474 The Use of Pedigrees. [May 3, 



in each case most authorities now tell us that the nation was com- 

 posed of a tall, fair-haired governing class of Northern origin, and a 

 shorter, darker indigenous stock of Mediterranean source. It may be 

 put forward as a suggestion for further consideration, that while a 

 proper balance was maintained between the two elements those great 

 nations flourished, but that, when the Northern elements were de- 

 pleted too much by war, or by a differential birth-rate, or became 

 merged in the mass of the population, the vigour of Greece and 

 Rome decayed preparatory to a fall doubtless hastened by other 

 causes. Houston Chamberlain holds that the similar influx of Ger- 

 manic tribes into North Italy during the Dark Ages produced, when 

 the time was ripe, the remarkable outburst of genius which marked 

 the Renaissance in that favoured land. 



I have tried to put before you examples of the knowledge we now 

 possess. Still more have I tried to indicate the endless problems 

 of race that lie ahead unsolved. Till we know more, action may be 

 dangerous. But the danger of not searching for light is greater still. 



[W. C. D. W.] 



