Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/487

Rh Within the boundaries thus drawn there appear to be seven groups sufficiently distinct and important to require separate examination. These are—1, musicians; 2, painters; 3, poets; 4, novelists; 5, scholars, including historians and critics; 6, men of science; and, 7, philosophers. These classes are marked off from one another partly by differences in the materials and the form of the production, and partly by differences in the intellectual implements employed, such as observation and sensuous imagination.

As indications of precocity we shall select, first of all, any manifestations in childhood or youth of an exceptional aptitude and bent corresponding to the special direction of the later development of the genius. Thus, in the case of the poet, we must note such boyish characteristics as an exceptional love of poetry, a disposition to dreamy abstraction, etc. With respect to evidences of general intellectual ability, such as a high place at school or college, these will have a very different value in different domains. In the case of the musician, for example, they would have little relevance—except, indeed, so far as want of application to the prescribed course of studies might serve as negative evidence of an absorbing interest in the self-chosen study. On the other hand, in judging of the precocity of the scholar the school reputation becomes an important ingredient of the case.

In looking out for evidence of special talent we may, in certain cases, find a number of data ready to hand. Thus, in dealing with a musician, we may consider the age at which executive skill was shown, the date of the first original composition, and, as a valuable supplement to these, the time at which music was seriously taken up as a profession. In the case of other sorts of talent such a variety of data may not be accessible.

Finally, after chronicling all indications of childish and youthful precocity, we have to record the age at which the first great work was achieved, a work that either at the time or later on came to be regarded as a title to fame.

In conclusion, I may say that I have confined the inquiry to modern celebrities. Our knowledge of the lives of ancient writers and artists is, as a rule, too scanty to yield the required data. And, even in the case of some modern men of mark, the want of a record of early years has compelled me to omit the names from my list. I have abstained, too, for obvious reasons, from including the names of living celebrities.

Taking the groups in the order indicated above, we shall, in the case of each class, look first of all for instances of remarkable precocity. We may then go on to inquire into the proportion of precocious to non-precocious members of the class.

.—The stories of the more remarkable instances of boyish musical talent, alike in execution and in composition, are