DISTRIBUTION OF INHERITABLE TRAITS 195 



weakness of character leading to drink, not lack of brains 

 or a certain amount of physical strength, but very inert 

 and lazy disposition." 



The foregoing studies will suffice to demonstrate, first, 

 the importance of the barrier of water in tending to increase 

 consanguineous marriage and second, the consequences of 

 such consanguineous marriages. 



In addition to islands, peninsulas also are more or less 

 isolated and might be expected to yield the same results 

 as islands. There is much evidence that this is so. Cape 

 Cod is a good illustration of a peninsula. Thus Twining 

 (1905, p. 12, note) after giving the pedigree of the descendants 

 of Isabel Twining of Yarmouth who married Francis Baker 

 says, "The frequency of intermarriage between Baker, 

 Chase and Kelly in these records is distinctly observable; 

 it is especially true of the first four generations, confined 

 to the narrow limits of the Cape." Other data proving 

 consanguinity in parentage of Cape families are not diffi- 

 cult to find. Thus Rich (1883, p. 525) tells of William 

 and Mary Dyer, first cousins and Quaker immigrants from 

 England and married. William Dyer (their son?), bom 

 1653, came to Barnstable and married, in 1686, Mary Taylor. 

 Their offspring all married and settled around him and soon 

 became among the most influential people of the town — 

 a position they maintain to this day. ^'At a recent visit to 

 the Congregational Sunday School^, I noticed," says the au- 

 thor, '^all officers, many teachers, organist, ex-superintendent, 

 and pastor's wife all Dyers. A lady at Truro united in her- 

 self 4 quarters Dyer; father, mother and both grandmothers 

 Dyers." Whether consanguineous marriages at Cape Cod 

 have led to an unusual frequency of any ''defects" I can- 

 not say. 



Another peninsula of whose marriages there is a record 

 is that of Point Judith. . Withington (1885, pp. 14, 15) men- 



