8o THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



makes less noise in the world, and very seldom gets 

 noticed in public records. Hence it is impossible to 

 solve the problem of the relative average ability of the 

 children of Judges who married able women as com- 

 pared with that of the children of Judges who married 

 stupid or dull women. The only light we can throw 

 on the subject comes from the significant fact that a 

 considerable number of the Judges whom Galton classes 

 as the fathers of eminent sons married wives with well- 

 known or distinguished relatives. 



To examine the all-important problem of the effect 

 of both parents on the inheritance of ability, it is 

 necessary to study recent pedigrees, filled in with more 

 scientific detail than is found in older family histories. 

 A fairly large collection of such pedigrees is now avail- 

 able. The following tables illustrate the phenomena 

 observed, and show clearly the essential part played by 

 the choice of mates in family inheritance. 



Since we are obliged to deal with persons now living, 

 in order to get pedigrees sufficiently detailed, it is 

 seemly in some cases to omit names, and to make a few 

 immaterial changes, such as varying the order of the 

 children in the different families, in order to prevent 

 a too-ready identification. 



In Pedigree I. we see the effect of the marriages of 

 four able brothers, having an able ancestry behind them, 

 with women who show no marked ability. These 

 brothers are indicated by the symbols placed 2nd, 4th, 

 6th, and 9th from the left in Generation III. None 

 of the progeny of the first three, who married undis- 

 tinguished wives, has come to the front in any way. 



