No More Learning

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. J. , June, 1914.

[88] "Report of the Committee on the Sterilization of Criminals,"
_Journal of the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology_, September,
1916. Of the operations mentioned, 634 are said to have been performed
on insane persons and one on a criminal.

[89] Guyer, M. F. , Wisconsin Eugenics Legislation. Trans. Amer. Asso.
Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality, 1917, pp. 92-97.

[90] Eugenics Record Office, Bulletin No. 10 A, _The Scope of the
Committee's Work_, Cold Spring Harbor, L. I. , Feb. , 1914; No. 10 B, _The
Legal, Legislative and Administrative Aspects of Sterilization_, same
date.

[91] Eugenics Record Office Bulletin No. 9: _State Laws Limiting
Marriage Selection Examined in the Light of Eugenics_. Cold Spring
Harbor, L. I. , June, 1913.

[92] Penrose, Clement A. , _Sanitary Conditions in the Bahama Islands_,
Geographical Society of Baltimore, 1905.

[93] See von. Gruber and Rudin, _Fortpflanzung, Vererbung,
Rassenhygiene_, p. 169, Munchen, 1911.

[94] Davenport, Charles B. , _Heredity in Relation to Eugenics_, pp. 184
ff. , New York, 1911.

[95] Harris, J. Arthur, "Assortative Mating in Man," _Popular Science
Monthly_, LXXX, pp. 476-493, May, 1912. The most important studies on
the subject are cited by Dr. Harris.

[96] An interesting and critical treatment of sexual selection is given
by Vernon L. Kellogg in _Darwinism To-day_, pp. 106-128 (New York,
1908). Darwin's own discussion (_The Descent of Man_) is still very well
worth reading, if the reader is on his guard. The best general treatment
of the theory of sexual selection, especially as it applies to man, is
in chapter XI of Karl Pearson's _Grammar of Science_ (2d ed. , London,
1900).

[97] Diffloth, Paul, _Le Fin de L'Enigme_, Paris, 1907.

[98] The best popular yet scientific treatment of the subject we have
seen is _The Dynamic of Manhood_, a book recently written by Luther H.
Gulick for the Young Men's Christian Association (New York, The
Association Press, 1917).

[99] The sympathy which we mentioned as the beginning of the
hypothetical love affair does lead to a partial identity of will, it is
true; but there is often too little in common between the man and woman
to make this identity at all complete. As Karl Pearson points out, it is
almost essential to a successful marriage that two people have sympathy
with each other's aims and a considerable degree of similarity in
habits. If such a bond is lacking, the bond of sympathy aroused by some
trivial circumstance will not be sufficient to keep the marriage from
shipwreck. The occasional altruism of young men who marry inferior girls
because they "feel sorry for them" is not praiseworthy.

[100] Ellis, Havelock, _The Task of Social Hygiene_, pp. 208-209,
Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1912.

[101] G. Stanley Hall (_Adolescence_, II, 113) found the following
points, in order, specified as most admired in the other sex by young
men and women in their teens: eyes, hair, stature and size, feet,
eyebrows, complexion, cheeks, form of head, throat, ears, chin, hands,
neck, nose. The voice was highly specialized and much preferred. The
principal dislikes, in order, were: prominent or deep-set eyes, fullness
of neck, ears that stand out, eyebrows that meet, broad and long feet,
high cheek-bones, light eyes, large nose, small stature, long neck or
teeth, bushy brows, pimples, red hair. An interesting study of some of
the trivial traits of manner which may be handicaps in sexual selection
is published by Iva Lowther Peters in the _Pedagogical Seminary_, XXIII,
No. 4, pp. 550-570, Dec. , 1916.

[102] It has been suggested that the same goal would be reached if a
young man before marriage would take out a life insurance policy in the
name of his bride. The suggestion has many good points.

[103] The correlation between fecundity and longevity which Karl Pearson
has demonstrated gives longevity another great advantage as a standard
in sexual selection. See _Proc. Royal Soc. London_, Vol. 67, p. 159.

[104] It is objected that if the long-lived marry each other, the
short-lived will also marry each other and thus the race will gain no
more than it loses. The reply to this is that the short-lived will marry
in fewer numbers, as some of them die prematurely; that they will have
fewer children; and that these children in turn will tend to die young.
Thus the short-lived strains will gradually run out, while the
long-lived strains are disseminated.

[105] Hankins, F. H. , "The Declining Birth-Rate," _Journal of Heredity_,
V, pp. 36-39, August, 1914.

[106] Smith, Mary Roberts, "Statistics of College and Non-college
Women," Quarterly Pubs. of the _American Statistical Assn. _, VII, p. 1
ff. , 1900.

[107] "Statistics of Eminent Women," _Pop. Sci. Mo. _, June, 1913.

[108] "Marriage of College Women," _Century Magazine_, Oct. , 1895.

[109] Blumer, J. O. , in _Journal of Heredity_, VIII, p. 217, May, 1917.

[110] The statistics of this and the following middle west universities
were presented by Paul Popenoe in the _Journal of Heredity_, VIII, pp.
43-45.

