The Descent of Man

owing to the great division of labour, a very
small one. Hence in civilised nations there will
be some tendency to an increase both in the
number and in the standard of the intellectually
able. But I do not wish to assert that this tendency
may not be more than counterbalanced
in other ways, as by the multiplication of the
reckless and improvident; but even to such as
these, ability must be some advantage.
It has often been objected to views like the foregoing,
that the most eminent men who have
ever lived have left no offspring to inherit their
great intellect. Mr. Galton says, "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,
shewn that men of eminence are by no means
so." (15. 'Hereditary Genius,' 1870, p. 330.)
Great lawgivers, the founders of beneficent
religions, great philosophers and discoverers in
science, aid the progress of mankind in a far