11.]   QUALITIES.   77

amount they show all the symptoms of being overtasked, and sicken. An army in retreat suffers in every way, while one in the advance, being full of hope, may perform prodigious feats.

In the following extracts I insert everything that seems deserving of mention as regards the energy of either parent. It will be observed how strong is the tendency for this primary quality to be transmitted hereditarily.

Speaking generally of these and all other extracts printed in this book, I should give the following explanation:

Whenever anything is interpolated by me it is put in square brackets [ ]. All proper names are replaced by dots, because I do not wish to administer to the love of gossip. It is indeed impossible to prevent intimate friends from sometimes guessing the name of the author, but I have taken care that nothing is inserted which can cause annoyance. I have taken some trifling editorial liberties, such as occasionally working the words of the question into the answer, when the latter was too curt to explain itself ; and