HEREDITY 485 



stated in general terms, that the tendency is toward mediocrity, 

 and that offspring are, on the whole, more mediocre than their 

 parents. This is so because, in the absence of selection, the two 

 thousand or more near-by ancestors, all exercising some influ- 

 ence, were, altogether likely, about an average lot, and their 

 pull is strong toward mediocrity. With rigid selection the aver- 

 age could be greatly raised, making the pull higher ; but this 

 results simply in raising the level of mediocrity, and the principle 

 would still hold ; for it is beyond hope or expectation that these 

 two thousand or more ancestors could #//be held at a' high level. 

 This is why breeders generally find many disappointments in 

 breeding from exceptional individuals, their offspring cannot, 

 on the average, be equal to themselves. 



On the other hand, the offspring of the inferior parent is 

 helped by the principle of regression, which in this case acts as 

 a " boost " instead of a " drag," J and we hear of such a parent 

 that he " breeds better than himself," - all of which is a credit 

 to the ancestors if not to the individual. However, the children 

 of tall parents, while not so tall as their parents, are yet taller 

 than the children of short parents, giving rise to the peculiar 

 form of the regression table known as its " skew." 



This principle of regression through the influence of the 

 ancestry beyond the immediate parent, and the essential medi- 

 ocrity of the offspring as compared with the parent, are then 

 well established. This is not from any inherent superiority in 

 parents or inferiority in offspring, but from the fact that medi- 

 ocrity is the common condition of the bulk of the race. 



No remedy for regression. Nothing but long-continued selec- 

 tion can ease the race from the drag of regression, and even 

 then, and always, the offspring are still subject to the pull of a 

 new but higher mediocrity. 



1 This principle is the salvation of the " submerged fraction " of humanity, and it 

 is the principal reason why so many successful, even self-made men, spring from 

 unpromising parents. It is entirely possible when the ancestry has been only 

 recently submerged ; it is hardly possible when there is a long line of criminal or 

 defective ancestors. 



A distinction is to be made, on the one hand, between the children of poor and 

 honest parents who lack advantages but whose blood lines may be excellent, and, 

 on the other hand, those whose ancestors have been submerged for generations ; 

 very few of these rise to prominence, or, indeed, can rise. 



