Unfortunately, we can not feel quite as free from doubt on the point as Galton did. The judicial mind, if that be the main qualification for a judge, might be inherited, or it might be the result of training. Such a case, standing alone, is inconclusive.
Galton similarly showed that the sons of statesmen tended to be statesmen, and that the same was true in families of great commanders, literary men, poets and divines. In his list of eminent painters, all the relatives mentioned are painters save four, two of whom were gifted in sculpture, one in music and one in embroidery. As to musicians, Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer are the only ones in his list whose eminent kinsmen achieved their success in other careers than music.
Havelock Ellis, who likewise studied British men of genius, throws additional light on the subject. "Painters and sculptors," he found, "constitute a group which appears to be of very distinct interest from the point of view of occupational heredity. In social origin, it may be noted, the group differs strikingly in constitution from the general body of men of genius in which the upper class is