eference to records of
their achievements. Let no reader be so conceited as to believe his
present ignorance of a particular person to be a proof that the
person in question does not merit the title of noteworthy.

I said what I have to say about the modern use of the word "genius"
in the preface to the second edition of my "Hereditary Genius." It
has only latterly lost its old and usual meaning, which is preserved
in the term of an "ingenious" artisan, and has come to be applied to
something akin to inspiration. This simply means, as I suppose,
though some may think differently, that the powers of unconscious
work possessed by the brain are abnormally developed in them. The
heredity of these powers has not, I believe, been as yet especially
studied. It is strange that more attention has not been given until
recently to unconscious brain-work, because it is by far the most
potent factor in mental operations. Few people, when in rapid
conversation, have the slightest idea of the particular form which a
sentence will assume into which they have hurriedly plunged, yet
through the guidance of unconscious cerebration it develops itself
grammatically and harmoniously. I write on good authority in
asserting that the best speaking and writing is that which seems to
flow automatically shaped out of a full mind.

CHAPTER IV.--PROPORTION OF NOTEWORTHIES TO THE GENERALITY.

The materials on which the subject of this chapter depends are too
various to lead to a single definite and trustworthy answer. Men who
have won their way to the front out of uncongenial environments owe
their success principally, I believe, to their untiring energy, and
to an exceptionally strong inclination in youth towards the pursuits
in which they afterwards distinguished themselves. They do not seem
often to be characterized by an ability that continues pre-eminent on
a wider stage, because after they have fully won a position for
themselves, and become engaged in work along with others who had no
early difficulties to contend with, they do not, as a rule, show
greatly higher natural ability than their colleagues. This is
noticeable in committees and in other assemblies or societies where
intellects are pitted against one another. The bulk of existing
noteworthies seem to have had but little more than a fair education
as small boys, during which their eagerness and aptitude for study
led to their receiving favour and facilities. If, in such case