II. Drinkwater • 235 



musician, who has had large experience as a conductor, that there are 

 many performers on brass instruments who cannot be considered really 

 musical: and it is certainly true that the ])ianof'orte is often played in 

 a mechanical sort of way by people quite devoid of musical tastes. 



I have asked several eminent professional teachers for a definition 

 of the term "musical," and so far have not received a satisfactory 

 answer. 



It appears to me, however, that a man must be considered "musical" 

 if he is capable of acting as profes.sional organist and choir master, and 

 especially if he holds his post for foi'ty years or more, as several members 

 of this family have done. It would appear indeed that such a [)ost 

 must demand the possession of nmsical talent of a high ordei'. 



Moreover, several members of this family .-u-e mentioned in the 

 British Musical Biugrupliy (1897). 



The chart at first sight looks fiiirly complete, but the expert in 

 Mendelian records will observe omissions that are to be regretted. 

 There is an absence of one of the parents in six instances, so that 

 one cannot tell precisely how many children should show musical talent 

 on theoretical grounds. On the other hand both parents are shown in 

 ten instances, but even here, unfortunately, it is not known whether 

 the non-musical parent ($ or (/") has a musical ancestry or not. 



Despite these defects the chart is of great interest as showing that 

 musical ability is, in some way, markedly hereditary; and the chart is 

 complete in so far as the children of each parental pair is concerned, 

 and the type of each is known with the exception of the few shown in 

 brackets [ ]. 



Hurst' asserts that the musical sense is inherited as a Mendelian 

 ' recessive.' 



If that is correct, we should expect the same results of the various 

 matings that are indicated under (1), (2) and (3) in the case of artistic 

 ability, so that only the actual results in this musical family need be 

 mentioned. 



(1) Two non-musical parents. 



There is only one instance in this family : viz. the parents of no. 4 

 in Generation V. 



One of the parents, the father, belongs to this musical family, but 

 nothing is known of the ancestry of the mother. If she also belonged 

 to a musical family, both she and her husban<l may be heterozygous 



' "Mendel's Law of Heredity and its application to Man,'' Leicester Lit. and Phil. Soc. 

 Tniiis. XII. 1!I08, p. 3.5. 



