he three
branches issuing from it, the legitimate branch, Pierre Rougon, and the
two illegitimate branches, Ursule Macquart and Antoine Macquart; then,
new branches arise, and ramify, on one side, Maxime, Clotilde, and
Victor, the three children of Saccard, and Angelique, the daughter of
Sidonie Rougon; on the other, Pauline, the daughter of Lisa Macquart,
and Claude, Jacques, Etienne, and Anna, the four children of Gervaise,
her sister; there, at the extremity, is Jean, their brother, and here in
the middle, you see what I call the knot, the legitimate issue and the
illegitimate issue, uniting in Marthe Rougon and her cousin Francois
Mouret, to give rise to three new branches, Octave, Serge, and Desiree
Mouret; while there is also the issue of Ursule and the hatter Mouret;
Silvere, whose tragic death you know; Helene and her daughter Jean;
finally, at the top are the latest offshoots, our poor Charles, your
brother Maxime's son, and two other children, who are dead, Jacques
Louis, the son of Claude Lantier, and Louiset, the son of Anna Coupeau.
In all five generations, a human tree which, for five springs already,
five springtides of humanity, has sent forth shoots, at the impulse of
the sap of eternal life."

He became more and more animated, pointing out each case on the sheet of
old yellow paper, as if it were an anatomical chart.

"And as I have already said, everything is here. You see in direct
heredity, the differentiations, that of the mother, Silvere, Lisa,
Desiree, Jacques, Louiset, yourself; that of the father, Sidonie,
Francois, Gervaise, Octave, Jacques, Louis. Then there are the three
cases of crossing: by conjugation, Ursule, Aristide, Anna, Victor;
by dissemination, Maxime, Serge, Etienne; by fusion, Antoine, Eugene,
Claude. I even noted a fourth case, a very remarkable one, an
even cross, Pierre and Pauline; and varieties are established, the
differentiation of the mother, for example, often accords with the
physical resemblance of the father; or, it is the contrary which takes
place, so that, in the crossing, the physical and mental predominance
remains with one parent or the other, according to circumstances. Then
here is indirect heredity, that of the collateral branches. I have but
one well established example of this, the striking personal resemblance
of Octave Mouret to his uncle Eugene Rougon. I have also but one
example of transmission by influence, Anna, the daughter of Gervaise and
Coupeau,