1 1 8 Heredity. 



keep apart from the rest of the faithful. Down to the end of the 

 1 7th century they were required by the legislation then in force 

 to wear a distinctive mark, called ' the goose's foot,' or ' the 

 duck's foot ' (pied tfoie, pied de canard) in the decrees of the par- 

 liaments of Navarre and of Bordeaux. 



Of course these outcasts intermarried, as a general rule, and 

 marriages between Cagot families held to be 'pure' were very 

 rare. Hence this race remained under much the same conditions 

 as the Jews in a state highly favourable to hereditary transmis- 

 sion. It is to be observed that many of those who have spoken of 

 these Cagots from personal observation, and particularly the 

 physicians of the i6th and iyth century, whose remarks are given 

 in M. Michel's work, noticed the fact of heredity. On the other 

 hand, the same author tells us that a modern writer says, ' I dis- 

 trust external signs as means of distinguishing Cagots from people 

 of other races.' Perhaps these opinions might be reconciled, if 

 we observe that the Cagots do not appear to have been a race 

 strictly distinct, like the Jews and the Gypsies. While the origin 

 of the last-named races is known, that of the Cagots is ex- 

 tremely obscure. All sorts of conjectures have been made, 

 ranging from the one which would have them to be the descend- 

 ants of a servant of the prophet Elijah, down to that which sees 

 in them a remnant of the Goths. 1 If, then, between the Cagots 

 and the surrounding population there were no diversity of race, all 

 external differences would gradually disappear under the influence 

 of identical conditions. 



Still, during their pariah period the Cagots would have been a 

 curious object of study from the standpoint of psychological and 

 moral heredity. But unfortunately the data are totally wanting. 

 We only know that in Guyenne and in Gascony they were all 

 coopers or carpenters; and that in Brittany they were all rope- 

 makers ; and were considered very expert in their trade. But this 

 fact seems to us to be far less the result of heredity than of the 

 caste-rule to which they were subjected. They were accused of 

 being presumptuous, arrogant, braggart defects which may be 

 explained as well by the attitude of permanent hostility in which 



1 Races Maudites, i. 266. 



