290 Heredity and the Jew 



perfectly true, so that from the union of two apparently similar whites, 

 arose such distinct and dissimilar individuals as the red and the purple 

 pea. Could not this Jewish facial expression be due to the union of 

 characters in a manner similar to that which gave rise to the purple in 

 the pea ? In this way one would be able to explain on the one hand 

 the practically constant presence of the Jewish facial character, and on 

 the other, the wide divergence of head characters and the rest, which 

 is found throughout the Jewish communities of Europe. 



It is necessary before leaving our subject, to enquire whether there 

 are no other characters common to the Jew which are as frequently 

 present as the facial expression, or which are in any way peculiar 

 to Jews. There would seem to be two instances of such peculiarity 

 which fulfil these conditions. The disease known as Amaurotic Family 

 Idiocy, the victims of which die in early childhood, is probably unknown 

 outside the Jewish people. Fischberg states that cases are met with 

 outside, but all the authorities I have been able to consult agree that 

 it is peculiarly Jewish. Another character which would seem to be 

 peculiar to the Jewish people as a whole, is the absence of alcoholism 

 in their midst. This is acknowledged by every authority. Indeed the 

 Jewish Board of Guardians finds it unnecessary to make any special 

 provision for alcoholic cases as distress arising from this cause does 

 not occur more often than once in a thousand cases, and my own 

 experience of over nine years at the Loudon Hospital fully bears out 

 the statement that drunkards are practically unknown. This absence 

 of the desire for drink cannot be ascribed to the result of religious 

 training. There seems to be a real lack of that desire for drink which 

 is so common amongst the North European races. 



The deductions which might be drawn from these two sets of facts 

 can naturally have no very great weight, but they do, in conjunction 

 with what has gone before, strengthen the view that complex as the 

 origin of the Jew may be, close inbreeding for at least two thousand 

 years, has resulted in certain stable or homozygous combinations 

 of factors which react in accordance with the laws of Mendel and 

 which may explain the occurrence of the peculiar facial expression 

 recognised as Jewish. 



