18 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



just as abnormal population statistics are a symptom of 

 abnormal conditions of life. A high death-rate means an 

 unhealthy environment. An abnormal relation of the 

 sexes occasionally occurs, e.g., at Southport. In Scotland 

 generally the excess of marriageable females (15 to 45) is 

 2 in 1,000 ; in Dundee the excess is 78 in 1,000. This is 

 cine not to the special attractiveness of the Dundee males, 

 but to an alteration from normal industrial conditions, 

 and the almost exclusive employment of female labour in 

 the Dundee mills, or, as in Southport, to the absence of 

 industries for marriageable males. 



Variability is something inherent in all growing 

 organisms. It is a sign of vitality and individuality. It 

 has no significance in determining affinities with other 

 species, or in suggesting the existence of any tendency, 

 except the tendency to vary. At the same time the 

 capacity for variation is extremely limited for organ, 

 individual or species. 



One of the most striking phases in which the 

 individuality and vitality of our race is shown is in what 

 may be called theological variability. In the Protestant 

 Church, freedom of thought naturally gives scope to this 

 characteristic, and leads to the production of minor 

 differences of thought and creed ; different variations of 

 the same idea, strangely limited, strangely active, but 

 withal not apparently capable of affecting any funda- 

 mental change in the national temper or the national 

 character. 