[111] _Harvard Graduates' Magazine_, XXV, No. 97, pp. 25-34, September,
1916.

[112] Popenoe, Paul, "Stanford's Marriage-Rate," _Journal of Heredity_,
VIII, p. 170-173.

[113] Banker, Howard J. , "Co-education and Eugenics," _Journal of
Heredity_, VIII, pp. 208-214, May, 1917.

[114] _Eugenics: Twelve University Lectures_, p. 9, New York, 1914.

[115] Cf. Gould, Miriam C. , "The Psychological Influence upon Adolescent
Girls of the Knowledge of Prostitution and Venereal Disease," _Social
Hygiene_, Vol. II, pp. 191-207, April, 1916. This interesting and
important study of the reactions of 50 girls reveals that present
methods or indifference to the need of reasonable methods of teaching
sex-hygiene are responsible for "a large percentage of harmful results,
such as conditions bordering on neurasthenia, melancholia, pessimism and
sex antagonism. "

[116] Gallichan, Walter M. , _The Great Unmarried_, New York, 1916.

[117] Sprague, Robert J. , "Education and Race Suicide," _Journal of
Heredity_, Vol. VI, pp. 158 ff. , April, 1915. Many of the statistics of
women's colleges, cited in the first part of this chapter, are from Dr.
Sprague's paper.

[118] Odin calculated that 16% of the eminent men of France had at least
one relative who was in some way eminent; that 22% of the men of real
talent had such relation; and that among the geniuses the percentage
rose to 40. There are thus two chances out of five that a man of genius
will have an eminent relative; for a man picked at random from the
population the chance is one in several thousand. See Odin, A. , _La
Genese des Grands Hommes_, Vol. I, p. 432 and Vol. II, Tableau xii,
Lausanne, 1895.

[119] Crum, Frederick S. , "The Decadence of the Native American Stock,"
_Quarterly Pubs. Am. Statistical Assn. _, XIV, n. s. 107, pp. 215-223,
Sept. , 1914.

[120] Kuczynski, R. R. , _Quarterly Journ. of Economics_, Nov. 1901, and
Feb. , 1902.

[121] Nearing, Scott, "The Younger Generation of American Genius," _The
Scientific Monthly_, II, pp. 48-61, Jan. , 1916. "Geographical
Distribution of American Genius," _Popular Science Monthly_, II, August,
1914.

[122] In the chapter on Sexual Selection it was shown that the Normal
School girls who stood highest in their classes married earliest. This
may seem a contradiction of the Wellesley marriage rates in this table.
The explanation probably is that while mental superiority is itself
attractive in a mate, there are interferences built up in the collegiate
life.

[123] Banker, Howard J. , "Co-education and Eugenics," _Journal of
Heredity_, VIII, pp. 208-214, May, 1917.

[124] Hill, Joseph A. , "Comparative Fecundity of Women of Native and
Foreign Parentage," _Quarterly Pubs. Amer. Statistical Assn. _, XIII,
583-604.

[125] See Willcox, W. F. , "Fewer Births and Deaths: What Do They Mean? "
_Journal of Heredity_, VII, pp. 119-128, March, 1916.

[126] The data are published in full by Paul Popenoe in the _Journal of
Heredity_, October, 1917. It must be noted that, in spite of their small
salaries, the Methodist clergymen marry earlier and have more children
than do other men of equal education and social status, such as the
Harvard and Yale graduates. This difference in marriage and birth-rate
is doubtless to be credited in part to their inherent nature and in part
to the action of religious idealism. It confirms the belief of eugenists
that even under present economic circumstances the birth-rate of the
superior classes might be raised appreciably by a campaign of eugenic
education.

[127] For an official statement of the attitude of the birth-rate of the
Mormon church, see _Journal of Heredity_, VII, pp. 450-451, Oct. , 1916.

[128] Mecklin, John M. , _Democracy and Race Friction, a Study in Social
Ethics_, New York, 1914. p. 147.

[129] It would be more accurate to say the Nordic race. Other white
races have not uniformly shown this discrimination. The Mediterranean
race in particular has never manifested the same amount of race feeling.
The Arabs have tended to receive the Negro almost on terms of equality,
partly on religious grounds; it seems probable that the decadence of the
Arabs is largely due to their miscegenation.

[130] Mecklin, _op. cit. _, p. 147.

[131] Blascoer, Frances, _Colored School Children in New York_, Public
Education Association of the City of New York, 1915. The preface, from
which the quotation is taken, is by Eleanor Hope Johnson, chairman of
the committee on hygiene of school children.

[132] Mecklin, _op. cit. _, p. 32.

[133] The Negro's contribution has perhaps been most noteworthy in
music. This does not necessarily show advanced evolution; August
Weismann long ago pointed out that music is a primitive accomplishment.
For an outline of what the Negro race has achieved, particularly in
America, see the _Negro Year Book_, Tuskegee Institute, Ala.

[134] _Social Problems; Their Treatment, Past, Present and Future_, p.
8, London, 1912.

[135] Stetson, G.