MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY 237 



That the circumstances which are attendant upon Royal 

 Courts have nothing whatever to do with the origin or encourage- 

 ment of Hcentiousness or weak Uves, but that the mode of life, the 

 mental level of the persons concerned, their ambitions and aspira- 

 tions, and their capacities or incapacities are dependent upon 

 their inherent nature, is clearly demonstrated by an examination 

 of the Pedigree which contains the individuals of the House 

 of Orange. Probably, in the history of the world there has 

 never been a family which in its civic attainments and its high 

 abilities of a varied order has surpassed that of this great and 

 noble house. Their members have reigned in different countries, 

 and yet the rough manners and low standards of the sixteenth 

 and seventeenth centuries did not produce one depraved 

 Prince of Orange, and the daughters of the house were noted for 

 their many virtues. 



The same lesson of the futility of environmental influences to 

 overcome the congenital and inborn quaUties, be they physical, 

 mental, or moral, is shown by the remarkable and, we may add, 

 cogent case of the descendants of a brother of Peter the Great, 

 who are described on page 221 of Dr. Adams Wood's book. 

 For poUtical reasons five of these descendants, all brothers 

 and sisters of one family, were, while infants, imprisoned. Their 

 imprisonment lasted for thirty-six years. One of the five children 

 was almost an imbecile and showed occasional symptoms of 

 insanity. He was violent and eccentric. Now if this child stood 

 alone we should no doubt be told by the people whose faith is 

 pinned to environmental influences as a causal agent, that this 

 imbecihty was the consequence of thirty-six years of severe 

 imprisonment. But it so happens there were four other children 

 imprisoned under the same conditions and for the same period 

 of time. Yet they were all normal. Indeed, one was much 

 above the average and at the time of her release was " a woman 

 of high spirit and elegant manners." Upon her release " she 

 wrote a letter of thanks to the Empress so well expressed as to 

 excite admiration how she could have obtained sufficient instruc- 

 tion during her long confinement." The explanation of this 

 remarkable case is clear upon an examination of the Pedigree. 

 Inheritance is its keystone. The father of these children was 

 Anthony Ulric, of Brunswick, an excellent but mediocre man. 

 Their mother was Ehzabeth Anne, eccentric, extremely capricious, 

 passionate, and indolent. Their maternal grandmother was 

 Catherine, lively and good humoured and not pecuUar in any way. 

 Their maternal great-grandmother was the Empress Ivan, who 

 was an imbecile, was epileptic, and pious. Thus the imbecility 

 of the eldest of the five children is derived from the maternal 

 great-grandmother, while the high spirit of the youngest child 



