now profit by their start in financial 

 experience. Altogether, the productions of Jewish 



