CHAP. XIII.] CONSEQUENCES. 405 



such peril, lest perchance a shameful fall might develop 

 some latent germ of humility in him, the existence of 

 which might be discernible by such preternaturally acute 

 vision ? 



With respect to proposed restrictions on the marriage of 

 those who cannot brinof proofs of freedom from disease A 



w * An objpction 



not only in themselves but in their ancestors, some Strffi^^n 

 remarks made by Dr. Samuel Wilks, F.R.S., may marria s e - 

 be quoted. They are on the study of the human mind 

 from a physiological mew, and appeared in the January 

 number of the Journal of Mental Science for 1875. He 

 there says : - 



&quot; Has the time arrived in which we could adopt any of those rules 

 in the choice of marriages which can be followed in the breeding of 

 animals, as is suggested in Lothair ? It is the first duty of the State 

 to attend to the health and frame of the subject. The union of the 

 races concerns the welfare of the commonwealth much too nearly to be 

 intrusted to individual arrangement. The subject has been lately 

 developed in one or two essays, and more especially in reference to the 

 mixture of the insane element into human society. In reference to this it 

 must be said, that at the present time we have not sufficient knowledge 

 of temperaments, under what conditions they arise, and, in fact, how 

 they are produced ; nor do we know, when regarding certain tempera 

 ments, how the good and bad are intermingled ; that is, how with what 

 we call morbid tendencies there may not be important bodily and mental 

 characteristics and activities of great value. One kind of person whom 

 England is apt to produce some would purposely avoid as being liable 

 to gout, with all its attendant evils ; and yet, though gouty, he is a 

 vigorous, active, independent man. Another kind of person, whom we 

 call consumptive, and which England is also especially apt to produce, 

 would be avoided ; and yet there is in him often a wonderful activity. 

 Then again, if the person inclined to insanity is the one above all to be 

 shunned in a marriage connection, it might turn out that we were 

 losing some of the best blood of the country. It is no doubt fearful to 

 think of a man or woman marrying with a strong taint of insanity, 

 and bringing into the world a family of lunatics; but it does not follow 

 that an infusion of the insane blood may not be desirable.&quot; 



And he tells us : 



&quot; I believe Dr. Maudsley has also expressed this opinion. I think 

 it might easily be shown that such infusion has given genius to a 



