1 64 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



this table shows, lead us to look with suspicion upon the indi- 

 vidual that is "' born short." He may be the offspring of excel- 

 lent parentage, as in column 2, rows e and ^, in which case the 

 pull of regression will be greatly in his favor. But, on the other 

 hand, he may be the product of bad parentage, as in column 2, 

 rows ^, /, and m, in which cases the matter is well-nigh hopeless, 

 as many a poor girl has found, who has married a scamp to I 

 '' reform him." He has broken her heart and wasted her life- 

 all because she did not know the simplest facts about transmis- 

 sion. If a man is well born, it is upon him to show his breeding, 

 if he can, and if not, to prove that his ancestry was at least 

 respectable and not much below mediocrity ; and if he cannot do 

 this, he is a great risk as a partner in any business. Disregard 

 of these simple facts is responsible for the wholesale production 

 of hereditary criminals, and until laws are framed and executed 

 to prevent unbridled reproduction among degenerates, we shall 

 continue to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. Visit our 

 prisons and poorhouses and be convinced that while some of 

 the inmates are normal men with a bad history, most of them 

 are there because of their unfortunate ancestry. The sooner we 

 realize that, on the average, men are about what their ancestry 

 as a whole is, the better it will be both for individuals and for 

 the community. Study the left-hand side of the table in breed- 

 ing corn for high and low oil (p. 161), and see how rapidly de- 

 generation proceeds when parentage is restricted to inferior 

 lines. Then also reflect on the danger of reversion if inferior 

 blood is mixed with the good. The only safety in human af- 

 fairs, as in those of animals and plants, lies in a long line of 

 selected ancestry or, in other words, in good blood. 



All characters that have ever been studied behave substantially 

 the same as stature, and this table of Galton's, therefore, may 

 be regarded as exhibiting the general law of heredity for all 

 characters. By this we see that we are not to expect that the 

 offspring will be like the parent except in a general way, and ' 

 within more or less general limits ; that we need not be surprised 



