{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_34299/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_34299","id":"gutenberg_34299","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34299","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Science - Biology","Eugenics","Heredity","Sociology"],"text":"Produced by Bryan Ness, Lisa Reigel, Michael Zeug, and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n(This file was produced from images generously made\navailable by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded by\n_underscores_. Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as in the\noriginal. Ellipses match the original. A complete list of typographical\ncorrections as well as other notes follows the text.\n\n\n[Illustration: THE THEORETICAL BABY AT 18 MONTHS.]\n\n\n\n\n                            HOMO-CULTURE;\n\n                                 OR,\n\n                 THE IMPROVEMENT OF OFFSPRING THROUGH\n                          WISER GENERATION.\n\n\n                      BY M. L. HOLBROOK, M. D.,\n        EDITOR OF \"THE JOURNAL OF HYGIENE,\" AUTHOR OF \"HYGIENE\n            OF THE BRAIN,\" \"HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY,\"\n                 \"ADVANTAGES OF CHASTITY,\" ETC., ETC.\n\n\n       A New Edition of \"Stirpiculture,\" Enlarged and Revised.\n\n\n                              NEW YORK:\n                         M. L. HOLBROOK & CO.\n\n                               LONDON:\n                          L. N. FOWLER & CO.\n\n                                1899.\n\n\n                            _Copyright by\n                           M. L. Holbrook._\n                               _1897._\n\n\n                    _Entered at Stationers' Hall._\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nDuring all ages since man came to himself, there have been enlightened\nones seeking to improve the race. The methods proposed have been\nvarious, and in accordance with the knowledge and development of the\ntime in which they have appeared. Some have believed that education and\nenvironment were all-sufficient; others that abstinence from\nintoxicating drinks would suffice. A very considerable number have held\nthe idea that by prenatal culture alone the mother can mould her unborn\nchild into any desired form. The disciples of Darwin, many of them, have\nheld that natural and sexual selection have been the chief factors\nemployed by nature to bring about race improvement.\n\nNo doubt all these factors have been more or less effectual, but the\ntime has come for man to take special interest in his own evolution, to\nstudy and apply, so far as possible, all the factors that will in any\nway promote race improvement. In the past this has not been done. We are\nnot yet able to do it perfectly, our knowledge is too deficient, lack of\ninterest is too universal, but we can make a beginning; greater\nthoughtfulness may be given to suitable marriages; improved environment\nmay be secured; better hygienic conditions taken advantage of; food may\nbe improved; the knowledge we have gained in improving animals and\nplants, so far as applicable, may aid us; air, exercise, water,\nemployment, social conditions, wealth and poverty, prenatal conditions,\nall have an influence on offspring, and man should be able, to some\nextent, to make them all tell to the advantage of future generations.\n\nWhatever the conditions of existence, man is able by his intellect to\nmodify and improve them, and make them favorably serve unborn children.\n\nHerbert Spencer says: \"On observing what energies are expended by father\nand mother to attain worldly successes and fulfil social ambition, we\nare reminded how relatively small is the space occupied by their\nambition to make their descendants physically, morally and\nintellectually superior. Yet this is the ambition which will replace\nthose they now so eagerly pursue, and which, instead of perpetual\ndisappointments, will bring permanent satisfactions.\"\n\nIf the chapters included in this volume should help to arouse in the\nminds of readers, and especially the younger portion of them, some\nhealthy feelings relating to the improvement of offspring it will have\nfulfilled its aim.\n\nTwo of them have been given as lectures before societies, the main\nobject of which was the discussion of subjects bearing on evolution and\nhuman progress, and they are included in this volume because they have a\nclose relation to the main subject, but the others were written\nespecially for this work.\n\nWhile there may appear in a few cases a slight amount of repetition, the\nauthor trusts the reader will not consider it as unpardonable.\n\nWith these few words I send the work on its mission hoping it will bear\ngood fruit.\n\n                                                         M. L. H.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nSTIRPICULTURE.\n                                                                 _Page._\n     Plato's Restrictions on Parentage; Lycurgan Laws; Plutarch\n     on the Training of Children; Infanticide Among the Greeks;\n     Group Marriage; Making Children the Property of the State;\n     Grecian Methods Not Suitable to Our Time; Sexual Selection;\n     Difficulties in the Way; An Experiment in Stirpiculture;\n     Intermarriage; Woman's Selective Action; Man's and Woman's\n     Co-operation; The Individual's Rights; Spiritual Sympathy in\n     Marriage;                                                         9\n\n\nPRENATAL CULTURE.\n\n     Jacob's Flocks; An Illustrative Case; Beliefs of Primitive\n     Peoples; Birthmarks Rare; Why Children Resemble Parents;\n     Life's Experiences Affecting Child; Germ-plasm; Congenital\n     Deformities; Psychical Diseases; Telegony; Power of Heredity;\n     Sobriety in the Father; Sacredness of Parentage; Self-control;   55\n\n\nHEREDITY AND EDUCATION.