76 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



yields up his life at about the same age and after the 

 same manner as his father." ^ It is well known that 

 life assurance companies take note of hereditary 

 tendencies to disease or early death. 



Among the different nations of Europe we can dis- 

 tinguish certain particular types. It is easy to tell 

 an Italian from a Scandinavian or a Spaniard from a 

 German. As we cannot suppose that there have been 

 separate creations of Italians, Scandinavians, Span- 

 iards, and Germans, we must look to local causes 

 for an explanation of this fact. Ethnologists feel 

 obliged to assign these divergences of race to food, 

 climate, and other physical conditions. They are 

 right, no doubt. At the same time, if a Spaniard and 

 his wife migrated to Germany and there had a son, 

 the latter, although living under German conditions, 

 would indubitably grow up a little Spaniard, with not 

 only the looks but also the temperament of the 

 Spanish race. This would be a triumph of heredity 

 over physical surroundings. If, on the other hand, a 

 Spanish colony settled in Germany and remained 

 there, we are bound to believe they would event- 

 ually conform to the German type ; the influence of 

 physical surroundings, steadily exerted, would gradu- 

 * Sir Thomas Watson's Lectures at King's College. 



