The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-01-26

| W Il M NO Al Xix
Manchester Chronicle is suggested to
him by Makes of Man. by DR.. C. j
Whitby.
Mr.. Purvis comments on this vita
volume as follows:
The most curious and the most
significant portions of DR.. Whitby's
volume are those in which he treats
of the part played by women in the
production and fostering of genius
and those others in which he shows
how often the man of genius is dis
eased physically or mentally-al-
though he protests vehemently
against the idea that genius Is in IT
self form of disease. To put 1t in
the yernacular, Dr. Whitby's sugges-
ton is that none of us can have Ii
all ways; that defects of physique
mind, or character are merely the re-
verse side of the medal ON the face
OF which are the special qualities of
genius,
Men of genius have no private lives
In the usual sense of the term; and
DR.. Whitby refuses to save our blush
es. Dividing his famous men into
four classes, according as their
achievements affect mainly the
sphere of common life. of magma
ton, of knowledge, or of morality
and religion" he finds that the four
types of human greatness are the
practical, the esthetic, the in
tellectual, and the ethical, and
that among all the greatest
of them there is much ordinary hui
man weakness-some of it obviously
inherited, some of it apparently &C
CURED
GENIUS AND ITS PARENTS.
The parents of great men, taken
collectively, ere not very prolific; the
average size of their families works
out at about 40 children. Strangely
enough there is a gradual diminution
in the size of families as we pass
from the men of action to the ethico-
religious group, for the first-named
10 had an average of 7.9 children
apiece, the esthetic types 4.3, the in
tellectuals AZ, and the ethico-reli-
gious only 80.
A large proportion of men of genius
have been the only child of their par
ents-eight out of the sample 40; the
eight including Dante, Turner, N6w-
ton (whose mother had more chill
dren, however, by a second husband)
LeibnitZ (who was the only son by
his fathers third wife, Marcus Au-
relius, Augustine. Gregory and Mahc-
met. Leonardo was Legitimate; his
mother, though unmarried when he
was born. was married later on; his
father had four wives.
Great men come early in their par
ents' married life, their position in
the family being Is in an average
family of 40; or to put it in another
way, in a family of five the betting is
slightly more in favor of No. being a
genius than No. /, but the rest of the
circle are outsiders. Bacon and Spi-
noza were the offspring of their faith
ar's second wives, and Leibnitz of the
third, which might indicate that a
considerable seniority on the part of
the husband to the wife is a condi-
the offspring
So much for the birth statistics
Now to those of death. Caesar. Will
liam the Silent, Nelson and Lincoln
died by violence; the average longev-
ity of the other &c men of genius was
657 years-men of action Gil; es-
thetic types Gel; intellectuals 60;
ethicals 64.7. These figures seem
to support the popular belief in the
the physical organism of great men
tai effort" a theory reinforced by the
circumstance that the three most
distinctly intellectual men-Augus-
tine, Emerson and Renan, were by
far the longest lived" Augustine was
rs when he died, Emerson 70, and
Renan 50. Luther who died at 60,
lived in many respects the life of
a man of action"
SOME REMARKABLE MOTHERS.
The mothers of men of genius
have been frequently somewhat re-
markable women, more remarkable
than the fathers. Caesars mother
was "a strict and stately lady {; the
old school, uninfected by the cosmo-
politan laxity of her day" Conse
quently, though the Caesars were
wealthy their household was simple
and severe" Its greatest son was
always passionately devoted to his
mother. who shared his house up to
the time of her DEATH" when he was
46 years old. Her influence upon
him was doubtless great and benefi
cial." Charlemagne's mother also
was "a matron of the old school" and
made her mark visibly upon the ma
ture of her son. who grossly deteri-
Grated" after her death in his And