No More Learning

L. , "The Significance of Certain
Internal Conditions of the Organism in Organic Evolution," _American
Naturalist_, Vol. XLIX, pp. 321-359, June, 1915.

[2] There is one line of experiment which is simple and striking enough
to deserve mention--namely, ovarian transplantation. A description of
this is given in Appendix A.

[3] Galton, Francis, _Inquiries into Human Faculty_, 1907 edition, pp.
153-173. This volume of Galton's, which was first published in 1883, has
been reissued in Everyman's Library, and should be read by all
eugenists.

[4] What is said here refers to positive correlations, which are the
only kind involved in this problem. Correlations may also be negative,
lying between 0 and -1; for instance, if we measured the correlation
between a man's lack of appetite and the time that had elapsed since his
last meal, we would have to express it by a negative fraction, the minus
sign showing that the greater his satiety, the less would be the time
since his repast. The best introduction to correlations is Elderton's
_Primer of Statistics_ (London, 1912).

[5] Dr. Thorndike's careful measurements showed that it is impossible to
draw a hard and fast line between identical twins and ordinary twins.
There is no question as to the existence of the two kinds, but the
ordinary twins may happen to be so nearly alike as to resemble identical
twins. Accordingly, mere appearance is not a safe criterion of the
identity of twins. His researches were published in the _Archives of
Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods_, No. 1, New York, 1905.

[6] _A First Study of the Inheritance of Vision and the Relative
Influence of Heredity and Environment on Sight. _ By Amy Barrington and
Karl Pearson. Eugenics Laboratory (London), Memoir Series V.

[7] Dr. James Alexander Wilson, assistant surgeon of the Opthalmic
Institute, Glasgow, published an analysis of 1,500 cases of myopia in
the _British Medical Journal_, p. 395, August 29, 1914. His methods are
not above criticism, and too much importance should not be attached to
his results, which show that in 58% of the cases heredity can be
credited with the myopia of the patient. In 12% of the cases it was due
to inflammation of the cornea (keratitis) while in the remaining 30% no
hereditary influence could be proved, but various reasons made him feel
certain that in many cases it existed. The distribution of myopia by
trades and professions among his patients is suggestive: 65% of the
cases among school children showed myopic heredity; 63% among housewives
and domestic servants; 68% among shop and factory works; 60% among
clerks and typists; 60% among laborers and miners. If environment really
played an active part, one would not expect to find this similarity in
percentages between laborers and clerks, between housewives and
schoolteachers, etc.

[8] _The Influence of Unfavourable Home Environment and Defective
Physique on the Intelligence of School Children. _ By David Heron.
Eugenics Laboratory (London), Memoir Series No. VIII.

[9] _Hereditary Genius; an Inquiry into its Laws and Consequences. _
London, 1869.

[10] Woods, Frederick Adams, "Heredity and the Hall of Fame," _Popular
Science Monthly_, May, 1913.

[11] Woods, Frederick Adams, _Mental and Moral Heredity in Royalty_, New
York, 1906. See also "Sovereigns and the Supposed Influence of
Opportunity," _Science_, n. s. , XXXIX, No. 1016, pp. 902-905, June 19,
1914, where Dr. Woods answers some criticisms of his work.

[12] _Educational Psychology_, Vol. III, p. 306. Starch's results are
also quoted from Thorndike.

[13] Jean Baptiste Lamarck, a French naturalist, born in 1744, was one
of the pioneers in the philosophical study of evolution. The theory
(published in 1809) for which he is best known is as follows: "Changes
in the animal's surroundings are responded to by changes in its habits. "
"Any particular habit involves the regular use of some organs and the
disuse of others. Those organs which are used will be developed and
strengthened, those not used diminished and weakened, and the changes so
produced will be transmitted to the offspring, and thus progressive
development of particular organs will go on from generation to
generation. " His classical example is the neck of the giraffe, which he
supposes to be long because, for generation after generation, the
animals stretched their necks in order to get the highest leaves from
the trees.

