CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES 251 
contended, the crosses of related peoples or races may be advan- 
tageous, while the union of the more distinct races, such as white 
and negro, may result in a very undesirable product. This is 
quite possible if not probable, and has the support of numerous 
analogies among plants and animals. But it would be possible to 
support almost any conclusion on race crossing by an appeal to 
such analogies. Those who condemn race mixtures point to the 
inferiority of many mongrel breeds and the infertility of crosses 
between distantly related stocks, while the advocates of mis- 
cegenation refer to the benefits that have so often resulted from 
crossing different varieties. Our only recourse in such a case is 
the study of the actual facts. 
It is sometimes stated that the hybrids between distinct races 
must have a relatively inharmonious constitution containing 
many incongruous hereditary tendencies. But the grounds for 
this are largely a priori. The mule is a very valuable animal with 
an unusually efficient organization notwithstanding the marked 
differences of the horse and the ass. There are many crosses 
between forms more closely related which are poor and weak 
products that cannot be compared with the tough organization 
of this familiar beast of burden. How characters of different 
types will harmonize cannot be told until they are combined in a 
cross. 
With the varied considerations which may prejudice opinions 
to say nothing of the differences presented by the observed facts 
in different parts of the world, it is not surprising that students of 
race mixture should have arrived at opposed conclusions. The 
sociologist Novicow! sings the praises of miscegenation as loudly 
as other writers have condemned it. ‘‘Il est connu qu’une race 
s’abatardit par les unions consanguines et qu’elle s’améliore par 
les croisements. . . . Les croisements sont donc indispensables 
pour soutenir et augmenter la vigueur d’une race.... Les 
croisements sont d’une utilité si incontestable qu’il faudra les 
favoriser le plus possible. De nous jours encore, nombre de 
sociétés non seulement barbares mais méme civilizées, tachent 
1 Les luttes entre les sociétés humaines, pp. 201-204. 
‘ 
