HEREDITY AND RACE-IMPROVEMENT, 177 



these capacities ; and he expresses the wish that such measurements 

 should be taken. But at least we know, in a general way, what char- 

 acters and what cranial dimensions correspond with the various de- 

 grees of cerebral activity. Most anthropologists hold that the man 

 whose head has not an horizontal circumference of 50 centimetres 

 (19.685 inches) is almost inevitably a person of only mediocre ability, 

 and that the one in whom this circumference attains or surpasses 

 58 centimetres (22.8346 inches) is likely to be a very superior man. 

 Instances are cited, it is true, of celebrated personages with small 

 heads ; but in such case the individuals gained distinction in some 

 very narrow specialty. It must not be forgotten that these dimen- 

 sions constitute but one of the external indices which enable us to de- 

 termine approximately the intellectual value of an individual. We 

 have also to take account of the general form and relative proportions 

 of the various regions of the cranium, i. e., of that harmony which is 

 called beauty. An easy means, according to M. Sedillot, of studying 

 the conformation of the head, is by taking a side or profile view of it, 

 a little back of the forehead. One then instantly perceives the ratio 

 between the height and breadth of the forehead and temples and the 

 face, and a clear perception is got of the relative proportions of the 

 anterior or frontal, and the posterior or occipital contours of the head. 

 The individual who has the superciliary arches prominent, the temples 

 bare, nearly vertical and high, with broad, high forehead, and features 

 expressive neither of an unbalanced nor of a torpid mind, may in gen- 

 eral be regarded as a truly human type, and as possessed of a mind 

 that is fitted to do honor to the race. The story goes, that once a 

 certain Englishman sent his groom to the ale-house in search of his 

 friend Shakespeare. " How shall I know him ? " quoth the groom. 

 " The easiest thing in the world," replied his master ; " everybody, 

 more or less, resembles some animal ; but, when you lay eyes on 

 Shakespeare, you will at once say, ' There is a man ! ' " Man in the 

 fullness of his harmonious beauty, such is the ideal toward which all 

 the efforts of our present imperfect humanity ought to be directed, 

 and it is full time that we should strive, by a wise use of the principle 

 of heredity, i. e., by healthy procreation, to develop a human race in 

 which the last traces of animality shall have disappeared, and in which 

 the Man shall be less rare. 



What is it that constitutes the superiority of the English aristoc- 

 racy ? Their constant study to endow their descendants with the best 

 bodily, intellectual, and moral qualities. The Englishman does not 

 marry from caprice or from passion ; he marries under the conditions 

 which are best fitted to insure the welfare of his children, for he knows 

 that on their welfare his own happiness, his honor, and his name depend. 

 The respect shown to young Englishwomen, the honorable liberty 

 they enjoy, the secondary importance that is attached to their fortune, 

 and the stress that is laid on their personal worth, are all so many 

 vol. iv. — 12 



