RACIAL DIFFERENCES 125 



be no bad thing after all, as perhaps it is correlated 

 to, is a necessary accompaniment of, a strong and 

 vigorous character ; and that possibly, therefore, it 

 is indirectly owing to their tendency to get exces- 

 sively drunk that the Northern races of Europe 

 surpass the Southern. Of course, on general 

 considerations, I must admit it is conceivable that 

 the alcoholic craving may be allied to a strong 

 and vigorous character, just as it may be allied to 

 any other physical or mental trait — to an enlarged 

 nose, for instance, or to an amiable tendency to 

 collect blue china. And if, dismissing from our 

 minds all the known facts bearing on the question, 

 we are very careful to think only in abstract terms, 

 this proposition may be maintained with a very 

 pretty display of philosophical acumen. But that 

 such speculations have any scientific value, or are 

 other than a species of solemn and fatuous trifling, 

 I am not prepared to admit. I do not know, for 

 instance, that anything is recorded which contradicts 

 the assumption that a tendency to get drunk is 

 correlated to nasal pre-eminence, or to a predi- 

 lection for bijouterie ; but very much is known 

 which contradicts the assumption that the alcoholic 

 craving has for its concomitant a strong and 

 vigorous character. Is it in accordance with 

 common experience that inebriates are thus 

 endowed beyond their fellows, or that the lowest 



