 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
330
Hereditary Genius
I regret I am unable to solve the simple question whether, and how
far, men and women who are prodigies of genius, are infertile. I have,
however, shown, that men of eminence, such as the Judges, are by
no means so, and it will be seen, from my point of view of the future
of the human race, as described in a subsequent chapter, that the
fertility of eminent men is a more important fact for me to establish,
than that of prodigies. There are many difficulties in the way of
discovering whether genius is, or is not, correlated with infertility.
One—and a very serious one—is that people will not agree upon the
names of those who are pre-eminently men of genius, nor even upon
the definition of the word. Another is, that the men selected as
examples are usually ancients, or at all events those who lived so long
ago that it is often impossible, and always very difficult, to learn
anything about their families. Another difficulty lies in the fact, that a
man who has no children is likely to do more for his profession, and to
devote himself more thoroughly to the good of the public, than if he
had them. A very gifted man will almost always rise, as I believe, to
eminence; but if he is handicapped with the weight of a wife and
children in the race of life, he cannot be expected to keep as much in
the front as if he were single. He cannot pursue his favourite subject
of study with the same absorbing passion as if he had no other
pressing calls on his attention, no domestic sorrows, anxieties, and
petty cares, no yearly child, no periodical infantine epidemics, no
constant professional toil for the maintenance of a large family.
There are other obstacles in the way of leaving descendants in the
second generation. The daughters would not be so likely as other girls
to marry, for the reasons stated a few pages back; while the health of
the sons is liable to be ruined by over-work. The sons of gifted men
are decidedly more precocious than their parents, as a reference
 |
|
 |
|