32 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [c11wP.
been no sexual preference for contrast in height, that we may safely affirm in this case also, that the love of contrast does not prevail over that of harmony.'
It is a question of high importance to speculations on the future of our race, whether the instincts of sexual selection are or are not repugnant to an improvement in the human breed. We know perfectly well that they are repugnant to unions where the resemblance is very close ; thus near intermarriages shock our feelings, and the maintenance of high-bred artificial varieties in their purity is always effected with difficulty among animals. On the other hand, they are equally repugnant to unions in which there is great contrast ; thus, the intermarriage of white and black races rarely takes place, and animals of different species refuse to cross. Where, then, and how wide, is the belt that lies
1 The series of facts in (1), (2), and (3), and the corresponding figures given by the theory with which they are supposed to conform, are as follows:
(1) FATHER.
Fad . . Theory .
3 15 29 30 18 3 2 5 15 27 29 18 5 1
(2) MOTHER. I (3) BOTIT PARENTS.
51432291163 81825261562
3 18 34 26 13 5 1 61831291321
