no 



HEREDITY. 



Marriage, 



No Law Appli- 

 cable to All. 



Unfavorable 

 Unions. 



Students of adaptation in marriage have sug- 

 gested three general, yet highly conflicting, rules 

 for the selection of a life companion : ( i ) The 

 law of opposites; (2) that like should marry 

 like; and (3) the law of compliments, or that 

 marriage should be between those whose physical 

 and mental characteristics form the perfect coun- 

 terpart of each other. 



Each of these rules has its advocates and oppo- 

 nents ;no doubt all three have their application and 

 limitation. Human nature is so varied that it 

 is impossible to lay down any inflexible rule for 

 the regulation of any department of life that is 

 equally applicable to all persons. In those attri- 

 butes in which each individual differs from all 

 others he must be a law unto himself; but wherein 

 human nature is substantially alike it is possible 

 to formulate general rules of life and conduct that 

 are applicable to all. Again, since all men and 

 women conform in their physical and mental char- 

 acteristics to certain general types sufficiently to 

 admit of classification, it is possible to formulate 

 rules of adaptation applicable to them. 



Of the three rules suggested the law of comple- 

 ments has by far the widest application, whether 

 considered from a physiological or psychological 

 point of view. The law of opposites and its anti- 

 thesis, that like should marry like, are applicable 

 only to harmonious, well balanced temperaments. 

 When persons endowed with any extreme phys- 

 ical or mental characteristic marry those like 

 themselves, or their extreme opposite, the results 

 are invariably unfavorable to both parents and 

 children. Illustrations of this fact may be seen 



