102 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



advance has been made in our knowledge of the sub- 

 ject, especially on its pathological side. Heredity 

 does not, in point of fact, manifest itself in the 

 regular mathematical order which Galton's tables of 

 eminent men would lead one to suppose. The direct 

 transmission of mental qualities seldom extends be- 

 yond a single generation. At every stage of the male 

 line of descent female heredity intervenes, and both 

 the male and the female lines are liable to reversion 

 for an unknown number of generations, while a further 

 element of uncertainty is thrown into the case by the 

 principle of metamorphosis. And not only are a 

 large proportion of Galton's eminent men mediocrities, 

 but in his mistaken zeal for making out a case that 

 writer seems to have ignored the influence of family 

 patronage and other fortuitous sources of social or 

 official distinction. 



Lumping together judges, statesmen, commanders, 

 literary men, men of science, poets, painters, musicians, 

 and divines, Galton finds that the chances of an 

 eminent man having eminent relatives are in the case 

 of fathers 31 per cent ; brothers 41 per cent ; sons 

 48 per cent; grandfathers 17 per cent ; uncles 18 per 

 cent ; nephews 22 per cent ; and grandsons 14 per 

 cent. These totals are imposing, no doubt, but they 



