ON THE PHYSIQUE AND ABILITY OF OFFSPRINCx 1 3 



tables, why has he made random suggestions as to the 

 nature of the occupations of the Edinburgh population ? 

 Why, indeed, has he touched at all on the influence of 

 parental alcoholism on the physique and mentality of the 

 children ? Both Professor Marshall and Mr. Keynes have 

 hinted — they have made no attempt to demonstrate — 

 that the alcoholic are fallen better stock and the sober 

 subnormal bad stock. Yet Professor Marshall tells us 

 that these tables have no bearing on the problem he pro- 

 fesses to discuss ! Both seem to think that general 

 statements as to the degeneracy of the whole population 

 are logical arguments as to its internal differentiation. 

 The slight differences we have found in wages, want of 

 employment, and charitable relief are, we contend, 

 consistent, and just what would be anticipated, from a 

 knowledge of what results in extreme cases of alcoholism ; 

 they are not indicative of any original mental, physical, 

 or class distinction between the temperate and the 

 intemperate parents. 



But is the view taken by Professor Marshall and 

 Mr. Keynes about the nature of the Edinburgh population, 

 even if it has no bearing on our results, a sound one ? 

 They tell us that we have not taken a ' random sample 

 of the population '. Such a term we, of course, use in 

 a technical sense — namely, a population in which there 

 has been no differential selection of the two sections 

 bearing the character which we are discussing, i. e. the use 

 of alcohol. They lived in the same neighbourhood, 

 followed the same trades, and such differences as we have 

 been able to detect were secondary to the use of alcohol, 

 and not primary characteristics. But do the distinctions 

 between the Edinburgh population and those of other 

 districts on which Professor Marshall and Mr. Keynes 



