RECORD OF FAMILY FACULTIES. 



than we have at present any idea of. The occasional anomaly of 

 healthy children being born of unhealthy parents, and of weakly children 

 being born of robust parents, admits of no other explanation. Our 

 present ignorance of the conditions by which the level of humanity 

 may be raised is so gross, that I believe if we had some dictator of 

 the Spartan type, who exercised absolute power over marriages, assigning 

 A to be the wife of B, and C to be the wife of D, and who ac;ed 

 with the best intentions, he might possibly do even more harm than good 

 to the race. 



The following diagram shows in a compact form the direct ancestors 

 with whom any group of brothers and sisters are most nearly connected, 

 the group in question being described in the diagram by the word " Children." 

 Besides the direct ancestors, the brothers and sisters of each of them 

 have also to be taken into account, for the reasons already given : — 



Father's Father's Father. 

 Father's Father's Mother. 



Father's Mother's Father. 

 Father's Mother's Mother. 



Mother's Father's Father. 

 Mother's Father's Mother. 



Mother's Mother's Father. 

 Mother's Mother's Mother. 



When preparing to fill the Tables, the writer should first determine 

 his own position in the pedigree. 



1. Suppose the writer to be male, and that he is the father of a 

 young family; — then his own place will be "Father," and that of his wife 

 will be "Mother;" the "Father's Father's Father" will be his own 

 Father's Father, and so on. 



2. Suppose he is unmarried ; — then he may class himself as one of the 

 " Children ; " in which case the " Father's Father's Father," will be his 

 own Great-grandparent. Otherwise, if he has a married brother or sister 

 who have children, he may regard his brother as the " Father," or his 

 sister as the "Mother," and his own place will be that of a " Father's 

 Brother," or of a " Mother's Brother," as the case may be. 



