CHAPTER VII 



THE DECLINE OF FAMILIES 



THE decline and fall of families is a study which 

 follows naturally on the examination of their rise and 

 establishment in positions of stability. Often, but by 

 no means always, the two branches of family history 

 can be traced together. The reasons for the one 

 phenomenon are soon found to be as clear and distinct 

 as the reasons for the other. First and foremost, we 

 may say that there is more truth in that distinguished 

 Irishman Sir Harry Boyle's description of the family of 

 Godfrey O'Malley as one in which it was hereditary to 

 have no children, than the Englishman hitherto has 

 given him credit for. Sterility and comparative infer- 

 tility are as definitely hereditary as other qualities, and 

 seem in some cases to be associated with a lack of 

 vitality and an absence of the joie de vivre. As an 

 extreme instance of this state of affairs, after study- 

 ing more general cases, we will follow Galton and 

 consider at some length the effect of marriages with 

 heiresses. Several points of interest arise in connection 

 with marriages with unsound stock, and we may prob- 

 ably take as one manifestation of unsoundness extrava- 

 gance and riotous living. Such marriages, it may be 



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