K. Pearson 
157 
At what rate is that ? I show you a table {see Table V.), which represents our 
present knowledge of parental inheritance in man *, and in other species. I venture 
to say that — within broad lines — the physical characters are inherited at the same 
rate in man and in the lower forms of life. The resemblance of parent and 
offspring is again roughly 'S. 
TABLE V. 
Parental Inheritance in Different Species. 
Species 
Character 
Meau 
value 
No. of 
pairs used 
Source 
Remarks 
Man 
Stature 
Span 
Forearm 
Eye colour 
•506 
•459 
•418 
•495 
4886 
4873 
4866 
4000 
Biometrika, Vol. ii. p. 358 
ditto 
ditto 
Phil. Trans., Vol. 195, p. 106 
Horse 
Coat colour 
•522 
4350 
Phil. Trans., Vol. 195, p. 93 
Basset Hound 
Greyhound 
Coat colour 
Coat colour 
•524 
•507 
823 
9279 
R. S. Proc, Vol. 66, p. 154 
Unpublished data for two 
characters 
Dams only used 
Dams and sires 
both used 
Aphis {ffi/alopterus 
Trirhodus) 
Daplinia Magna ... 
Right antenna 
Frontal breadth 
Protopodite 
Body length 
•439 
•466 
368 
96 
Biometrilca, Vol. I. p. 139 
R. S. Proc, Vol. 65, 1899 
\ Ratios only 
1 taken to free 
j from growth 
J factor 
What conclusion flows upon us irresistibly from the inspection of such a table ? 
Why, that the psychical characters are not features which differentiate man from 
the lower types of life. If they are inherited like man's physical characters, if they 
are inherited even as the protopodite of the water flea, what reason is there for 
demanding a special evolution for man's mental and moral side ? We look upon 
the universe and wonder. The man of science probes a little deeper into nature 
than the ordinary mortal, but the deeper he probes, the greater his wonder, for the 
more complex and mysterious the universe appears. Do you wish to draw the line 
of mvstery at living forms ? Look at the sky on a clear night, and realise that 
while astronomers have described the motions of a tiny corner of the universe, 
they have not the least explanation of how and why those motions are taking 
place. 
Nay, take the least, apparently most inert particle of metal, and remember 
that if modern physical views are correct, millions, probably billions of small 
corpuscles are in relative motion within it, with a complexity and yet probably with 
an underlying order as great as in the starry universe, even if they be on a totally 
different scale. Remember that we have scarcely touched the fringe of a descrijition 
of those motions, and that their ivhy is as inexplicable to us as the motions of the 
celestial bodies themselves. Note all this, and ask yourselves if there be less mystery 
* Taken from a memoir : " On the Laws of Inheritance in Man. I. Inheritance of the Physical 
Characters." Biometriha, Vol. ii. p. 379. 
