APPLIED EUGENICS

BY

PAUL POPENOE

EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL OF HEREDITY (ORGAN OF
THE AMERICAN GENETIC ASSOCIATION),
WASHINGTON, D. C.

AND

ROSWELL HILL JOHNSON
PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURG

New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1918

All rights reserved
Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1918.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS
ATLANTA - SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO

PREFACE

The science of eugenics consists of a foundation of biology and a superstructure of sociology. Galton, its founder, emphasized both parts in due proportion. Until recently, however, most sociologists have been either indifferent or hostile to eugenics, and the science has been left for the most part in the hands of biologists, who have naturally worked most on the foundations and neglected the superstructure. Although we are not disposed to minimize the importance of the biological part, we think it desirable that the means of applying the biological principles should be more carefully studied. The reader of this book will, consequently, find only a summary explanation of the mechanism of inheritance. Emphasis has rather been laid on the practical means by which society may encourage the reproduction of superior persons and discourage that of inferiors.

We assume that in general, a eugenically superior or desirable person has, to a greater degree than the average, the germinal basis for the following characteristics: to live past maturity, to reproduce adequately, to live happily and to make contributions to the productivity, happiness, and progress of society. It is desirable to discriminate as much as possible between the possession of the germinal basis and the observed achievement, since the latter consists of the former plus or minus environmental influence. But where the amount of modification is too obscure to be detected, it is advantageous to take the demonstrated achievement as a tentative measure of the germinal basis. The problem of eugenics is to make such legal, social and economic adjustments that (1) a larger proportion of superior persons will have children than at present, (2) that the average number of offspring of each superior person will be greater than at present, (3) that the most inferior persons will have no children, and finally that (4) other inferior persons will have fewer children than now. The science of eugenics is still young and much of its program must be tentative and subject to the test of actual experiment. It is more important that the student acquire the habit of looking at society from a biological as well as a sociological point of view, than that he put his faith in the efficacy of any particular mode of procedure.

The essential points of our eugenics program were laid down by Professor Johnson in an article entitled "Human Evolution and its Control" in the Popular Science Monthly for January, 1910. Considerable parts of the material in the present book have appeared in the Journal of Heredity. Helpful suggestions and criticism have been received from several friends, in particular Sewall Wright and O. E. Baker of the United States Department of Agriculture.

PAUL POPENOE.

Washington, June, 1918.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface
v

Introduction by Edward A. Ross
xi

CHAPTER

I.
Nature or Nurture?
1

II.
Modification of the Germ-Plasm
25

III.
Differences Among Men
75

IV.
The Inheritance of Mental Capacities
84

V.
The Laws of Heredity
99

VI.
Natural Selection
116

VII.
Origin and Growth of the Eugenics Movement
147

VIII.
Desirability of Restrictive Eugenics
167

IX.
The Dysgenic Classes
176

X.
Methods of Restriction
184

XI.
The Improvement of Sexual Selection
211

XII.
Increasing the Marriage Rate of the Superior
237

XIII.
Increase of the Birth-Rate of the Superior
255

XIV.
The Color Line
280

XV.
Immigration
298

XVI.
War
318

XVII.
Genealogy and Eugenics
329

XVIII.
The Eugenic Aspect of Some Specific Reforms
352

Taxation
352

Back to the Farm Movement
355

Democracy
360

Socialism
362

Child Labor
368

Compulsory Education
369

Vocational Guidance and Training
371

Minimum Wage
374

Mother's Pensions
375

Housing
376

Feminism
378

Old Age Pensions
384

Sex Hygiene Movement
385

Trades Unionism
388

Prohibition
389

Pedagogical Celibacy
390

XIX.
Religion and Eugenics
393

XX.
Eugenics and Euthenics
402

Appendix | A. Ovarian Transplantation | 419
" | B. Dynamic Evolution | 421
" | C. The "Melting Pot" | 424
" | D. The Essence of Mendelism | 429
" | E. Useful Works of Reference | 436
" | F. Glossary | 437

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE
PAGE

1. Four Baby Girls at Once
6

2. The Effect of Nurture in Changing Nature
10

3. Height in Corn and Men
12

4. Why Men Grow Short or Tall
14

5. Bound Foot of a Chinese Woman
42

6. Defective Little Toe of a Prehistoric Egyptian
42

7. Effect of Lead as a "Racial Poison
63

8. Distribution of 10-Year-Old School Children
76

9. Variation in Ability
77

10. Origin of a Normal Probability Curve
78

11. The "Chance" or "Probability" Form of Distribution
79

12. Probability Curve with Increased Number of Steps
80

13. Normal Variability Curve Following Law of Chance
80

14. Cadets Arranged to Show Normal Curve of Variability
82

15. Variation in Heights of Recruits to the American Army
82

16. How Do You Clasp Your Hands?
100

17. The effect of Orthodactyly
102

18. A Family with Orthodactyly
102

19. White Blaze in the Hair
104

20. A Family of Spotted Negroes
104

21. A Human Finger-Tip
106

22. The Limits of Hereditary Control
106

23. The Distribution of Intelligence
106

24. The Twins whose Finger-Prints are Shown in Fig. 25
108

25. Finger-Prints of Twins
110

26. A Home of the "Hickory" Family
168

27. A Chieftain of the Hickory Clan
170

28. Two Juke Homes of the Present Day
172

29. Mongolian Deficiency
174

30. Feeble-Minded Men are Capable of Much Rough Labor

192

31. Feeble-Minded at a Vineland Colony
192

32. How Beauty Aids a Girl's Chance of Marriage
215

33. Intelligent Girls are Most Likely to Marry
216

34. Years Between Graduation and Marriage
217

35. The Effect of Late Marriages
218

36. Wellesley Graduates and Non-Graduates
242

37. Birth Rate of Harvard and Yale Graduates
266

38. Families of Prominent Methodists
263

39. Examining Immigrants at Ellis Island, New York,
303

40. Line of Ascent that Carries the Family Name
331

41. The Small Value of a Famous, but Remote, Ancestor
338

42. History of 100 Babies
344

43. Adult Morality
345

44. Influence of Mother's Age
347

45. The "Mean Man" of the Old White American Stock
425

46. The Carriers of Heredity
431

Transcriber's Note: Some illustrations are not as good as hoped for, but all have been placed.

INTRODUCTION

The Great War has caused a vast destruction of the sounder portion of the belligerent peoples and it is certain that in the next generation the progeny of their weaker members will constitute a much larger proportion of the whole than would have been the case if the War had not occurred. Owing to this immeasurable calamity that has befallen the white race, the question of eugenics has ceased to be merely academic. It looms large whenever we consider the means of avoiding a stagnation or even decline of our civilization in consequence of the losses the War has inflicted upon the more valuable stocks. Eugenics is by no means tender with established customs and institutions, and once it seemed likely that its teachings would be left for our grandchildren to act on. But the plowshare of war has turned up the tough sod of custom, and now every sound new idea has a chance. Rooted prejudices have been leveled like the forests of Picardy under gun fire. The fear of racial decline provides the eugenist with a far stronger leverage than did the hope of accelerating racial progress. It may be, then, that owing to the War eugenic policies will gain as much ground by the middle of this century as without it they would have gained by the end of the century.

This book could not have been written ten years ago because many of the data it relies on were not then in existence. In view of inquiries now going on, we may reasonably hope that ten years hence it will be possible to make a much better book on the subject. But I am sure that this book is as good a presentation as can be made of eugenics at its present stage of development. The results of all the trustworthy observations and experiments have been taken into account, and the testing of human customs and institutions in the light of biological principles tallies well with the sociology of our times.

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!