[14] Boas, F. , _Changes in Body Form of Descendants of Immigrants_,
1911.

[15] _Civilization and Climate. _ By Ellsworth Huntington, Yale
University Press, 1916.

[16] _American Naturalist_, L. , pp. 65-89, 144-178, Feb. and Mar. , 1916.

[17] _Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. _ LV, pp. 243-259, 1916.

[18] Dr. Reid is the author who has most effectively called attention to
this relation between alcohol and natural selection. Those interested
will find a full treatment in his books, _The Present Evolution of Man_,
_The Laws of Heredity_, and _The Principles of Heredity_.

[19] _Principles of Psychology_, ii, p. 543.

[20] Leon J. Cole points out that this may be due in considerable part
to less voluntary restriction of offspring on the part of those who are
often under the influence of alcohol.

[21] For a review of the statistical problems involved, see Karl
Pearson. An attempt to correct some of the misstatements made by Sir
Victor Horsley, F. R. S. , F. R. C. S. , and Mary D. Sturge, M. D. , in
their criticisms of the Galton Laboratory Memoir: _First Study of the
Influence of Parental Alcoholism_, etc. ; and Professor Pearson's various
popular lectures, also _A Second Study of the Influence of Parental
Alcoholism on the Physique and Intelligence of Offspring_. By Karl
Pearson and Ethel M. Elderton. Eugenics Laboratory Memoir Series XIII.

[22] _A First Study of the Influence of Parental Alcoholism on the
Physique and Intelligence of Offspring. _ By Ethel M. Elderton and Karl
Pearson. Eugenics Laboratory Memoir Series X. Harald Westergaard, who
reexamined the Elderton-Pearson data, concludes that considerable
importance is to be attached to the selective action of alcohol, the
weaklings in the alcoholic families having been weeded out early in
life.

[23] Prohibition would have some _indirect_ eugenic effects, which will
be discussed in Chapter XVIII.

[24] Chapter XXX, verses 31-43. A knowledge of the pedigree of Laban's
cattle would undoubtedly explain where the stripes came from. It is
interesting to note how this idea persists: a correspondent has recently
sent an account of seven striped lambs born after their mothers had seen
a striped skunk. The actual explanation is doubtless that suggested by
Heller in the _Journal of Heredity_, VI, 480 (October, 1915), that a
stripe is part of the ancestral coat pattern of the sheep, and appears
from time to time because of reversion.

[25] Such a skin affection, known as icthyosis, xerosis or xeroderma, is
usually due to heredity. Davenport says it "is especially apt to be
found in families in which consanguineous marriages occur and this fact,
together with the pedigrees [which he studied], suggests that it is due
to the absence of some factor that controls the process of cornification
of the skin. On this hypothesis a normal person who belongs to an
affected family may marry into a normal family with impunity, but cousin
marriages are to be avoided. " See Davenport, C. B. , _Heredity in
Relation to Eugenics_, p. 134. New York, 1911.

[26] Its eugenics is to be effected through the mental exertion of
mothers. And we have lately been in correspondence with a western
attorney who is endeavoring to form an association of persons who will
agree to be the parents of "willed" children. By this means, he has
calculated (and sends a chart to prove it) that it will require only
four generations to produce the Superman.

[27] _Life and Letters of Charles Darwin_, Vol. I, p. 302, New York,
1897. The letter is dated 1844.

[28] Goddard, H. H. , _Feeble-mindedness_, p. 359. New York, the
Macmillan Company, 1914.

[29] For a review of the evidence consult an article on "Telegony" by
Dr. Etienne Rabaud in the _Journal of Heredity_, Vol. V, No. 9, pp.
389-400; September, 1914.

