144 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



From these facts it would appear that the popular 

 belief in the virtues of blue blood, pe,r se, stands in 

 need of revision. Social caste is not without its 

 advantages, establishing as it does a certain esprit 

 de corps which has given rise to the proverbs Noblesse 

 oblige and Bon sang ne pent mentir. It has often 

 been observed that young officers of good family, 

 animated by pride of birth, are exceptionally brave 

 on the battle-field, and the existence of a leisured 

 and wealthy class tends to promote culture and re- 

 finement. But unfortunately blue blood, in the form 

 of class exclusiveness, signifies not the improvement 

 but the deterioration of the type. The ablest men, of 

 all ages and countries, even in statesmanship, have 

 been commoners, and not a few of them, like the elder 

 Herschel and Faraday, have risen from the humblest 

 ranks. The existence of an aristocracy may supply a 

 social want by ministering to our innate and well- 

 founded conviction that men are not born equal. But 

 the various races of the world have not so far been able 

 to create and maintain an aristocracy upon a logical 

 and scientific basis. Heredity has been recognised 

 only to be misapplied, succession through males 

 ignoring the important element of female influence in 

 generation. Probably this form of succession has been 



