LUTHER BURBANK 



Note, as practical illustrations, how the tall 

 man is attracted by the small woman, blonde by 

 brunette, genius by mediocrity. It is even matter 

 of common experience that the most virtuous 

 young women are often fascinated by opposite 

 moral traits in their male associates; while, con- 

 trariwise, the most vicious men would always 

 choose virtuous helpmates if they could. 



These propensities have long been recognized, 

 and they have been explained as representing a 

 tendency of nature to avoid extremes and keep 

 near to a happy mean. It has been observed that 

 extreme development in any direction leads to in- 

 stability, and -it is everywhere accepted that a 

 well-rounded development is, on the average, 

 preferable to a highly specialized development in 

 one direction. But the real significance of the 

 observed tendency of opposite physiques and 

 temperaments to attract each other is more 

 clearly explicable than ever before since a knowl- 

 edge of Mendelian heredity has given clews to its 

 true interpretation. 



The fact seems to be that what we term Men- 

 delian heredity represents nature's incessant at- 

 tempt to improve the race. 



It is an observed fact that physical strength 

 and vigor are dominant factors; hence the off- 

 spring of a strong individual and a feeble one are 

 likely to be strong. It is obviously desirable, then, 

 from a eugenic standpoint, that weak individuals, 

 if they are to mate at all, should mate with strong 

 ones. And nature has all along provided that this 



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