APPENDIX D. 237 



by far the most trustworthy group was that which consisted of 

 the two parents and of the uncles and aunts on both sides. I 

 have thus 46 good-tempered Fraternities with an aggregate of 333 

 parents, uncles, and aunts ; and 71 bad-tempered, with 633 parents, 

 uncles, and aunts. In the former group, 26 per cent, were good 

 tempered and 18 bad ; in the latter group, 18 were good-tempered 

 and 29 were bad, the remainder being neutral. These results are 

 almost the exact counterparts of one another, so I seem to have 

 made good hits in framing the definitions. More briefly, we mav 

 say that when the Fraternity is good-tempered as above defined, 

 the number of good-tempered parents, uncles, and aunts, exceeds 

 that of the bad-tempered in the proportion of 3 to 2; and that 

 when the Fraternity is bad-tempered, the proportions are exactly 

 reversed. 



I have attempted in other ways to work oiit the statistics of 

 hereditary tempers, but none proved to be of sufficient value for 

 publication. I can trace no prepotency of one sex over the other 

 in transmitting their tempers to their children. I find clear 

 indications of strains of bad temper clinging to families for three 

 generations, but I cannot succeed in putting them into a numerical 

 form. 



It must not be thought that I have wished to deal with temper 

 as if it were an unchangeable characteristic, or to assign more 

 trustworthiness to my material than it deserves. Both these 

 views have been discussed ; they are again alluded to to show 

 that they are not dismissed from my mind, and partly to give the 

 opportunity of adding a very few further remarks. 



Persons highly respected for social and public qualities may be 

 well-known to their relatives as having sharp tempers under strong 

 but insecure control, so that they " flare up " now and then. I 

 have heard the remark that those who are over- suave in ordinary 

 demeanour have often vile tempers. If this be the case — and I 

 have some evidence of its truth- — I suppose they are painfully 

 conscious of their infirmity, and through habitual endeavours to 

 subdue it, have insensibly acquired an exaggerated suavity at the 

 times when their temper is unprovoked. Illness, too, has much 

 influence in affecting the temper. Thus I sometimes come across 

 entries to the effect of, " not naturally ill-tempered, but peevish 



