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144
Hereditary Genius
Henry Lawrence, Sir John Moore, Nelson, Tromp, and Turenne. (I
may add, while talking of these things, though it does not bear on my
argument, that four others were murdered, viz. Caesar, Coligny,
Philip II. of Macedon, and William the Silent; and that two committed
suicide, viz. Lord Clive and Hannibal. In short, 40 per cent. of the
whole number died by violent deaths.)
There is a principle of natural selection in an enemy's bullets which
bears more heavily against large than against small men. Large men
are more likely to be hit. I calculate that the chance of a man being
accidentally shot is as the square root of the product of his height
multiplied into his weight;¹ that where a man of 16 stone in weight,
and 6 feet 2.5 inches high, will escape from chance shots for two
years, a man of 8 stone in weight and 5 feet 6 inches high, would
escape for three. But the total proportion of the risk run by the large
man, is, I believe, considerably greater. He is conspicuous from his
size, and is therefore more likely to be recognised and made the
object of a special aim. It is also in human nature, that the shooter
should pick out the largest man, just as he would pick out the largest
bird in a covey, or antelope in a herd. Again, of two men who are
aimed at, the bigger is the more likely to be hit, as affording a larger
target. This chance is a trifle less than the ratio of his increased
sectional area, for it is subject to the law discussed in p. 28, though
we are unable to calculate the decrease, from our ignorance of
1
The chance of a man being struck by accidental shots is in proportion to his
sectional area—that is, to his shadow on a neighbouring wall cast by a distant light; or to
his height multiplied into his average breadth. However. it is equally easy and more
convenient to calculate from the better known data of his height and weight. One man
differs from another in being more or less tall, and more or less thick-set. It is
unnecessary to consider depth (of chest, for example) as well as width, for the two go
together. Let h = a man's height, w = his weight, b = his average breadth taken in any
direction we please, but it must be in the same direction for all. Then his weight, w,
varies as hb2, and his sectional area varies as hb, or as sqrt(h*hb2), or as sqrt(hw).
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