THE INHERITANCE OF FAMILY TRAITS 43 



families the children vary greatly in stature while in others 

 they vary Httle is because more diverse elements have 

 entered into the make-up of the children in the first case 

 than in the second. In the first case long and short blood are 

 commingled in the ancestry while in the second case exclu- 

 sively long or exclusively short ancestry as the case may be. 

 The second general law is that when both parents are 

 tall all of the children tend to be tall; but, on the contrary, 

 if both parents are short some of the children will be short 

 and some tall in ratios varying from 1:1 up to 2:1. If all 

 of the grandparents are short then there tend to be twice 

 as many short children as tall; but if one grandparent on 

 each side be tall there will tend to be an equahty of short 

 and tall offspring. 



The evidence for the foregoing is found in the study of 104 families which 

 furnished quantitative data as to stature for children, parents and grand- 

 parents. 



To illustrate the inheritance of extreme short stature in a 

 family I may quote from C. F. Swift (1888) . He says (p. 473) 

 *'I am unable to give a particular account of the Little 

 Hatches of Falmouth. [Mass.] They were children of Barna- 

 bas, who married in 1776 his relative Abigail Hatch and had 

 two sons and seven daughters. Six daughters were less than 

 4 feet in height. None married. The seventh daughter 

 Rebecca was of common size and married Robert Hammond. 

 The two sons, Barnabas, born in 1788, and Robinson, b. 1790, 

 were both of low stature, one, scarce 4 feet in height, was a 

 portly gentleman almost as broad as long." It may be pre- 

 dicted that the tall daughter who married had only tall chil- 

 dren. 



6. Total Body Weight 



Adult weight (assuming density to be constant) depends 

 upon stature and circumference. It is, therefore, still more 



