Applied Eugenics Part 32

What can be expected from a genealogy with eugenic foundation?

First and foremost, it will give genetics a chance to advance with more rapidity, in its study of man. Genetics, the study of heredity, can not successfully proceed by direct observation in the human species as it does with plants and rapidly-breeding animals, because the generations are too long. Less than three generations are of little value for genetic researches, and even three can rarely be observed to advantage by any one person. Therefore, second-hand information must be used. So far, most of this has been gained by sending field-workers--a new kind of genealogist--out among the members of a family, and having them collect the desired information, either by study of extant records, or by word of mouth. But the written records of value have been usually negligible in quant.i.ty, and oral communication has therefore been the mainstay. It has not been wholly satisfactory. Few people--aside from genealogists--can give even the names of all their great-grandparents, far less can they tell anything of importance about them.

It is thus to genealogy that genetics is driven. Unless family records are available, it can accomplish little. And it can not get these family records unless genealogists realize the importance of furnis.h.i.+ng them; for as has already been pointed out, most genealogies at present available are of little value to genetics, because of the inadequacy of the data they furnish. It is only in the case of exceptional families, such as the royal houses of Europe, that enough information is given about each individual to furnish an opportunity for a.n.a.lysis. What could be done if there were more such data available is brilliantly ill.u.s.trated in the investigation by Frederick Adams Woods of Boston of the reigning houses of Europe. His writings should be read by every genealogist, as a source of inspiration as well as information.

More such data must be obtained in the future. Genealogists must begin at once to keep family records in such a way that they will be of the greatest value possible--that they will serve not only family pride, but bigger purposes. It will not take long to get together a large number of family histories, in which the idea will be to tell as much as possible, instead of as little as possible, about every individual mentioned.

The value of pedigrees of this kind is greater than most people realize.

In the first place, it must be remembered that these traits, on whose importance in the pedigree we have been insisting, are responsible not only for whatever the individual is, but for whatever society is,--whatever the race is. They are not personal matters, as C. B.

Davenport and H. H. Laughlin well point out; "they come to us from out of the population of the past, and, in so far as we have children, they become disseminated throughout the population of the future. Upon such traits society is built; good or bad they determine the fate of our society. Apart from migration, there is only one way to get socially desirable traits into our social life, and that is reproduction; there is only one way to get them out, by preventing the reproduction. All social welfare work is merely education of the germs of traits; it does not provide such germs. In the absence of the germs the traits can not develop. On the other hand, it is possible with difficulty, if possible at all, by means of the strongest repressive measures merely, to prevent the development of undesirable hereditary traits. Society can treat the delinquent individual more reasonably, more effectively, and more humanely, if it knows the 'past performance' of his germ-plasm."

In addition to their importance to society, a knowledge of the traits of a pedigree has a great direct importance to the individual; one of the most valuable things to be learned from that knowledge is the answer to the question, "What shall a boy or girl do? What career shall one lay out for one's children?" A knowledge of the child's inborn nature, such as can be had only through study of his ancestry, will guide those who have his education in hand, and will further guide those who decide, or help the child decide, what work to take up in life. This helps to put the problem of vocational guidance on a sound basis,--the basis of the individual's inherent apt.i.tudes.

Not too much must be expected from vocational guidance at the present time, but in the case of traits that are inherited, it is a fair inference that a child is more likely to be highly endowed with a trait which both parents possess, than with one that only one parent possesses. "Among the traits which have been said to occur in some such direct hereditary way," H. L. Hollingworth[164] observes, "or as the result of unexplained mutation or deviation from type, are: mathematical apt.i.tude, ability in drawing,[165] musical composition,[166] singing, poetic reaction, military strategy, chess playing. Pitch discrimination seems to depend on structural factors which are not susceptible of improvement by practice.[167] The same may be said of various forms of professional athletic achievement. Color blindness seems to be an instance of the conspicuous absence of such a unit characteristic."

Again, the knowledge of ancestry is an essential factor in the wise selection of a husband or wife. Insistence has been laid on this point in an earlier chapter of this book, and it is not necessary here to repeat what was there said. But it seems certain that ancestry will steadily play a larger part in marriage selection in the future; it is at least necessary to know that one is not marrying into a family that carries the taint of serious hereditary defect, even if one knows nothing more. An intelligent study of genealogy will do much, we believe, to bring about the intelligent selection of the man or woman with whom one is to fall in love.

