The National tribune., 1884-08-21
HEREDITARY GENUS.

1t is natural for people to believe that the
father transmits some portion at least of his
talents and salient characteristics to his son.
Our social organization is mainly pivoted
on this belief Sons inherit their fathers
names and wealth. In Europe they succeed to
their sire's crowns, titles and offices. All this
is based on the idea that a son is a reproduction
Of his father, and the extent to which it OBJ
tains shows how universal and deep-seated the
belief:
Analogy with animals supports this belief
When we see careful breeding for generations
convert an ordinary dog into the keen-sccnted
pointer, and By the same method horse de-
velopt that can trot in 2:9a, we have strong
support for belief in transmitted talent in
human beings. But somehow, human expert
ence does not Justify this belief We are
always disappointed in the sons of our great
men.
OF al the long roll of men eminent in Eng
lish literature, we do not recall one now who
left son who inherited q notable share of his
fathers abilities We believe this is equally
true of men distinguished in other walks of
life
Thought is directed to this remarkable fact
by the sudden death of the second Duke of
Wellington, which occurred this week,-the
gentleman falling dead on railway platform.
There is no blood from which we would have
more reason to expect transmission of high
qualities than that which flowed through the
veins Of the victor Of Waterloo. The first Duke
of Wellington was emphatically one of the
great soldiers Of the world He was a man of
the strongest characteristics and those which
it would seem impossible could help being
stamped on his offspring Not only this.
but his three brothers were all distinguished
men, who, like him. won their way to the
peerage by eminent services, and the extraor
binary spectacle was presented of the four
brothers-a Duke, Marquis, an Earl and
Baron-all sitting in the House of Lords.
The son-who has just dropt dead at the age
Of 77-of this great man was as commonplace
and mediocre man as there was in all Eng
land. He was one of the-very duHest and
weakest men in that aggregation Of dull and
weak men-the English House of Lords. The
grateful English people had given his father
some 10000 acres of land, from which he de-
rived a revenue Of about 100000 a year, and
the Spanish added something to this; and the
late Duke had just about enough brains. and
energy to spend this sum, and no more. He
left no children and the property viii go to his
cousin, who has scarcely more intellectual force
than he. The son of this cousin is worthless
fellow, who so outraged his wife by his amors
with danseuse that she got divorce from
him, and he has since married his theatrical
charmer
The descendants of England's other great
commander-the Duke of Marlboro turned
out quite as badly as the Wellingtons
As a rule, our great men have left no worthy
heirs of their greatness. Washington was
childless, Jefferson and jackson had no sons.
Benjamin Frarazlins son was discredit to
him, and Webster, Clay, Benton, and the Illus
tricus men Of their day left children that were
only remarkable for the incongruity between
themselves and the great names they bore.
The only plausible explanation of this is