286 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



same in the two classes. (2) The mean weight and height of the 

 children of alcoholic parents were slightly greater than the weight 

 and height of the children of the sober parents, but as the age of 

 the former children is slightly greater, the correlations when 

 corrected for age show a slight advantage in favor of the children 

 of the sober. (3) The general health of the children of the alco- 

 holic parents appears a little better than that of the children of the 

 sober, perhaps because the more delicate children of the former 

 died to a greater extent in infancy. There was actually more 

 epilepsy in the children of the sober. (4) The vision was slightly 

 better in the children of the alcoholics. (5) The intelligence of 

 the children from the two classes of parents was so nearly the 

 same that the difference was not significant. 



Although these results were based on a study of over a thou- 

 sand school children, it is quite possible that fuller data would 

 establish a different conclusion. The outcome, as Elderton and 

 Pearson admit, was quite contrary to what one might reasonably 

 expect, and it naturally evoked considerable criticism. Most of 

 the criticisms were beside the mark and were successively met 

 by the different replies which were made by Pearson and Elderton 

 and by Pearson. Without entering into a discussion of the 

 several points raised in this more or less acrimonious controversy, 

 mention may be made of two objections which were much stressed 

 by the critics of the memoirs in question. It was urged that the 

 portions of the population dealt with were not representative of 

 the people at large, and hence any conclusions drawn from the 

 investigation would be of no value. The Edinburgh population, 

 according to Saleeby, consisted of " the slums hi the North Canon- 

 gate," although a list of the trades represented by the parents 

 showed a fairly typical series of occupations for the working 

 classes. In the Manchester school "one child in each family, 

 whether the parents were temperate or intemperate, was mentally 

 defective." In view of the strong hereditary character of mental 

 defect, it is very probable that the Manchester parents represent 

 a selected group rather strongly tainted with hereditary disa- 

 bility. 



