Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 62.djvu/267

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MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY.
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MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY, VI.

By Dr. FREDERICK F. WOODS.

Bourbons in Spain.

Philip V. to the present day.

THE male or Hapsburg line having become extinct on the death of Charles II., the Bourbons came upon the Spanish throne. This group may be subdivided into six smaller groups:

1. Children of first marriage of Philip V.
2. Primogeniture line of Spain.
3. Children of Philip Duke of Parma.
4. Male line in the Two Sicilies.
5. The Carlists.
6. Children of Francesco de Paula.

1-2 I shall start with Philip V. and include in the group with him all his ancestors to the third or great-grandparent degree. This supplies 8712 per cent. of influence according to Galton's law. Next all the children of Philip V. will be included, as well as all their ancestors to the third degree. Then following down the line that corresponds to the throne, I shall treat of each fraternity in turn until the present Alfonso XIII. is reached. After this the other male lines (3-6) will be taken up. The daughters are also included, but not their children, as these are considered under the male lines in other countries—Austria, France, Portugal, etc. There are thirty-four persons in this group who require tracing. As each has fourteen ancestors in the third degree (two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents) the total number of persons concerned is (14 34)34, or 510. All are of value, even the remote edges, because any striking trait, insanity, genius or moral depravity exhibited in any ancestor should reappear further down; if not in some branch represented in its own country, then perhaps here in Spain. There are many of these second-and third-degree ancestors who have the worst possible epithets bestowed upon them, such as the type of Louis XV. of France, but strange as it may seem to those who discredit heredity, there are only two out of the five hundred and ten who have ever been called great or who could be ranked with the geniuses of a grade as high as 9.

These are Maria Theresa of Austria and her grandson, the celebrated Archduke Charles, who won so much distinction in his battles