, there are as many as the polymorphous forms. The
conception of "ides" and "determinants" is only a hypothesis to which
we must not attach much value. The mnemic laws established by _Semon_
give a much better explanation of the facts.

It has often been maintained that the qualities of higher forms of man
are exhausted in a few generations, while the mass of mediocrities
continually produce new genius. The fact that the descendants of
distinguished men are often mediocre and that remarkable men suddenly
arise from the common people, appears at first sight to support this
superficial assertion. It is forgotten, however, that in a people
whose average mass consists of thousands or millions of individuals,
while men of higher powers are only counted by units or dozens, all
this arithmetic is reduced to absurdity by the inequality of numbers,
as soon as the law of heredity is understood. To make a more exact
calculation, it would be necessary to compare the number of superior
men who have arisen from some hundreds of the most distinguished
families of a country with that of distinguished men who have arisen
from some millions of the rest of the people, and then calculate the
percentage. It is also necessary to take into account the means
employed in the education of the individuals. If education is
obligatory and gratuitous in a country, this factor will have less
importance.

Another error which is committed in such cases is to neglect the
influence of the maternal lineage. A common woman will lower the level
of the offspring of a distinguished husband, and inversely. In his
"History of Science and Scientists" _Alphonse de Candolle_ has given
irrefutable proof that the posterity of high-class men furnishes a
great number proportionally of men high class in their turn, compared
with that of the average population. This shows the value of the usual
twaddle concerning this question. It is inconceivable that the laws of
heredity should make an exception of the mental qualities of man.
Moreover, the most deceptive point is the contrast of a man of genius
with his children, who do not rise to his standard because they
represent a combination of his ancestral energies with those of their
mother. This contrast makes the children appear unfavorably, while the
public has a general tendency to exaggerate the value of a great man.

The theory of the mneme throws light on this subject, by introducing a
new factor in the question, t