76 HEREDITY AND SOCIETY 



ing to carry on the race an excess of women must be 

 regarded as a symptom of coming decadence. 



The second factor we have alluded to in determin- 

 ing the status of women is also extremely difficult of 

 analysis. The influence of occupation on race, which 

 often resolves itself into a question of geographical 

 distribution, has not yet been investigated either by 

 our sociologists or our economists. To students of 

 anthropology alone, the subject is known to be of 

 great importance. 



It is not easy to give examples in the space of a few 

 pages, which is all we can devote to the subject. Thus, 

 a seafaring life for men either in voyages of discovery 

 or long absences connected with the fishing industry 

 leaves the women entirely to themselves for long 

 periods. The management of the home and home- 

 stead falls inevitably into their hands and the necessity 

 for qualities such as self-reliance and independence in 

 the occupation pursued by the men is equally great in 

 the case of the women. Whenever the local industry 

 brings about the absence of the men throughout long 

 periods, we may look to find the women in a position 

 of influence and responsibility. There too we notice 

 the frequent development of the finer feminine crafts, 

 such as lace-making and embroidery, which have 

 flourished among the women of Venice, Genoa, 

 Flanders, Devon and the Baltic. Our Norse and 

 Danish ancestors bequeathed to us a tradition of the 

 above type. 



Quite other, for instance, are the conditions among a 

 settled mining population ; the perpetual presence of the 



