EVERYONE A GENIUS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 118, 14 November 1925, Page 16

EVERYONE A GENIUS

ARE THE UNEMPLOYED TJNEM'

PLOYABI/Ef

Dr. Spearman, Grote profeasgr of mind in the University of London, oqr cupied his presidential address to the section of psychology at the ijiiniiaj njeetlng of tho British Association, with »» account of a very curious, though still controverted, conclusion as to tho nature of tho hnm^n piindj drawn from refiults of ability tosks. He gave, says "The Times," a technical account q! tijo prool'ii pf th.c theorem which is now known to £sy* chologjsts as *'g," and discussed t-he various entieisrtd that have been made, leading to the conclusion that in the main tho theory stood- He then said, ''Accepting, then the ■com elusion that an immense number pf abilities vary from one. individual to another almost independently of each other, what is the practical result

. . „ . Every normal mail, woman, and olrild.is a genius at something as well as an idiot at something. It remains to discover what —at any rate in respect of the genius, "The preceding considerations Jiave often appealed to me on looking at a procession of tho unemployed, and hearing someone whisper that they arc mostly the unemployable, That they are so actually I cannot help concurring, JE?ut need they be sp necessarily? Bem.em.bgr that every one of thesij, too, is a, genius at somer thing-r-if we could only discover what. 1 cherish no illusion, indeed, that among them may bo marching some 'mute inglorious Jfilton, some Cromwell guiltless of his country's -tilood.' But lam quite confident that everyon.6 of them could do spmetbieg that woujfl pake him a treasure iji some great industrial concern. And I see no ?£aspn why some should not have even beepmo fampus, \n such osciipations, for - esample, asthoae af dancers, jockeys, or players of. popular games."