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us think for a moment of what the possibilities are in modern 

 society under the influence of the laws of heredity, which 

 have been referred to. The Hebrew nation, old as the 

 Chaldees in its sublime intellectual endowments, has, in 

 modern times, become scattered over the face of the globe. 

 In former days the Roman arms carried the Italian race into 

 regions very distant from Italy ; and, as has been often 

 remarked, the conquest of Byzantium by the Turks was 

 the means of dispersing Grecian literature far and wide. Let 

 it not be supposed that these teachers of Greek exerted no 

 other influence than that of schoolmasters on the communities 

 into which they were introduced. Many of them doubt- 

 less married and had families, and thus it might happen that 

 the Grecian intellect might become the subject of hereditary 

 transmission and make its appearance where it had not been 

 expected. Owing to the exclusiveness of their religious creed, 

 it may, at first sight, be thought that the Hebrew race had 

 not effected any intermixture with those amongst whom its 

 representatives dwelt. This, however, is probably far from 

 being true, for, during the ages of persecution of the Jews, it 

 was frequently deemed a meritorious work to rescue the 

 children of parents who had been massacred and bring them 

 up as Christians. The children thus saved received Christian 

 names and were ultimately merged in Christian communities. 

 Thus, it has become possible that in almost all large European 

 cities there may be, unsuspected, a certain infusion of Hebrew 

 blood ; just as in our island, the Roman occupation of nearly 

 four hundred years is quite sure to have left a certain strain 

 of that of the Italian race. It becomes not at all an im- 

 probable suggestion that a very large proportion of the men 

 of remarkable ability who have from time to time made 

 their appearance in Western Europe have been remotely 

 of mixed descent, such as is suggested. It is quite clear 

 that before we say anything as to the inexplicability of mani- 

 festations of genius, enquiries in these directions should be 

 exhaustive. 



