Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1912-06-07
LINKED IN GENIUS.
Great Fathers Who Gave to the
World Great Sons.
THE QUESTION OF HEREDITY.
Science Asserts That Genius ls Not
Transn,lssibls. Yet Here Are Numer-
Gus Brilliant Exceptions, Both An
eiens and Modern, TO That pletum.

TransrlssibIe, Yet Here Are Numer-
Gus Brilliant Exceptions, Both An
elsns and Modern, 70 That Dietun.
An alluslon by Henry W. Lacy. an
acute Judge Of contemporary notabies,
to winston Spencer Churchill as born
parllamentarlan 10 whom the genius
Of his father. Lord Randolph Churchill,
lives again and who may yet prove to
overshadow the fame Of Lord Ran
dolph, even as william Pitt eclipsed
the renown Of Lord Chatham, moves
Thomas McCaieb. In the New York
American, to say:
ave are prompted by these illusions
to ask ourselves the well worn query.
Is genius transmissibleg And = ~
the most authoritative latter -.
tum Of science answers In the mega
tive, there are not few noteworthy
exceptions that Involuntarily occur to
the mind.
might we not. first Of ALL cite from
among the ancients such fathers and
sons respectively rs Philip Of Macedon
and Alexander the Great. Hamilcar
and Hannibal Marcus Junlus Brutus
and LucIus Junius Brutus. vespasian
and Titus7 Also we find genius resi-
dent both in Pepin and his offspring.
Charlemagne. to which case might be
added. did space permit, the few great
medieval English kings who were also
the sons Of great kings. Nor should
we omit to mention the poets Bernardo
Tasso and his progeny, Torquato Tas-
so; also the great Nicholas Bacon and
the still greater Francis Bacon. In
deed. the list might be multiplied to an
appreciable figure by taking an ex-
tended tour In universal biography.
There are. besides, quite a number Of
fathers and their sons possessed Of
such extraordinary talent that they
might, by slightly stretching a point.
be likewise called men Of genius.
an the biographies Of great Germans
we see this fact especially creeping out
now and then. and in France. to mem
ton only three cases, we find genius
exemplifed In such a sire and offspring
as Etienne Saint Hilaire Geofrroy and
Isidore Saint Hilaire Geoffroy, as La
care Hippolyte carnot and Sadi Carnot
and as Alexandra Dumas pere and
Alexandra Dumas ills.
aQuite rich in Illustration OF the ap-
parent hereditary transmission of gem
fus is the list among Englishmen.
Here, combining our examples to those
whose fame belongs to the last CEN
fury. we may select at random such
names as Sir William Herschel and
Sir John Frederick William Herschel.
astronomers: George Canning, orator
and prime minister. and Charles John
Canning (earD, first viceroy Of India;
Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton, novel
list, and Robert, Lord Lytton Owen
incredibly, poet; James Mil. philoso-
pher and historian, and John Stuart
Mil, economist; Isaac Disraeli, author,
and Benjamin Disraell. Lord Beacons.
field. statesman and novelist; Gabriel
Rossetti, poet. and Dante Gabriel Ros-
setti, poet ard painter; Thomas Ar
mold. educator and historian. and Mat
thew Arnold, poet and critic; Justin
Mccarthy, politician and historian. and
Justin Huntly Mccarthy, advocate.
I'm American biography we find the
names Of such famous fathers and
sons respectively as Increase Mather
and Cotton Mather. theologlans; John
Adams and John Quincy Adams, both
presidents and statesmen; Light
Horse Harry Lee. patriot, and Robert
q. Lee, soldier; General Zachary Tay-
lor and General Richard Taylor; 10
seph Story, jurist. and w. W. Story,
sculptor; Oliver Wendell Holmes. hu-
morist and poet. and Oliver Wendell
Holmes. jurist: Louis Agassiz and
Alexander Agassiz. naturalists; Ma
thaniel Hawthorne and Julian Haw.
thorne, writers Of fiction; Thomas
Crawford. sculptor, and Marion Craw.
ford, novelist: Henry George and
Henry George. Jr., economists; the two
George Illnesses, landscape painters;
Henry James. the most famous Of the
Swedenborgians, and his son and
namesake. the gifted novelist
"That the genius Of Interpretation, a
truly great art. may betimes be in
herited would appear from the in
stances Of such great actors and their
sons respectively as Junius Brutus
Booth and Edwin Booth, Sir Henry
Irving and Henry B. Irving, the two
Salvinis. Tommaso and Aiessandro
and both Coquelin pere and fils.
1T IS observable from the examples
recorded in this article that the genius
Of fathers and sons ofttimes manifests
itself in the same sphere Of endeavor
either Of them approximating or ex
ceiling. as the case might be, the fame
or excellence Of the other
at goes without saying that Illus
trations, perhaps far more numerous
might be given to prove the conten
ton Of the best recent scientid
thought-namely, that mental attr
butes are not inheritable. For an thai
we believe we have produced sufi
Client number Of concrete exceptions t
affirm that in this particular the lats
dictum OF science. which. of course. &
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