333 
1883 .] Wealth as an Eliminative Agent . 
Anglo-Saxon is crowding himself out from his old home, 
and overspreading the earth, the British peers — in spite of 
all their efforts to drag collateral branches into their titles, 
&c. — are utterly incapable of maintaining their numbers in 
the House of Lords, which would long ago have been 
reduced to a little camarilla of curiosities had it been de- 
pendent on the survival of the original stock. 
An idle aristocracy bears the same relation to the general 
working members of the race that poodles and other lap- 
dogs do to bulldogs, collies, terriers, &c. The lap-dog is a 
canine aristocrat, supplied without effort with a redundance 
of physical luxury, and he perishes without the aid of any 
exterminating outside enemy. This is shown by the resem- 
blance of King Charles’s spaniels, &c., to our peers of the 
realm. In spite of the demand for these fancy animals, in- 
dicated by their high price, the maintenance of the breed is 
a matter of great difficulty. 
I have noticed a curious physical resemblance between 
them which is very suggestive. The general laxity of fibre 
in the petted spaniels and poodles of “ pure breed,” i.e., with 
blue blood, is indicated by the protrusion of the tongue, 
owing doubtless to lack of muscular tension. The Dun- 
dreary lisp that really does prevail among their biped 
analogues (though not to the extent represented by their 
caricaturists) is evidently due to a similar falling forward of 
the tongue. The simple experiment of imitating this defeCt 
of articulation will show that it is caused by a protrusion of 
the tongue, in such wise that its point languidly strikes 
the teeth when it should vigorously press against the 
palate. 
A visit to the House of Lords, and careful observation of 
the tones of voice, the gait, the lolling on cushion, the non- 
chalance, and other movements of the surviving representa- 
tives of ancient aristocratic families, will supply further 
evidences of the analogy above named. 
My own observations (so far as they go, but this is not 
very far) on the moral characteristics of the survivors of a 
long-sustained aristocratic line indicate in this respeCt a very 
high type, shown by lofty forehead, high coronal region, and 
that polished and true courtesy due to genuine regard for the 
feelings of others which presupposes the easy suppression of 
passionate impulse and self-assertion. These I find to be 
combined with simplicity of taste, and very moderate indul- 
gence in eating and drinking. 
Other characteristics that might be named further indicate 
that, in the struggle with the terrible temptations presented 
