238 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



appears to have descended from the maternal grandmother. 

 The mediocre qualities of the other three children were derived 

 partly from the father and partly through the mother. 



One other point of great interest, because it confutes a dogma 

 too well but not too wisely loved of Democracy, is revealed by 

 Dr. Adams Wood's research. This dogma is to the effect that 

 royal and aristocratic blood is only saved from degeneration by 

 occasional sprinkhngs of plebian blood.* Unfortunately for this 

 poetic conception an appeal to fact lays it low in a prosy dust. 

 Peter the Great, though a man of " extraordinary will and 

 energy," was at the same time violent and epileptic. His 

 brother, Ivan, was an imbecile and epileptic. Another brother, 

 Feodor, was also an imbecile. His sister Sophia had great 

 force of will and ambition, and was intriguing and cruel. 

 Now, it happens that the father of these children was the Czar 

 Alexis, who was wise, temperate, and virtuous. In his day " it 

 was the custom for the Czars to choose their wives from a large 

 number of their subjects. The most charming girls in the king- 

 dom were brought to the court for their sovereign's inspection, the 

 most beautiful of all being selected and made legal queen. Alexis 

 was married twice, and on both occasions to a peasant girl, as was 

 his father before him. Yet, despite this treble introduction of 

 plebian blood, epileptic children came from both his marriages, 

 and the epileptic and imbecile psychosis has been transmitted to 

 succeeding generations. Now the facts suggest that the degenera- 

 tive character was not introduced by the peasant girls who married 

 Alexis, but probably came from some of his obscure ancestry. 

 Healthy though the peasant stock was, we see that it was ineffec- 

 tual in regenerating a defective royal stock, and, it therefore 

 follows, as a logical corollary, that royal and aristocratic blood, 

 when it retains its virihty and greatness, does so in virtue of 

 its own innate qualities. 



Dr. Adams Wood's book contains not only much of the greatest 

 interest, but of the highest importance. For the first time there 

 has been brought together the pedigrees of Royal Houses, so 

 arranged that the relationship of the various members can be 

 seen at a glance or easily ascertained. Moreover, for the first 

 time, we have before us a definite standard by which we can 

 measure to an approximate degree of accuracy the moral and 



* It was to us a matter of great surprise, when a short time ago 

 we read a sentence written by the Right Hon. G. W. E. Russell, in a 

 little book entitled " Collections and Recollections," second series, in 

 which this popular delusion was again expressed. We will give the 

 sentence as it stands : " The ever-increasing dilution of the English 

 aristocracy with elements drawn from other strata has prevented, or 

 at least arrested, decadence." We should certainly like to hear the 

 scientific evidence in support of this statement. 



