THE CROSS-BREEDING OF RACES 149 



habitable globe. And how far an arbitrary or fanciful 

 standard is set up by human races, similar to that set up 

 by the " fancier '' or cultivator of breeds of domestic animals. 

 The matter is complicated by the fact that what we loosely 

 speak of as " races " of man are of very various degrees of 

 consanguinity or nearness to one another in blood, that is, 

 in stock or in ultimate ancestry. It is also complicated 

 by the fact that we cannot place any reliance upon the 

 antipathies or preferences shown by the general sentiment 

 of a race in this (or other matters) as necessarily indicating 

 what is beneficial for humanity in general or for the 

 immediate future of any section of it. Nor have we any 

 assurance that what is called " sexual selection " — the 

 preference or taste in the matter of choosing a mate — is 

 among human beings necessarily anything of greater im- 

 portance — so far as the prosperity of a race or of humanity 

 in general is concerned — than a mere caprice or a meaning- 

 less persistence of the human mind in favouring a choice 

 which is habitual and traditional. I have referred to this 

 point again in the last paragraph of this chapter. 



In regard to marriage between individuals of different 

 European nationalities, a certain amount of unwillingness 

 exists on the part of both men and women which cannot 

 be ascribed to any deep-seated inborn antipathy, but is 

 due to a mistrust of the unknown " foreigner," which very 

 readily disappears on acquaintance, or may arise from 

 dislike of the laws and customs of a foreign people. 

 English, French, Dutch, Scandinavians, Germans, Russians, 

 Greeks, Italians and Spaniards have no deep-rooted pre- 

 judices on the subject, and readily intermarry when 

 circumstances bring them into association. Though the 

 Jews by their present traditional practice are opposed to 

 marriage with those not of their faith, there is no effective 

 aversion of a racial kind to such unions, and in early 

 times they have been very frequent. During the " captivity " 



