Noteworthy Families (Modern Science) | Page 5

the immense
commercial world, the proportion of one noteworthy person to one
hundred of the generality who were equally well circumstanced as
himself does not seem to be an over-estimate.
[A] By a rough count of the entries in Burke's "Peerage, Baronetage
and Knightage," I find that upwards of 24,000 ladies are of sufficient
rank to be included by name in his Table of Precedence.
CHAPTER V.
--NOTEWORTHINESS AS A MEASURE OF ABILITY.
Success is the joint result of the natural powers of mind and body, and
of favourable circumstances. Those of the latter which fall into definite
groups will be distinguished as "environment," while the others, which
evade classification, will be called "accidental."
The superstitions of old times cling so tenaciously to modern thought
that the words "accident" and "chance" commonly connote some
mysterious agency. Nothing of the kind is implied here. The word
"accident" and the like is used in these pages simply to express the
effect of unknown or unnoted causes, without the slightest implication
that they are unknowable. In most cases their neglect has been partly
due to their individual insignificance, though their combined effect may
be very powerful when a multitude work in the same direction.
Moreover, a trifling pressure at the right spot suffices to release a
hair-trigger and thereby to cause an explosion; similarly, with personal
and social events, a trifling accident will sometimes determine a career.
Noteworthiness and success may be regarded statistically as the
outcome of ability and environment and of nothing else, because the
effects of chance tend to be eliminated by statistical treatment. The
question then becomes, How far may noteworthiness be accepted as a
statistical measure of ability?

Ability and environment are each composed of many elements that
differ greatly in character. Ability may be especially strong in particular
directions as in administration, art, scholarship, or science; it is,
nevertheless, so adaptive that an able man has often found his way to
the front under more than one great change of circumstance. The force
that impels towards noteworthy deeds is an innate disposition in some
men, depending less on circumstances than in others. They are like
ships that carry an auxiliary steam-power, capable of moving in a dead
calm and against adverse winds. Others are like the ordinary sailing
ships of the present day--they are stationary in a calm, but can make
some way towards their destination under almost any wind. Without a
stimulus of some kind these men are idle, but almost any kind of
stimulus suffices to set them in action. Others, again, are like Arab
dhows, that do little more than drift before the monsoon or other wind;
but then they go fast.
Environment is a more difficult topic to deal with, because conditions
that are helpful to success in one pursuit may be detrimental in another.
High social rank and wealth conduce to success in political life, but
their distractions and claims clash with quiet investigation. Successes
are of the most varied descriptions, but those registered in this book are
confined to such as are reputed honourable, and are not obviously due
to favour.
In attacking the problem it therefore becomes necessary to fix the
attention, in the first instance, upon the members of some one large,
special profession, as upon artists, leaders in commerce, investigators,
scholars, warriors, and so forth, then to divide these into subclasses,
until more appears to be lost through paucity of material than is gained
through its increasing homogeneity.
Whatever group be selected, both ability and environment must be
rated according to the requirements of that group. It then becomes
possible, and it is not difficult, to roughly array individuals under each
of these two heads successively, and to label every person with letters
signifying his place in either class. For purposes of the following
explanation, each quality will be distributed into three grades,

determined not by value, but by class place--namely, the highest third,
the medium third, and the lowest third. In respect to ability, these
classes will be called A, B, and C. In respect to environment, the grades
will refer to its helpfulness towards the particular success achieved, and
the classes will be called E, F, G. It must be clearly understood that the
differences between the grades do not profess to be equal, merely that
A is higher than B, and B than C; similarly as to E, F, and G. The A, B,
C may be quite independent of E, F, G, or they may be correlated. Both
cases will be considered.
Ability and Environment being mutually helpful towards success, the
successes statistically associated with AE will be reckoned higher than
those associated with AF. Again, for simplicity of explanation only, it
will here be assumed that Ability and Environment are equally potent
in securing success.