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Hereditary Genius
323
Darwinism, and therefore cannot be expected to be favourable to
many of the discussions in this book; so I have the more satisfaction
in the independence of the testimony afforded by his Calendar to the
truth of my views. Again, no one can doubt that Comte's selections
are entirely original; for he was the last man to pin his faith upon that
popular opinion which he aspired to lead. Every name in his Calendar
was weighed, we may be sure, with scrupulous care, though, I dare
say, with a rather crazy balance, before it was inserted in the place
which he assigned for it, in his Calendar.
The Calendar consists of 13 months, each containing 4 weeks. The
following table gives the representatives of the 13 months in capital
letters, and those of the 52 weeks in ordinary type. I have not thought
it worth while to transcribe the representatives of the several days.
Those marked with a* are included in my appendices, as having
eminent relations; those with a + might have been so included. It will
be observed that there are from 10 to 20 persons of whose kinships
we know nothing or next to nothing, and therefore they should be
struck out of the list,—such as Numa, Buddha, Homer, Phidias,
Thales, Pythagoras, Archimedes, Apollonius, Hipparchus, St. Paul.
Among the remaining 55 or 45 persons, no less than 27, or one-half,
have eminent relations.
1.
Theocracy, initial
+ Moses,— Numa, Buddha, +Confucius, Mahomet.
2.
Ancient poetry
Homer, —*Aeschylus, Phidias, *Aristophanes, Virgil.
3.
Ancient philosophy
* Aristotle, —Thales, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato.
4.
Ancient science
Archimedes,— +Hippocrates, Apollonius, Hipparchus,
*Pliny The Elder.
5.
Military civilization
* Caesar,— Themistocles, *Alexander,*Scipio, Trajan.
6.
Catholicism
St. Paul,— +St. Augustine, Hildebrand, St. Bernard,
Bossuet.
7.
Feudal civilisation
Charlemagne,— Alfred, Godfrey, Innocent III., St. Louis.
8.
Modern epic
Dante,— *Ariosto, Raphael, Tasso,*Milton.
9.
Modern industry
Guttenberg, — Columbus, Vaucanson, *Watt,
+Montgolfier.
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