English Men of Science Author:Francis Galton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. QUALITIES. Energy—Size of Head—Health—Perseverance—Practical Business Habits—Memory—Independence of Character—Mechanical Aptitude—Religious Bia... more »s—Truthfulness. In this chapter I will speak of the qualities which the returns specify as most conspicuous in scientific men, and I shall endeavor to make them tell their own tale by quoting anonymous extracts from their communications. Some of these qualities are common to all men who succeed in life, others—such as the love for science—are more or less special to scientific men. We will begin with the general qualities, with the view of obtaining as exact an idea as may be of the degree in which they are present in the leaders of science of the present day, neither exaggerating nor under-estimating. When energy, or the secretion of nervous force, 18 small, the powers of the man are overtasked by his dAy duties, his health gives way, and he is soon weeded our of existence by the process of natural selection; when moderate, it just suffices for the duties and ordinary amusements of his life : he lives, as it were, up to his income, and has nothing to spare. When it is large, he has a surplus to get rid of, or direct, according to his tastes. It may break out in some illegitimate way, or he may utilize it, perhaps in the pursuit of science. It will be seen that the leading scientific men are generally endowed with great energy; many of the most successful among them have labored as earnest amateurs in extra-professional hours, working far into the night. They have climbed the long and steep ascent from the lower to the upper ranks of life; they have learned where the opportunities of learning were few; they have built up fortunes by perseverance and intelligence, and at the same time have distinguished themselves ...« less