14 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



could have obtained sufficient instruction during her 

 long confinement." 



The other children were mediocre, and in no way 

 peculiar. " They amused themselves with reading, 

 playing billiards and cards, riding, and walking. 

 They walk about the town and in the environs, and 

 drive out in carriages ; the princes frequently ride, 

 and particularly Alexis, who is very fond of that 

 exercise, and said to be an expert. They not infre- 

 quently pay visits in the country and dine with the 

 neighbouring families."* 



Thus among five children exposed to a very 

 unusual environment from infancy, we find a result 

 showing 4ittle influence other than should be expected 

 from heredity. Three were mediocre, representing 

 the majority of the strain ; one was an imbecile, 

 corresponding to his mother and great-grandfather, 

 Ivan ; and one was spirited and cultivated in spite 

 of it all, and rose very nearly as high as any of the 

 immediate ancestors. Of course, such remarkable 

 circumstances must have modified the characters of 

 the four normal children, to some slight extent at 

 least ; still, even these exceptional cases deviate very 

 little from what is to be expected from the force of 

 heredity, if segregation of the germ-cells be taken 

 into account. 



The early history of the House of Oldenburg, 

 in Denmark, shows little alternative heredity of a 

 striking sort, but this is because there is little devia- 

 tion from mediocrity or the average. Of course, if 



* Coxe, " Travels," Vol. V., p. 19. 



