NATURAL INHERITANCE, 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



I HAVE long been engaged upon certain problems that 

 lie at the base of the science of heredity, and during 

 several years have published technical memoirs concern- 

 ing them, a list of which is given in Appendix A. 

 This volume contains the more important of the results, 

 set forth in an orderly way, with more completeness 

 than has hitherto been possible, together with a large 

 amount of new matter. 



The inquiry relates to the inheritance of moderately 

 exceptional qualities by brotherhoods and multitudes 

 rather than by individuals, and it is carried on by 

 more refined and searching methods than those usually 

 employed in hereditary inquiries. 



One of the problems to be dealt with refers to the 

 curious regularity commonly observed in the statistical 

 peculiarities of great populations during a long series of 



