HUMAN HEREDITY AS REVEALED BY PEDIGREES 463 



It happens that rather complete data about the members of royal 

 families are to be found in biographical dictionaries. From these 

 sources it is usually possible to form a fairly accurate estimate of the 

 capacities of these persons. In addition the portraits of most members 

 of royal families are preserved in art galleries. The following summary 

 of F. A. Woods' findings is quoted from Professor E. R. Downing: 



"Early modern European history centers about the doings of a 

 few great men and women. Peter the Great of Russia, Ferdinand and 

 Isabella and Charles V of Spain, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Gusta- 

 vus Adolphus and Charles XII of Sweden, are among the most brilliant 

 of these potent individuals that shaped the destinies of Europe during 

 this period. It is interesting to note how their characters are deter- 

 mined (and through them national destinies are apparently decided 

 in no small measure) by the hereditary concentration of ability due 

 to lucky royal ma tings, and how their genius is dissipated by unwise 

 matings. 



"Peter the Great of Russia came as a brilliant type from a good 

 stock, though with a very evident taint of epilepsy and feeble- 

 mindedness. He himself was an epileptic. His father, grandfather, 

 and great-grandfather had been men of large ability. They had married 

 peasant girls, as was the custom of the czars. Peter's own brothers 

 and sisters were in no way remarkable. His half-sister Sophia was a 

 woman of marked ability, although two of her brothers were imbeciles, 

 one also an epileptic. As will be seen from the pedigree, the epilepsy, 

 imbecility, and mediocrity appear in both Peter's children and grand- 

 children, as well as in those of his imbecile half-brother, Ivan. It is 

 interesting to note from the pedigree that the feeble-mindedness and 

 epilepsy seem to cling to the males quite persistently. The females 

 of the family are much more apt to be brilliant and virtuous. Peter 

 the Great's own son Alexis was a poor dissolute specimen, and although 

 he married Charlotte, the angelic daughter of a great line, the house 

 of Brunswick, the son of this mating was Peter II, of unstable mind, 

 while the daughter Natalia was as sweet as she was energetic. 



"Isabella and Ferdinand were both descendants from lines of very 

 great individuals, although in each case there is insanity in the family. 

 Isabella herself comes from an insane mother and an imbecile father, 

 but her grandparents and great-grandparents were well-balanced and 

 able. The data for the charts of these royal families were taken 

 largely from F. A. Woods's Mental and Moral Heredity in Royalty, 

 supplemented with information from other sources. He grades the 



