Where the Intellect Comes From
Where the Intellect Comes From is an article published in The Newcastle Courant on 10 august 1888.
The article is about the Arthur Conan Doyle's article : On the Geographical Distribution of British Intellect (The Nineteenth Century, august 1888).
Where the Intellect Comes From
A remarkable paper Las recently been written by Dr Doyle on the "Geographical Distribution of Brittish Intellect," the object being to investigate the localities in which our leading men and women were born. The leading feature of the paper, perhaps, is the fact that a very considerable proportion of the intellect comes from Northumberland. It appears that the men of eminence are to the general population as one to 22,000 in Scotland, one to 30,000 in England, one to 49,000 in Ireland, and one to 58,000 in Wales. "Gallant little Wales," in spite of the fierceness of her demagogues, is not in it. "The provinces," as Dr Doyle likes to call the country outside London, show up extremely well. It is not unsatisfactory; to find that the men who overshadow their fellows bail largely from the shires. In politics Gladstone et Liverpool has no serious rival. In science the very weightiest names of the later Vitorian era are Darwin of Shrewsbury, Owen of Lancaster, Hooker of Suffolk, and Tyndall of County Carlow. In art Leighton, from Scarborough, and Millais, from Southampton, are second to none. Herbert Spencer of Derby stands a head and shoulders above his brother philosophers, Tennyson of Lincolnshire leads the poets, as Carlyle of Ecclefechan did the historians. The gap which has been left by the latter is partly filled by Froude of Devonshire, Freeman of Staffordshire, and Lecky of Dublin. In fiction no one has yet arisen to dispute the pre-eminence of Dickens of Portsmouth, "George Eliot" of Warwickshire, and of Thackeray, who was born at Calcutta. On the other hand, the Londoners can boast of some names which are in the very first flight, Huxley was born at Ealing, which, by the way, had not then been merged in the metropolis. Browning, Swinburne, and John Ruskin all hail from the capital. On the whole, however, a comparison shows that while the great city produces more than its numerical share of our distinguished men, the very highest intellects appear to be developed in the peaceful atmosphere of country villages and small principal towns. Nevertheless, London has produced more than its share of artists and men of science. Yorkshire does not distinguish itself very much, for its modern celebrities number no more than 1 in 40,000 of the population. Northumberland is far above the average with 1 in 22,000, Cumberland good with 1 in 24,000, and Lincolnshire very fair with 1 in 29,000. But Durham is worse with 1 in 57,000, and Lancashire lamentably bad with 1 in 74,000. It seems that the petty of the nation is to be found south of a line drawn through the centre of Lincolnshire, and that "the mental Nadir is to be found in the western province of Ireland."
