more important man, is not his education or his opportunities, but the inherent desire for knowledge and power that makes him seek an education in one way or another, while the mediocre man is not willing to have more thrust upon him than his native attention can stand.
Lehr's 'Genealogy' is a book compiled for purely heraldric purposes and traces to the twelfth degree of remoteness eight of the principal reigning families of northern Europe. Since in going back twelve generations every person has 4,096 ancestral quarterings, the total value of the material brought together in this way is 8 4,096 32,768, an immense field for the study of heredity. Owing to intermarriages the total number of different persons is considerably less than this, being 3,312, but it makes no difference from the standpoint of science whether we repeat the same person several times in the pedigree or whether another of the same characteristics is introduced in his stead, the scientific value of this book is represented by the larger number, 32,768. This is of course ignoring the possibility that inbreeding of itself creates a different value for the stock; but since inbreeding in these families is never very close, and since it is the best scientific opinion that inbreeding per se as usually carried on among human beings is of no consequence, other things being equal,[1] this error, if it be one, may be neglected.
A group of 32,768 persons, such as we have in the pages of Lehr, possesses several peculiar advantages for the study of the origin of genius. First, it is gathered together in an entirely impersonal way, Lehr having no scientific theory in view. Second, it contains also mediocrities, so that we may see how many times mediocrity has produced its like before any genius appears. Third, the exact relationship of every person to every other person is known, and the pedigrees are perfectly complete. Fourth, nearly all are of royal or noble birth, very few being below the rank of a count, so that although their environments are very different, their social position is always much the same.
Among all these 3,312 I found only sixteen worthy of the nine or ten grades here employed. These are given in the list below, the word (new) being appended to those whose immediate ancestry is devoid of others of equal intellectual worth.
| 1. | (new) Anhalt: Catherine II., Empress of Russia. | |
| Catherine must be considered as a 'sport' in more than the popular use of the term, since her ancestry was in no way remarkable. She did not leave any descendants nearly as capable as herself. | ||
| 2. | Brunswick: Amelia, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar. | |
| 'Distinguished patron of genius and learning.' Friend of Goethe. She was an excellent student, in which she showed 'wonderful perseverance' and also composed considerable music. Amelia was a niece of Frederick the Great and consequently closely related to about a dozen of the most brilliant of modern royalty. | ||
- ↑ Conf. Huth, 'Marriage of Near Kin.' 8vo. London, 1887.