In addition to these general considerations, it is evident that genealogy, properly carried out, would throw light on most of the specific problems with which eugenics is concerned, or which fall in the field of genetics. A few examples of these problems may be mentioned, in addition to those which are discussed in various other chapters of this book.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HISTORY OF 100 BABIES

FIG. 42.--The top of the diagram shows the children "starting from scratch." By following down the vertical lines, one can see that their longevity depends largely on the size of family from which they come. Those who had 10 or a dozen brothers and sisters are most likely to live to extreme age. Alexander Graham Bell's data, 2964 members of the Hyde family in America.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ADULT MORTALITY

FIG. 43--If child mortality is eliminated, and only those individuals studied who live to the age of 20 or longer, the small families are still found to be handicapped. In general it may be said that the larger the family, the longer a member of it will live. Large families (in a normal, healthy section of the population) indicate vitality on the part of the parents. This does not, of course, hold good in the slums, where mental and financial inefficiency are abundant.

Within certain cla.s.ses, however, it may be said with confidence that the weaklings in the population are most likely to be from small families.

Alexander Graham Bell's data.]

1. The supposed inferiority of first-born children has been debated at some length during the last decade, but is not yet wholly settled. It appears possible that the first-born may be, on the average, inferior both physically and mentally to the children who come directly after him; on the other hand, the number of first-born who attain eminence is greater than would be expected on the basis of pure chance. More data are needed to clear up this problem.[168]

2. The advantage to a child of being a member of a large or small family is a question of importance. In these days of birth control, the argument is frequently heard that large families are an evil of themselves, the children in them being handicapped by the excessive child-bearing of the mother. The statistics cited in support of this claim are drawn from the slums, where the families are marked by poverty and by physical and mental inferiority. It can easily be shown, by a study of more favored families, that the best children come from the large fraternities. In fact Alexander Graham Bell found evidence,[169]

in his investigation of the Hyde Family in America, that the families of 10 or more children were those which showed the greatest longevity (see Figs. 42 and 43). In this connection, longevity is of course a mark of vitality and physical fitness.

3. The question of the effect of child-bearing on the mother is equally important, since exponents of birth control are urging that mothers should not bear more children than they desire. A. O. Powys' careful study[170] of the admirable vital statistics of New South Wales showed that the mothers who lived longest were those who bore from five to seven children.

4. The age at which men and women should marry has not yet been sufficiently determined, on biological grounds. Statistics so far compiled do not indicate that the age of the father has any direct influence on the character of the children, but the age of the mother undoubtedly exercises a strong influence on them. Thus it is now well established[171] that infant mortality is lowest among the children of young mothers,--say from 20 to 25 years of age,--and that delay in child-bearing after that age penalizes the children (see Fig. 44). There is also some evidence that, altogether apart from the infant mortality, the children of young mothers attain a greater longevity than do those of older women. More facts are needed, to show how much of this effect is due to the age of the mother, how much to her experience, and how much to the influence of the number of children she has previously borne.

5. a.s.sortative mating, consanguineous marriage, the inheritance of a tendency to disease, longevity, s.e.x-linked heredity, s.e.x-determination, the production of twins, and many other problems of interest to the general public as well as to the biologist, are awaiting the collection of fuller data. All such problems will be illuminated, when more genealogies are kept on a biological basis.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INFLUENCE OF MOTHER'S AGE

FIG. 44.--As measured by the percentage of infant deaths, those children show the greatest vitality who were born to mothers between the ages of 20 and 25. Infant mortality increases steadily as the mother grows older. In this case the youngest mothers (those under 20 years of age) do not make quite as good a showing as those who are a little older, but in other studies the youngest mothers have made excellent records. In general, such studies all show that the babies are penalized if marriage is delayed beyond the age of 25, or if child-bearing is unduly delayed after marriage. Alexander Graham Bell's data.]

