A study of British genius : by Havelock Ellis.

  • Ellis, Havelock, 1859-1939.
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A study of British genius : by Havelock Ellis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A STUDY OF BRITISH GENIUS I INTRODUCTORY The problem to be investigated — The method of investigation — The Dictionary of National Biography — The principles ruhng the selection of names — Cattell’s method of selection — — Reasons for the principles here adopted — Proportion of eminent women to eminent men — The distribution of intel¬ lectual ability in the various centuries — The biological data with which the present inquiry is chiefly concerned — Fallacies to be avoided. Until now it has not been possible to obtain any comprehensive view of the men and women who have chiefly built up English civilization. It has not, therefore, been possible to study their per¬ sonal characteristics as a group. The sixty-six volumes of the Dictionary of National Biography (later increased by a second supplement of three volumes) have for the first time enabled us to con¬ struct an authoritative and well-balanced scheme of the persons of illustrious genius, in every depart¬ ment, who have appeared in the British Isles from the beginning of history down to the end of the nineteenth century; and, with a certain amount of labour, they assist us to sum up their main traits. It has seemed to me worth while — both for the