xr.] LATENT ELEMENTS. 191
When the " children " in the pedigree are from 40 to 55 years of age, their own life-histories are sufficiently advanced to be useful, though they are incomplete, and it is still easy for them to compile good histories of their Parents, Uncles, and Aunts. Friends who knew them all would still be alive, and numerous documents such as near relations or personal friends preserve, but which are mostly destroyed at their decease, would still exist. If I were undertaking a fresh inquiry in order to verify and to extend my previous work, it would be on this basis. I should not care to deal with any family that did not number at least six adult children, and the same number of uncles and aunts on both the paternal and maternal sides. Whatever could be learnt about the grandparents and their brothers and sisters, would of course be acceptable, as throwing further light. I should however expect that the peculiarities distributed among any large Fraternity of Uncles and Aunts would fairly indicate the variety of the Latent Elements in the Parent. The complete heritage of the child, on the average of many cases, might then _ be assigned as follows : One quarter to the personal characteristics of the Father ; one quarter to the average of the personal characteristics of the Fraternity taken as a whole, of whom the Father was one of the members; and similarly as regards the Mother's side.
