230 



NATURAL INHERITANCE. 



attached to my materials. It was primarily intended to discover 

 whether any strong bias existed among the compilers to spare the 

 characters of their nearest relatives. In not a few cases they have 

 written to me, saying that their records had been drawn up with 

 perfect frankness, and earnestly reminding me of the importance of 

 not allowing their remarks to come to the knowledge of the persons 

 described. It is almost needless to repeat what I have published 

 more than once already, that I treat the Records quite confidentially. 

 I have left written instructions that in case of my death they should 

 all be destroyed unread, except where I have left a note to say that 

 the compiler wished them returned. In some instances I know that 

 the Records were compiled by a sort of family council, one of its 

 members acting as secretary ; but I doubt much whether it often 

 happened that the Records were known to many of the members of 

 the family in their complete form. Bearing these and other con- 

 siderations in mind, I thought the best test for bias would be 

 to divide the entries into two contrasted groups, one including 

 those who figured in the pedigrees as either father, mother, son, or 

 daughter that is to say, the compiler and those who were very 

 nearly related to him and the other including the uncles and 

 aunts on both sides. 



TABLE 1. 



DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPER, IN FAMILIES (per cents. ) 



