4 CONWAY ZIRKLE 



genie migration. There were also some mass migrations and amalgamations 

 of different tribes. The general situation was startlingly close to the condi- 

 tions which Sewall Wright (1931) describes as the optimum for rapid 

 evolution. 



We may be tempted to explain as cause and effect what may be only an 

 accidental relationship in time; and, while recognizing that it is far fetched, 

 to ascribe the sudden appearance of what Galton called the ablest race in 

 history to the ideal conditions for evolution which their ancestors had. We 

 would also like to consider, as the necessary preliminary to the hybrid vigor, 

 that period of inbreeding which preceded the flowering of Grecian culture. 

 This hybrid vigor we would like to recognize as an important factor in the 

 production of the great geniuses who flourished in the later, larger city 

 states of Greece. 



So much for the classical attitude toward endogamy. It slowly changed, 

 and exogamy which had always existed became the exclusive custom. At 

 the time of Sophocles, all forms of inbreeding were not considered ethical 

 and pleasing to the gods. The sin of Oedipus lay in his having made a for- 

 bidden backcross rather than in mere inbreeding which was lawful. We do 

 not find any records of degeneracy appearing in his children — indeed his 

 daughter Antigone was a model of feminine virtue. It seems that close 

 human inbreeding came to an end without its ill effects ever having been 

 recognized. 



The Nordics also were unaware of any degeneracy inherent in inbreeding. 

 Their great god Wotan included a bit of inbreeding in his plan for creating 

 a fearless hero who could save even the gods themselves from their im- 

 pending fate. Wotan started the chain reaction by begetting Siegmund and 

 Sieglinde, twin brother and sister. The twins were separated in infancy. 

 They met again as adults and, recognizing their relationship, had an il- 

 legitimate affair — begetting the hero Siegfried. Although Siegfried was not 

 exactly an intellectual type, he was certainly not a degenerate — represent- 

 ing rather the ideal male of a somewhat primitive culture. 



As the centuries passed, incest was extended to cover brother-sister 

 mating, even when the parties involved were unaware of their relationship. 

 There is no need to cite here the many examples of the later tragedies based 

 upon this plot. It soon became an almost universally accepted standard in 

 literature, from epics to novels. The luckless Finnish hero, Kullervo {The 

 Kalevala, Rune XXXV), thus brought disaster to his family by seducing his 

 sister unknowingly. Defoe's long suffering heroine Moll Flanders (1722) 

 had to abandon an apparently successful marriage when she discovered that 

 her husband was her brother. On the other hand, as late as 1819, Lord 

 Byron defended brother-sister marriage passionately in his drama Cain — 

 but this was a scandalous exceptioii to the rule. The marriage of kin nearer 



