278 MARRIAGE AND DISEASE. 



Hollanders with, the women of the country,* while the 

 families of Berlin most remarkable for their beauty, 

 their force, and their intelligence proceed from French 

 exiles who married ladies of Berlin.! Nearer home, in 

 Ireland we have positive evidence of the beneficial 

 effect of " crossing " with fresh blood. In the counties 

 of Tipperary and Limerick, where great numbers of 

 Cromwell's English soldiers settled, the people are 

 noted for their splendid physical development and 

 wild daring spirit. Again, in Ulster, where the Low- 

 land Scots planted there by James have blended with 

 the earlier Celt, the present inhabitants are physically 

 superior to those of any other part of the kingdom, 

 while in mental acuteness and energy they are second 

 to none. The superiority of these mixed races is at 

 once evident to the traveller in Ireland. On this 

 point Dr. Prichard remarks : "In some parts of Ireland 

 where the Celtic population of that island is nearly 

 unmixed, they are, in general, a people of short 

 stature, small limbs and features ; where they are 

 mixed with English settlers, or with Lowlanders of 

 Scotland, the people are remarkable for fine figures, 

 tall stature, and great physical energy." J 



And now as to the lessons to be drawn from all 

 this. We learn, in the first place, that consanguineous 

 unions are in all cases dangerous, and are becoming, 

 with our advancing civilisation, more dangerous every 

 year. They are therefore to be discountenanced even 



* Lallemand. 

 t Devay's " Du Danger des Mariages Consanguins." $ Op. cit. 



