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80   NATURAL INHERITANCE.   [CHAT.

that I need specify were the very first that I used ; they refer to the sizes of seeds, which are equivalent to the Statures of seeds. I both measured and weighed them, but after assuring myself of the equivalence of the two methods (see Appendix C.), confined myself to ascertaining the weights, as they were much more easily ascertained than the measures. It is more than 10 years since I procured these data. They were the result of an extensive series of experiments on the produce of seeds of different sizes, but of the same species, conducted for the following reasons. I had endeavoured to find a population possessed of some measurable characteristic that was suitable for investigating the causes of the statistical similarity between successive generations of a people, as will hereafter be discussed in Chapter VIII. At last I determined to experiment on seeds, and after much inquiry of very competent advisers, selected sweet-peas for the purpose. They do not cross-fertilize, which is a very exceptional condition among plants ; they are hardy, prolific, of a convenient size to handle, and nearly spherical ; their weight does not alter perceptibly when the air changes from damp to dry, and the little pea at the end of the pod, so characteristic of ordinary peas, is absent in sweetpeas. I began by weighing thousands of them individually, and treating them as a census officer would treat a large population. Then I selected with great pains several sets for planting. Each set contained seven little packets, numbered K, L, M, N, 0, P, and Q, each of the seven packets contained ten seeds of almost