Here, however, an emphatic warning against superficial investigation must be uttered. The medical profession has been particularly hasty, many times, in reporting cases which were a.s.sumed to demonstrate heredity. The child was so and so; it was found on inquiry that the father was also so and so: _Post hoc, ergo propter hoc_--it was heredity. Such a method of investigation is calculated to bring genetics into disrepute, and would hazard the credit of genealogy. As a fact, one case counts for practically nothing as proof of hereditary influence; even half a dozen or a dozen may be of no significance. There are two ways in which genealogical data can be a.n.a.lyzed to deduce biological laws: one is based on the application of statistical and graphic methods to the data, and needs some hundreds of cases to be of value; the other is by pedigree-study, and needs at least three generations of pedigree, usually covering numerous collaterals, to offer important results. It is not to be supposed that anyone with a sufficiently complete record of his own ancestry would necessarily be able by inspection to deduce from it any important contribution to science. But if enough complete family records are made available, the professional geneticist can be called into cooperation, can supplement the human record with his knowledge of the results achieved by carefully controlled animal and plant breeding, and between them, the genealogist and the geneticist can in most cases arrive at the truth. That such truth is of the highest importance to any family, and equally to society as a whole, must be evident.

Let the genealogist, then, bring together data on every trait he can think of. As a guide and stimulus, he should read the opening chapters of Herbert's Spencer's _Autobiography_, or of Karl Pearson's, _Life, Letters and Labors of Sir Francis Galton_, or C. B. Davenport's study[172] of C. O. Whitman, one of the foremost American biologists. He will also find help in Bulletin No. 13 of the Eugenics Record Office, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York. It is ent.i.tled, _How to Make a Eugenical Family Study_, and gives a list of questions which should be answered, and points which should be noted. With some such list as this, or even with his own common-sense, the genealogist may seek to ascertain as much as possible about the significant facts in the life of his ancestors, bearing in mind that the geneticist will ask two questions about every trait mentioned:

1. Is this characteristic inherited?

2. If so, how?

Nor must it be forgotten that the geneticist is often as much interested in knowing that a given character is not inherited under certain conditions, as that it is.

It is highly desirable that genealogists should acquire the habit of stating the traits of their subjects in quant.i.tative terms. They too often state that a certain amount is "much"; what should be told is "how much." Instead of saying that an individual had fairly good health, tell exactly what diseases he had during his lifetime; instead of remarking that he was a good mathematician, tell some anecdote or fact that will allow judgment of the extent of his ability in this line. Did he keep record of his bank balance in his head instead of on paper? Was he fond of mathematical puzzles? Did he revel in statistics? Was the study of calculus a recreation to him? Such things probably will appear trivial to the genealogist, but to the eugenist they are sometimes important.

Aside from biology, or as much of it as is comprised in eugenics, genealogy may also serve medicine, jurisprudence, sociology, statistics, and various other sciences as well as the ones which it now serves. But in most cases, such service will have a eugenic aspect. The alliance between eugenics and genealogy is so logical that it can not be put off much longer.

Genealogists may well ask what facilities there are for receiving and using pedigrees such as we have been outlining, if they were made up.

All are, of course, familiar with the repositories which the different patriotic societies, the National Genealogical Society, and similar organizations maintain, as well as the collections of the Library of Congress and other great public inst.i.tutions. Anything deposited in such a place can be found by investigators who are actively engaged in eugenic research.

In addition to this, there are certain establishments founded for the sole purpose of a.n.a.lyzing genealogies from a biological or statistical point of view. The first of these was the Galton Laboratory of the University of London, directed by Karl Pearson. There are two such at work in the United States. The larger is the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York, directed by Charles B.

Davenport. Blank schedules are sent to all applicants, in which the pedigree of an individual may be easily set down, with reference particularly to the traits of eugenic importance. When desired, the office will send duplicate schedules, one of which may be retained by the applicant for his own files. The schedules filed at the Eugenics Record Office are treated as confidential, access to them being given only to accredited investigators.

The second inst.i.tution of this kind is the Genealogical Record Office, founded and directed by Alexander Graham Bell at 1601 Thirty-fifth Street N. W., Was.h.i.+ngton D. C. This devotes itself solely to the collection of data regarding longevity, and sends out schedules to all those in whose families there have been individuals attaining the age of 80 or over. It welcomes correspondence on the subject from all who know of cases of long life, and endeavors to put the particulars on record, especially with reference to the ancestry and habits of the long-lived individual.

The Eugenics Registry at Battle Creek, Mich., likewise receives pedigrees, which it refers to Cold Spring Harbor for a.n.a.lysis.

Persons intelligently interested in their ancestry might well consider it a duty to society, and to their own posterity, to send for one of the Eugenics Record Office schedules, fill it out and place it on file there, and to do the same with the Genealogical Record Office, if they are so fortunate as to come of a stock characterized by longevity. The filling out of these schedules would be likely to lead to a new view of genealogy; and when this point of view is once gained, the student will find it adds immensely to his interest in his pursuit.

