A SIMPLE SYSTEM OF DESIGNATING 

 RELATIONSHIPS 



Alexander Graham Bell 



In dealing with the ancestry and 

 offspring of the multi-nippled flock of 

 sheep which I have been experimenting 

 with for many years it has been found 

 advisable to use contractions of various 

 kinds, among the most valuable of 

 which have been the numbers used to 

 designate relationships. These num- 

 bers we call the ancestral numbers 

 and they possess many curious proper- 

 ties which facilitate the investigation 

 of questions concerning heredity. The 

 following arrangement illustrates the 

 scheme : 



number of any individual, we get the 

 ancestral number of his or her father, 

 and by adding one we get the mother's 

 number. (The father of 15 is 30, 

 the mother of 15 is 31 etc.) Converse- 

 ly, by dividing the ancestral number of 

 any individual by 2 we get the ancestral 

 number of the child. (The child of 

 the man 30 is 15, a female. The child 

 of the woman 31 is 15 a female.) 



One can tell at a glance which ances- 

 tral numbers represent the fathers and 

 mothers of females because they are 

 divided by 2 into uneven numbers. 



16 17 IS 19 20 21 11 2i 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 



V V V V V V V 



9 10 11 12 13 14 IS 



4. .5 6 Jl 



2-^ ^3 



No. 1 represents the propositus, the 

 individual whose ancestry we are con- 

 sidering. 



Nos. 2 and 3 are the "First-parents" 

 (father and mother). 



Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are the "Second- 

 parents" (grandparents). 



Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 14, and 

 15 are the "Third-parents" (great- 

 grandparents). 



The "Fourth-parents" would be 

 numbered from 16 to 31; the "Fifth- 

 parents" from 32 to 63; the "Sixth- 

 parents" from 64 to 127 etc. The 

 numbering could be continued indefi- 

 nitely to include higher generations. 



Even numbers represent males, and 

 odd numbers females, among the 

 ancestors, and the ancestral number 

 of a wife is always one more than the 

 ancestral number of her husband. Fur- 

 thermore, by doubling the ancestral 



while the ancestral numbers of the 

 fathers and mothers of males di\ide 

 by 2 into the even numbers which al- 

 ways designate males. 



The ancestral number 2, represents 

 the father of the propositus, the indi- 

 vidual who.-e ancestry we are consider- 

 ing; but it does more than this, for it 

 seems to represent the abstract rela- 

 tionship indicated by the word 

 "father." If, for example, you multi- 

 ply the number of any individual by 2, 

 you get the father's ancestral ntmiber. 

 Thus: 



The father of 2 is 4 



The father of 3 is 6 



The father of 4 is 8 

 etc. 

 No. 2 is the father and No. 

 mother. Multiply by 2 and 

 the father of any individual; but multi- 

 ply by 3 and you don't get the mother. 



3 is the 

 you get 



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