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Hereditary Genius
29
secondly, the deviations of the several events from the average, will be
governed by this law (which is, in principle, the same as that which governs
runs of luck at a gaming-table).
The nature of the conditions affecting the several events must, I say, be
the same. It clearly would not be proper to combine the heights of men
belonging to two dissimilar races, in the expectation that the compound
results would be governed by the same constants. A union of two dissimilar
systems of dots would produce the same kind of confusion as if half the
bullets fired at a target had been directed to one mark, and the other half to
another mark. Nay, an examination of the dots would show to a person,
ignorant of what had occurred, that such had been the case, and it would be
possible, by aid of the law, to disentangle two or any moderate number of
superimposed series of marks. The law may, therefore, be used as a most
trustworthy criterion, whether or no the events of which an average has
been taken, are due to the same or to dissimilar classes of conditions.
I selected the hypothetical case of a race of men living on an island and
freely intermarrying, to ensure the conditions under which they were all
supposed to live, being uniform in character. It will now be my aim to show
there is sufficient uniformity in the inhabitants of the British Isles to bring
them fairly within the grasp of this law.
For this purpose, I first call attention to an example given in Quetelet's
book. It is of the measurements of the circumferences of the chests of a
large number of Scotch soldiers. The Scotch are by no means a strictly
uniform race, nor are they exposed to identical conditions. They are a
mixture of Celts, Danes, Anglo-Saxons, and others, in various proportions,
the Highlanders being almost purely Celts. On the other hand, these races,
though diverse in origin, are not very dissimilar in character. Consequently,
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