vu.] DISCUSSION OF THE DATA OF STATURE. 85
their number. The beautiful regularity in the Statures of a population, whenever they are statistically marshalled in the order of their heights, is due to the number of variable and quasi-independent elements of which Stature is the sum.
Marriage Selection.-Whatever may be the sexual preferences for similarity or for contrast, I find little indication in the average results obtained from a fairly large number of cases, of any single measurable personal peculiarity, whether it be stature, temper, eye-colour, or artistic tastes, in influencing marriage selection to a notable degree. Nor is this extraordinary, for though people may fall in love for trifles, marriage is a serious act, usually determined by the concurrence of numerous motives. Therefore we could hardly expect either shortness or, tallness, darkness or lightness in complexion, or any other single quality, to have in the long run a large separate influence.
I was certainly surprised to find how imperceptible was the influence that even good and bad Temper seemed to exert on marriage selection. A list was made (see Appendix D) of the observed frequency of marriages between persons of each of the various classes of Temper, in a group of 111 couples, and I calculated what would have been the relative frequency of intermarriages between persons of the various classes, if the same number of males and females had been paired at random. The result showed that the observed list agreed closely with the calculated list, and therefore that these observations