[30] It will be recalled that the coefficient of correlation measures
the resemblance between two variables on a scale between 0 and-1 or +1.
If the correlation is zero, there is no constant relation; if it is
unity, any change in one must result in a determinate change in the
other; if it is 0. 5, it means that when one of the variables deviates
from the mean of its class by a given amount, the other variable will
deviate from the mean of its class by 50% of that amount (each deviation
being measured in terms of the variability of its own class, in order
that they may be properly comparable. )

[31] Sidis, Boris, M. A. , Ph. D. , M. D. , "Neurosis and Eugenics," _Medical
Review of_ _Reviews_, Vol. XXI, No. 10, pp. 587-594, New York, October,
1915. A psychologist who writes of "some miraculous germ-plasm
(chromatin) with wonderful dominant 'units' (Chromosomes)" is hardly a
competent critic of the facts of heredity.

[32] In a letter to the _Journal of Heredity_, under date of August 4,
1916.

[33] Galton, Francis, _Inquiries into Human Faculty_, p. 167, London,
1907.

[34] Woods, Frederick Adams, _Heredity in Royalty_, New York, 1906.

[35] _Op. cit. _, pp. 170-171.

[36] Thorndike, E. L. , "Measurements of Twins," _Arch. of Philos. ,
Psych. and Sci. Methods_, No. 1, New York, 1905; summarized in his
_Educational Psychology_, Vol. III, pp. 247-251, New York, 1914.
Measured on a scale where 1 = identity, he found that twins showed a
resemblance to each other of about . 75, while ordinary brothers of about
the same age resembled each other to the extent of about . 50 only. The
resemblance was approximately the same in both physical and mental
traits.

[37] The quotations in this and the following paragraph are from
_Thorndike's Educational Psychology_, pp. 304-305, Vol. III.

[38] _Biometrika_, Vol. III, p. 156.

[39] "William of Occam's Razor" is the canon of logic which declares
that it is unwise to seek for several causes of an effect, if a single
cause is adequate to account for it.

[40] Schuster, Edgar, _Eugenics_, pp. 150-163, London, 1913.

[41] _Educational Psychology_ (1914), Vol. III, p. 235.

[42] Cobb, Margaret V. , _Journal of Educational Psychology_, viii, pp.
1-20, Jan. , 1917.

[43] This is not true of the small English school of biometrists,
founded by Sir Francis Galton, W. F. R. Weldon and Karl Pearson, and now
led by the latter. It has throughout denied or minified Mendelian
results, and depended on the treatment of inheritance by a study of
correlations. With the progress of Mendelian research, biometric methods
must be supplemented with pedigree studies. In human heredity, on the
other hand, because of the great difficulties attendant upon an
application of Mendelian methods, the biometric mode of attack is still
the most useful, and has been largely used in the present book. It has
been often supposed that the methods of the two schools (biometry and
Mendelism) are antagonistic. They are rather supplementary, each being
valuable in cases where the other is less applicable. See Pearl,
Raymond, _Modes of Research in Genetics_, p. 182, New York, 1915

[44] Few people realize what large numbers of plants and animals have
been bred for experimental purposes during the last decade; W. E. Castle
of Bussey Institution, Forest Hills, Mass. , has bred not less than
45,000 rats. In the study of a single character, the endosperm of maize,
nearly 100,000 pedigreed seeds have been examined by different students.
Workers at the University of California have tabulated more than 10,000
measurements on flower size alone, in tobacco hybrids. T. H. Morgan and
his associates at Columbia University have bred and studied more than
half a million fruit flies, and J. Arthur Harris has handled more than
600,000 bean-plants at the Carnegie Institution's Station for
Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor, L. I. While facts of human
heredity, and of inheritance in large mammals generally, are often
grounded on scanty evidence, it must not be thought that the fundamental
generalizations of heredity are based on insufficient data.

[45] For a brief account of Mendelism, see Appendix D.

[46] Of course these factors are not of equal importance; some of them
produce large changes and some, as far as can be told, are of minor
significance.
The factors, moreover, undergo large changes from time to
time, thus producing mutations; and it is probable small changes as
well, the evidence for which requires greater refinements of method than
is usual among those using the pedigree method.