Genealogists are all familiar with the charge of long standing that genealogy is a subject of no use, a fad of a privileged cla.s.s. They do not need to be told that such a charge is untrue. But genealogy can be made a much more useful science than it now is, and it will be at the same time more interesting to its followers, if it is no longer looked upon as an end in itself, nor solely as a minister to family pride. We hope to see it regarded as a handmaid of evolution, just as are the other sciences; we hope to see it linked with the great biological movement of the present day, for the betterment of mankind.

So much for the science as a whole. What can the individual do? Nothing better than to broaden his outlook so that he may view his family not as an exclusive ent.i.ty, centered in a name, dependent on some ill.u.s.trious man or men of the past; but rather as an integral part of the great fabric of human life, its warp and woof continuous from the dawn of creation and criss-crossed at each generation. When he gets this vision, he will desire to make his family tree as full as possible, to include his collaterals, to note every trait which he can find on record, to preserve the photographs and measurements of his own contemporaries, and to take pleasure in feeling that the history of his family is a contribution to human knowledge, as well as to the pride of the family.

If the individual genealogist does this, the science of genealogy will become a useful servant of the whole race, and its influence, not confined to a few, will be felt by all, as a positive, dynamic force helping them to lead more worthy lives in the short span allotted to them, and helping them to leave more worthy posterity to carry on the names they bore and the sacred thread of immortality, of which they were for a time the custodians.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE EUGENIC ASPECT OF SOME SPECIFIC REFORMS

Nearly every law and custom of a country has an influence direct or remote on eugenics. The eugenic progress to be expected if laws and customs are gradually but steadily modified in appropriate ways, is vastly greater and more practicable than is any possible gain which could be made at present through schemes for the direct control of "eugenic marriages."

In this present chapter, we try to point out some of the eugenic aspects of certain features of American society. It must not be supposed that we have any legislative panaceas to offer, or that the suggestions we make are necessarily the correct ones. We are primarily concerned with stimulating people to think about the eugenic aspects of their laws and customs. Once the public thinks, numerous changes will be tried and the results will show whether the changes shall be followed up or discontinued.

The eugenic point of view that we have here taken is becoming rather widespread, although it is often not recognized as eugenic. Thinkers in all subjects that concern social progress are beginning to realize that the test of whether or not a measure is good is its effect. The pragmatic school of philosophy, which has been in vogue in recent years, has reduced this att.i.tude to a system. It is an att.i.tude to be welcomed wherever it is found, for it only needs the addition of a knowledge of biology, to become eugenic.

TAXATION

To be just, any form of taxation should repress productive industry as little as possible, and should be of a kind that can not easily be s.h.i.+fted. In addition to these qualifications, it should, if possible, contribute directly to the eugenic strength of the nation by favoring, or at least by not penalizing, useful families. A heavy tax on land values (in extreme, the single-tax) and a heavy tax on bachelors have sometimes been proposed as likely to be eugenic in effect. But they are open to criticism. The tax on land values appears too likely to be indiscriminate in working: it would appear to favor inferior families as much as superior ones. The tax on bachelors is proposed as a means of getting bachelors to marry; but is this always desirable? It depends on the quality of the bachelors. Even at present it is our belief that, on the whole, the married men of the population are superior to the unmarried men. If the action of s.e.xual selection is improved still further by the eugenics campaign, this difference in quality will be increased. It will then be rather an advantage that the bachelors should remain single, and a tax which would force them into marriage for reasons of economy, is not likely to result in any eugenic gain. But a moderate indirect tax by an exemption for a wife and each child after a general exemption of $2,000 would be desirable.

The inheritance tax seems less open to criticism. Very large inheritances should be taxed to a much greater degree than is at present attempted in the United States, and the tax should be placed, not on the total amount of the inheritance, but on the amount received by each individual beneficiary. This tends to prevent the unfair guarantee of riches to individuals regardless of their own worth and efforts. But to suggest, on the other hand, as has often been done, that inheritances should be confiscated by the government altogether, shows a lack of appreciation of the value of a reasonable right to bequeath in encouraging larger families among those having a high standard of living. It is not desirable to penalize the kind of strains which possess directing talent and constructive efficiency; and they certainly would be penalized if a man felt that no matter how much he might increase his fortune, he could not leave any of it to those who continued his stock.