Piling onJefferson

course; but you will have to get up early in the morning to think of a methodological objection that has not already occurred to Murray.

Much more interesting than the questions posed by his methodology are those that arise from his results. Those results are not, on the whole, very surprising in themselves. Tops in Western music? Beethoven, Mozart. Mathematics? Euler, Newton. Astronomy? Galileo, Kepler. They do, though, imply some surprising conclusions. For instance, Murray’s analyses seem to show that the rates of human accomplishment in both arts and sciences (yes, yes, allowing for population—never imagine you can think of something Murray has not already thought of) have been declining since the middle of the 19th century. Why should this be? Why, to take another conundrum, did the emancipation of European Jews lead to such a huge surge in numbers of Jewish significant figures, while no corresponding surge followed the emancipation of women?

About the Author

Earl M. Maltz

Mr. Maltz is Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School.

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course; but you will have to get up early in the morning to think of a methodological objection that has not already occurred to Murray.

Much more interesting than the questions posed by his methodology are those that arise from his results. Those results are not, on the whole, very surprising in themselves. Tops in Western music? Beethoven, Mozart. Mathematics? Euler, Newton. Astronomy? Galileo, Kepler. They do, though, imply some surprising conclusions. For instance, Murray’s analyses seem to show that the rates of human accomplishment in both arts and sciences (yes, yes, allowing for population—never imagine you can think of something Murray has not already thought of) have been declining since the middle of the 19th century. Why should this be? Why, to take another conundrum, did the emancipation of European Jews lead to such a huge surge in numbers of Jewish significant figures, while no corresponding surge followed the emancipation of women?