378 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



From Ernst, the Pious, on, selection was constantly made of men 

 and women of his own type, so that sound judgment, high moral 

 qualities and strong literary taste are continually reappearing and were 

 never lost even after nine generations. There were among this group 

 of 182 (counting a person every time he occurs) no less than eighteen 

 who were authors or had strong literary tastes. In the most remote 

 generation we find five in thirty-two, in the next three in sixteen, in 

 the next one in eight, in the next two in four, in the next two in two 

 and in the next two in two; the remaining three occur in the more 

 recent part of the chart, and are even more closely related. Thus 

 we see Ernst, 'The Pious,' and Augustus of Brunswick, who were 

 both literary, perpetuated down the line in this family by the force 

 of intermarriage and selection. 



The intellectual average is everywhere near the mean or slightly 

 above, and the moral average is everywhere near the mean or very 

 much above it. There being not a single bad character introduced 

 into the blood directly, the children apparently could not turn out 

 badly. It is the cleanest and best pedigree to be found in any royalty, 

 and its influence on European history has come to be very great, since 

 its very merits have entitled it to several thrones. In fact it can be 

 shown that no royal family has been able to maintain itself without 

 degenerations, unless it has taken a good share of Saxe-Coburg blood. 

 The good qualities, if due to heredity at all, in Austria, England, 

 Germany, Belgium and Greece are largely due to it. It probably 

 saved the Bourbons in Portugal. 



Thus in tracing the pedigree and accounting for the virtues of 

 Albert, Consort of Queen Victoria, we find the theory of mental and 

 moral heredity sufficiently sustained in his case, as well as in the 

 others. At least five of the close relations of the Consort may be con- 

 sidered as almost exact repetitions of his charater. These are his 

 grandfather, Franz Frederick Anthony, his two uncles, Ferdinand and 

 Leopold I., King of Belgium, his brother, Ernst, and cousin, Ferdinand 

 of Portugal. 



The family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha shows by its 118 members 

 here represented that the assumption of high rank and power and the 

 consequent opportunities for ease and luxury do not in the least tend 

 to degeneracy of the race when the good qualities are kept up by mar- 

 riages with stocks of equal value and no vicious elements are introduced 

 into the breed. A parallel to this is found among the kings of Portugal 

 during its days of supremacy, where for twelve generations nearly 

 every sovereign had all the wisdom and strength required of a ruler. 



{To be continued.) > 