[47] _A Critique of the Theory of Evolution_, by Thomas Hunt Morgan,
professor of experimental zoology in Columbia University. Princeton
University Press, 1916. This book gives the best popular account of the
studies of heredity in Drosophila. The advanced student will find _The
Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity_ (New York, 1915), by Morgan,
Sturtevant, Muller, and Bridges, indispensable, but it is beyond the
comprehension of most beginners.

[48] "On the Inheritance of Some Characters in Wheat," A. and G. Howard,
_Mem. Dep. of Agr. India_, V: 1-46, 1912. This careful and important
work has never received the recognition it deserves, apparently because
few geneticists have seen it. While the multiple factors in wheat seem
to be different, those reported by East and Shull appear to be merely
duplicates.

[49] "The Nature of Mendelian Units. " By G. N. Collins, _Journal of
Heredity_, V: 425 ff. , Oct. , 1914.

[50] Dr. Castle, reviewing Dr. Goddard's work (_Journal of Abnormal
Psychology_, Aug. -Sept. , 1915) concludes that feeble-mindedness is to be
explained as a case of multiple allelomorphs. The evidence is inadequate
to prove this, and proof would be, in fact, almost impossible, because
of the difficulty of determining just what the segregation ratios are.

[51] In strict accuracy, the law of ancestral inheritance must be
described as giving means of determining the probable deviation of any
individual from the mean of his own generation, when the deviations of
some or all of his ancestry from the types of their respective
generations are known. It presupposes (1) no assortative mating, (2) no
inbreeding and (3) no selection. Galton's own formula, which supposed
that the parents contributed 1/2, the grandparents 1/4, the
great-grandparents 1/8, the next generation 1/16, and so on, is of value
now only historically, or to illustrate to a layman the fact that he
inherits from his whole ancestry, not from his parents alone.

[52] Johnson, Roswell H. , "The Malthusian Principle and Natural
Selection," _American Naturalist_, XLVI (1912), pp. 372-376.

[53] Karl Pearson, _The Groundwork of Eugenics_, p. 25, London, 1912.

[54] "Let _p_ be the chance of death from a random, not a constitutional
source, then 1-_p_ is the chance of a selective death in a parent and
1-_p_ again of a selective death in the case of an offspring, then

(1-_p_)^2 must equal about 1/3, = . 36, more exactly 'therefore' 1-_p_ =
. 6 and _p_ = . 40. In other words, 60% of the deaths _are selective_. "

[55] _Archiv f. Rassen-u. Gesellschafts Biologie_, VI (1909), pp. 33-43.

[56] Snow, E. C. , _On the Intensity of Natural Selection in Man_,
London, 1911.

[57] _Biometrika_, Vol. X, pp. 488-506, London, May, 1915.

[58] Pearson, Karl, _Tuberculosis, Heredity and Environment_, London,
1912. Among the most careful contributions to the problem of
tuberculosis are those of Charles Goring (_On the Inheritance of the
Diathesis of Phthisis and Insanity_, London, 1910), Ernest G. Pope (_A
Second Study of the Statistics of Pulmonary Tuberculosis_, London, Dulau
& Co. ), and W. P. Elderton and S. J. Perry (_A Third Study of the
Statistics of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. The Mortality of the Tuberculous
and Sanatorium Treatment_), London, 1909. See also our discussion in
Chapter I.

[59] While most physicians lay too great stress on the factor of
infection, this mistake is by no means universal. Maurice Fishberg, for
example (quoted in the _Medical Review of Reviews_, XXII, 8, August,
1916) states: "For many years the writer was physician to a charitable
society, having under his care annually 800 to 1,000 consumptives who
lived in poverty and want, in overcrowded tenements, having all
opportunities to infect their consorts; in fact most of the consumptives
shared their bed with their healthy consorts. Still, very few cases were
met with in which tuberculosis was found in both the husband and wife.
Widows, whose husbands died from phthisis, were only rarely seen to
develop the disease. "

[60] In 9th Trans. of _American Association for the Study and Prevention
of Tuberculosis_, p. 117.

