What was John Stuart Mill?

For centuries, people have been amazed by children of unusual talent. Pianist and composer Felix Mendelssohn has composed a fair amount of music by the time he was eleven. His forth opera was produced in Berlin, when he was only eighteen. John Stewart Mill, the nineteenth century British philosopher, read Greek at three and had worked his way through elementary geometry and a large body of literature and history by the time he was twelve. Even though there has been a fascination with prodigies for centuries, there has been little serious study of them until recently. Some surprising common characteristics have been identified. The vast majority are boys. They are usually first born children of middle-class families. Often their parents are past the usual childbearing age. Many are born by operation rather than by natural child birth.
    They often have parents who seem to be trying to realize their own ambitions through their amazing children. And prodigies usually have a strange sense of humor. Although a child may be born with outstanding genetic potential, this potential will not necessarily develop. "Just having the gene is not enough." says Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardener. "Something in the environment must nourish the potential." And although many prodigies enjoy the satisfaction of the extraordinary achievement, public praise, and material wealth, even the most successful sometimes question the value of their lives and the accomplishment. "I have a longing which grows stronger as I get older." confesses the famous American concert pianist Eugene Eastman, "to be ordinary."