478 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



thing pertaining to human mating has been the subject of wide specu- 

 lation and assertion since the time of da Vinci. 



Schopenhauer states that every person requires from the individual 

 of the opposite sex a one-sidedness which is the opposite of his or her 

 own. The most manly man will seek the most womanly woman, and 

 conversely. Weak or little men have a decided inclination for strong 

 or big women, and strong or big women for weak or little men. 

 Blondes prefer dark persons or brunettes ; snub-nosed, hook-nosed ; per- 

 sons with excessively thin long bodies and limbs those who are stumpy 

 and short, and so on ! Analogous superstitions are wide spread,^ 

 though differing in form. Westermarck,'' in summarizing the views of 

 various writers adds, " If contrasts instinctively seek each other, this 

 may partly account for the readiness with which love awakens love." 



Some have even ventured the opinion that where the husband and 

 wife are unlike, the offspring are more numerous, or stronger ! Again 

 there is the popular superstition that after a long life together husband 

 and wife come to resemble each other physically.® 



Of course conclusions the opposite of all of these are not wanting.® 



Such is the state of knowledge to which the unaided observation of 

 a complex phenomenon can lead us — a snarl of contradictions. As far 

 as we know, the only method of disentangling it and arriving at some 

 certainty is the analysis of large bodies of observations by means of 

 refined statistical methods. 



* The way in which mere impressions may become stamped with authority by 

 the approval of careless writers is illustrated by the following quotation, from a 

 standard authority on sociology. 



"It is almost proverbial that tall men choose short wives, and the union of 

 tall women with short men is only a little less common. Thin men and plump 

 girls fall in love, as do fat men and slender women. Blondes and brunettes rush 

 irresistibly together. ' ' 



'"History of Human Marriage," pp. 353-354, 1901. 



*Fol ("La Resemblance entre Epoux," Bev. Scientifique, Vol. 47, pp. 47- 

 49, 1891) has tried to investigate this by means of photographs of newly married 

 and aged couples, and while he concludes that there is a considerable resem- 

 blance between husband and wife, it is no more intense in aged than in newly- 

 married couples. 



•For example, Francis Galton, whose data and methods were not yet ade- 

 quate for dealing with so complicated a problem, wrote ("Natural Inheritance," 

 p. 85, 1894 ed.) with a caution which led him into error: "Whatever may be 

 the sexual preferences for similarity, or for contrast, I find little indication in 

 the average results obtained from a fairly large number of cases, of any single 

 measurable personal peculiarity, whether it be stature, temper, eye-color, or 

 artistic tastes, in influencing marriage selection to a notable degree. Nor is this 

 extraordinary, for though people may fall in love for trifles, marriage is a 

 serious act, usually determined by the concurrence of numerous motives. There- 

 fore we could hardly expect either shortness or tallness, darkness or lightness in 

 complexion, or any other single quality, to have in the long run a large separate 

 influence. ' ' 