[61] _Geographical and Historical Pathology_ (New Sydenham Society,
1883), Vol. III, p. 266.

[62] Reid, G. Archdall, _The Present Evolution of Man_, and _The Laws of
Heredity_.

[63] _In the South Seas,_ p. 27; quoted by G. Archdall Reid, _The
Principles of Heredity_ (New York, 1905), p. 183. Dr. Reid has discussed
the role of disease and alcohol on the modern evolution of man more
fully than any other writer.

[64] See, for example, John West's _History of Tasmania_, Vol. II,
Launceston, Tasmania, 1852.

[65] See Hollingworth, H. L. , _Vocational Psychology_, p. 170, New York,
1916.

[66] Net increase here refers only to the first year of life, and was
computed by deducting the deaths under one year, in a ward, from the
number of births in the same ward for the same year. For details of this
study of the Pittsburgh vital statistics, see the _Journal of Heredity_,
Vol. VIII, pp. 178-183 (April, 1917).

[67] Quoted from Newsholme and Stevenson, _The Decline of Human
Fertility_, London, 1906.

[68] Heron, David, _On the Relation of Fertility in Man to Social
Status_, London, 1906. The account is quoted from Schuster, Edgar,
_Eugenics_, pp. 220-221, London, 1913.

[69] _Ztschft. f. Sozialwissenschaft,_ VII (1904), pp. 1 ff.

[70] Two of the best known of these tribes are the "Jukes" and "Nams. "
"An analysis of the figures of the Jukes in regard to the birth-rate
shows that of a total of 403 married Juke women, 330 reproduced one or
more children and 73 were barren. The average fecundity, counting those
who are barren, is 3. 526 children per female. The 330 women having
children have an average fecundity of 4. 306 as compared with that of
4. 025, based on 120 reproducing women in the Nam family. "--Estabrook, A.
H. , _The Jukes in 1915_, p. 51, Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1916.

[71] Woods, Frederick Adams, _Heredity in Royalty_, New York, 1906.

[72] Beeton, Miss M. , Yule, G. U. , and Pearson, Karl, _On the Correlation
between Duration of Life and the Number of Offspring_, Proc. R. S.
London, 67 (1900), pp. 159-171. The material consisted of English and
American Quaker families. Dr. Bell's work is based on old American
families, and has not yet been published.

[73] The entire field of race betterment and social improvement is
divided between _eugenics_, which considers only germinal or heritable
changes in the race; and _euthenics_, which deals with improvement in
the individual, and in his environment. Of course, no sharp line can be
drawn between the two spheres, each one having many indirect effects on
the other. It is important to note, however, that any change in the
individual during his prenatal life is euthenic, not eugenic. Therefore,
contrary to the popular idea of the case, the "Better Babies" movement,
the agitation for proper care of expectant mothers, and the like, are
not _directly_ a part of eugenics. The moment of conception is the point
at which eugenics gives place to euthenics. Eugenics is therefore the
_fundamental_ method of human progress, euthenics the _secondary_ one;
their relations will be further considered in the last chapter of this
book.

[74] The clan has now reached its ninth generation and its present
status has been exhaustively studied by A. H. Estabrook (_The Jukes in
1915_: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1916). He enumerates 2,820
individuals, of whom half are still living. In the early 80's they left
their original home and are now scattered all over the country. The
change in environment has enabled some of them to rise to a higher
level, but on the whole, says C. B. Davenport in a preface to
Estabrook's book, they "still show the same feeble-mindedness,
indolence, licentiousness and dishonesty, even when not handicapped by
the associations of their bad family name and despite the fact of being
surrounded by better social conditions. " Estabrook says the clan might
have been exterminated by preventing the reproduction of its members,
and that the nation would thereby have saved about $2,500,000. It is
interesting to note that "out of approximately 600 living feeble-minded
and epileptic Jukes, there are only three now in custodial care. "

[75] Key, Dr. Wilhelmina E. , _Feeble-minded Citizens in Pennsylvania_,
pp. 11, 12, Philadelphia, Public Charities Assn. , 1915.

