MENTAL CHARACTERS IX MAX i6i 



rise to three strongl}^ contrasting; lines, the original 

 defects persisting or becoming accentuated in some 

 hnes, while marriage into better strains has produced 

 other hnes socially more efficient. One famil\' l)egan 

 with a German and his wife, who innnigrated into 

 Western Pennsylvania in the latter part of the 

 eighteenth century. He was a fair specimen of the 

 pioneer type, but his wife was totally- lacking in any 

 sense of nuinber or quantity, and could neither sew, 

 spin, nor w^eave acceptably. They had children, 

 three of whom were apparently feebleminded, while 

 the others, through marriages with different types, 

 established various lines, some of which split up into 

 divergent branches. Five separate strains are traced 

 in this family. Another German immigrant and his 

 wife, about the same time, had twelve children. 

 They were very tall and possessed great strength, 

 qualities which some of their descendants perpetuated. 

 Six of the children formed socially efficient strains, 

 four died without marrying, while two daughters, 

 the dullest and slowest of the fraternitv, but with 

 great strength and endurance, married into defective 

 stock belonging to the previous family, and gave rise 

 to an undesirable strain. 



The characteristics of the various lines are deter- 

 mined by the combination of traits carried by their 

 founders, together with the leading traits of the 

 strains into which they married. There is a sifting 

 out in every generation. Where weakness marries 

 strength the defect may appear, but in lessened degree. 

 This results in the practical elimination of some 

 defects (in their external expression), and in increased 

 efficiency. The intermarriages of defectives, on the 

 other hand, give a continuous line of defectives 

 requiring institutional care. Two of the lines con- 

 tinue to be mixed, showing defectives, degenerates, 

 and socially fit. The degenerate branches gravitate 



II 



