Frederick Adams Woods examined the biographical records and family trees of the great dynasties of Europe, judging and comparing their moral standards and intellectual aptitude to their reputation as rulers. The summarised family histories are produced after a painstaking search including portrait galleries, family lineage, comparisons of reputation, and the origin of allegations of madness and moral bankruptcy, all collated within a single volume. - Summary by Leon Harvey
Chapters
1 Preface 7 min 2 I - Introductory 35 min 3 II - England 21 min 4 III: Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Present Reigning House in England. IV: Mecklenburg. Branches of Schwerin, Giistrow and Strelitz. V: Brunswick. Branch of Wolfenbiittel (Bevern and Blankenburg) 21 min 5 VI: Prussia. The House of Hohenzollern 21 min 6 VII: Netherlands. The House of Nassau-Orange. The House of Nassau-Dietz 21 min 7 VIII: Montmorency, Conde, Conty. The House of Montmorency. The House of Conde. The House of Conty 15 min 8 IX: France. The Bourbons in France. The House of Orleans 15 min 9 X: Spain. Old Castile, Aragon and Leon. The Hapsburgs in Spain. The Bourbons in Spain. The Bourbons in Italy. The Carlist Pretenders in Spain 1 h 14 min 10 XI: Austria. The House ofHapsburg. The House of Hapsburg-Lorraine. The Hapsburg "Lip" 32 min 11 XII: Portugal. Conditions of the Country Compared with the Various Characteristics of the Rulers. Pedigrees of the Portuguese Rulers 31 min 12 XIII: Russia. The Romanoffs 9 min 13 XIV: Denmark. The House of Oldenburg 12 min 14 XV: Sweden. The House of Vasa 26 min 15 XVI: Evidence from Lehr's "Genealogy" 13 min 16 XVII: Correlation Between Mental and Moral Qualities. Is the Mean Standard of FacultyRising. Average Number of Adult Children Born to Each Grade for Virtues. Hereditary Wealth not an Evil. How Mental Faculties may be Rising 14 min 17 XVIII: General Statistics and Conclusions. Intellectual Achievements and Blood Relationship. Correlation Coefficients for Successive Ascending Generations. Succession Inheritors Show no Influence from Environment. Virtues and BloodRelationship. No Influence on Moral Character from Different Epochs. Concise Statement of the Probabilities in Psychic Heredity. Intermarriage not a Cause of Degeneracy. Royalty Compared with Commoners: No Degeneracy in Many Royal Families: Superiority of Royalty. Philosophical Significance of the Doctrine of Heredity 57 min