[76] The most recent extensive study of this point is A. H. Estabrook's
_The Jukes in 1915_ (Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1916). The
Jukes migrated from their original home, in the mountains of New York, a
generation ago, and are now scattered all over the country. Estabrook
tried to learn, at first hand, whether they had improved as the result
of new environments, and free from the handicap of their name, which for
their new neighbors had no bad associations. In general, his findings
seem to warrant the conclusion that a changed environment in itself was
of little benefit. Such improvement as occurred in the tribe was rather
due to marriage with better stock; marriages of this kind were made more
possible by the new environment, but the tendency to assortative mating
restricted them. It is further to be noted that while such marriages may
be good for the Juke family, they are bad for the nation as a whole,
because they tend to scatter anti-social traits.

[77] Key, _op. cit. _, p. 7.

[78] Figures furnished (September, 1917) by the National Committee for
Mental Hygiene, 50 Union Square, New York City.

[79] This applies even to such an acute thinker as John Stuart Mill,
whose ideas were formed in the pre-Darwinian epoch, and whose works must
now be accepted with great reserve. Darwin was quite right in saying,
"The ignoring of all transmitted mental qualities will, as it seems to
me, be hereafter judged as a most serious blemish in the works of Mr.
Mill. " (_Descent of Man_, p. _98_. ) A quotation from the _Principles of
Political Economy_ (Vol. 1, p. 389) will give an idea of Mr. Mill's
point of view: "Of all the vulgar methods of escaping from the effects
of social and moral influences on the mind, the most vulgar is that of
attributing diversities of conduct and character to inherent natural
differences"!

[80] _Feeble-mindedness, its Causes and Consequences. _ By H. H. Goddard,
director of the Research Laboratory of the Training School at Vineland,
New Jersey, for feeble-minded boys and girls. New York, The Macmillan
Co. , 1914.

[81] Probably the word now covers a congeries of defects, some of which
may be non-germinal. Epilepsy is so very generally found associated with
various other congenital defects, that action should not be delayed.

[82] Goddard, H. H. , _Feeble-Mindedness_, pp. 14-16.

[83] See the recent studies of C. B. Davenport, particularly _The Feebly
Inhibited_, Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1915.

[84] In this connection diagnosis is naturally of the utmost importance.
The recent action of Chicago, New York, Boston, and other cities, in
establishing psychological clinics for the examination of offenders is a
great step in advance. These clinics should be attached to the police
department, as in New York, not merely to the courts, and should pass on
offenders before, not after, trial and commitment.

[85] As a result of psychiatric study of the inmates of Sing Sing in
1916, it was said that two-thirds of them showed some mental defect.
Examination of 100 convicts selected at random in the Massachusetts
State Prison showed that 29% were feeble-minded and 11% borderline
cases. The highest percentage of mental defectives was found among
criminals serving sentence for murder in the second degree,
manslaughter, burglary and robbery. (Rossy, C. S. , in _State Board of
Insanity Bull. _, Boston, Nov. , 1915). Paul M. Bowers told the 1916
meeting of the American Prison Association of his study of 100
recidivists, each of whom had been convicted not fewer than four times.
Of these 12 were insane, 23 feeble-minded and 10 epileptic, and in each
case Dr. Bowers said the mental defect bore a direct causal relation to
the crime committed. Such studies argue for the need of a little
elementary biology in the administration of justice.

[86] For a sane and cautious discussion of the subject see Wallin, J. E.
W. , "A Program for the State Care of the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic,"
_School and Society_, IV, pp. 724-731, New York, Nov. 11, 1916.

[87] Johnstone, E. R. , "Waste Land Plus Waste Humanity," _Training
School Bulletin_, XI, pp. 60-63, Vineland, N.