\n\n     Theories; Continuity of the Germ-plasm; A Rational View\n     of Heredity; Heredity and the Education of Children;\n     Intellectual Acquirements; Instinct; Knowledge or Heredity;\n     Individuality; Spectre of Heredity;                             100\n\n\nEVOLUTION'S HOPEFUL PROMISE FOR A HEALTHIER RACE.\n\n     Sexual Selection; Human Selection; Natural Selection;\n     Conflict between Evolutionary Theories and our Humane\n     Sentiments; Ideal of Health; Adaptation to Environment;\n     Knowledge; Effects of Living at High Pressure; Girls in\n     Manufacturing Districts; Co-operation: an Example; Hygiene;     130\n\n\nTHE GERM-PLASM; ITS RELATION TO OFFSPRING.\n\n     What is the Germ-plasm? The Primitive Egg; Fertilization of\n     the Mother-cell Necessary to Produce True Germ-plasm; What\n     Fertilization Does; Its Process; Helps to Explain Heredity;\n     Health of the Germ-plasm Necessary in Stirpiculture; Surplus\n     Vitality Necessary for Producing the Best Children; Duncan's\n     Statistics as to Ages of Parents of Finest Children; Effects\n     of Alcohol on Offspring; Food and the Germ-plasm; Effect\n     of Air and Water on Germ-plasm; Effect of Diseases on\n     Germ-plasm; Every Child Born an Experiment;                     162\n\n\nFEWER AND BETTER CHILDREN.\n\n     Darwin's Opinions; Race Modifications by Natural Selection;\n     Grant Allen's Views; Spencer's Views on Parental Duties;\n     Limiting Offspring Among the Natives of Uganda; The Fijians;\n     Children of Large Families often Superior to those in Small\n     Families; Some Reasons for this;                                179\n\n\nA THEORETICAL BABY.\n\n     Our First Baby; We had Theories; What Some of Them Were; My\n     Wife's Love for Me; My Sentiments; The Child's Easy Birth;\n     Mother's Rapid Convalescence; The Child's First Bath;\n     Forming Good Habits Early; No Crying at Night; Never Rocked\n     to Sleep; His Bed; Keeping the Stomach and Bowels Right;\n     Colic, Irritability and the Necessity for Diapers\n     Eliminated; Number of Meals Daily; The Infant's Clothing; At\n     One Year Old; Teething Gives Little Trouble; Requires\n     Considerable Water; Learning to Creep, Stand, Walk and Talk\n     by His Own Efforts; Invents His Own Amusements;\n     Companionship With Parents; Mothering; Learning\n     Self-control; Obedience; Playmates;                             184\n\n     Notes                                                           199\n\n\n\n\nSTIRPICULTURE.\n\n\nNatural selection, which is the central doctrine of Darwinism, has been\nexplained as the \"survival of the fittest.\" On this process has depended\nthe progress observable throughout organic nature to which the term\nevolution is applied; for, although there has been from time to time\ndegradation, that is, a retrogression, this has had relation only to\nparticular forms, organic life as a whole evidencing progress towards\nperfection. When man appeared as the culmination of evolution under\nterrestrial conditions, natural selection would seem almost to have\nfinished its work, which was taken up, however, by man himself, who was\nable by \"artificial\" selection to secure results similar to those which\nNature had attained. This is true especially in relation to animals, the\ndomestication of which has always been practiced by man, even while in a\nstate of nature. Domestication is primarily a psychical process, but it\nis attended with physical changes consequent on confinement and\nvariation in food and habits. This alone would hardly account, however,\nfor the great number of varieties among animals that have been long\ndomesticated, and it is probable that actual \"stirpiculture\" has been\npracticed from very early times. This term is derived from the Latin\n_stirpis_, a stock or race, and _cultus_, culture or cultivation, and it\nmeans, therefore, the cultivation of a stock or race, although it has\ncome to be used in the sense of the \"breeding of offspring,\" and\nparticularly of human offspring. It is evident, however, that in\nrelation to man this is too restricted a sense, and it must be extended\nso as to embrace as well the rearing and training as the breeding of\nchildren, in fact, _cultivation_ in its widest sense, in which is always\nimplied the idea of improvement.\n\nStirpiculture in this extended sense was not unknown to the ancients,\nboth in theory and in practice. As to the former, the most noted example\nis that of Plato, who, in his \"Republic,\" proposed certain arrangements\nas to marriage and the bringing up of children which he thought would\nimprove the race, and hence be beneficial to the State. The State was to\nPlato all in all, and he considered that it should form one great\nfamily. This idea could not be carried into effect, however, so long as\nindependent families existed, and therefore those arrangements had for\none of their chief aims the abolition of what we regard as family life.\nThis Plato thought was the best for the State, and the advantage which\nwas supposed to accrue to it by the absence of separate families is\nexpressed in a marginal note, which says: \"There will be no private\ninterests among them, and therefore no lawsuits or trials for assault or\nviolence to elders.\"\n\n\nPLATO'S RESTRICTIONS ON PARENTAGE.--The end would hardly seem to justify\nthe means, in these days, at least, when violence to elders is an\nuncommon incident; but how was the community of wives and children by\nwhich it was sought to be attained to be brought about? It is said, \"The\nbest of either sex should be united with the best as often, and the\ninferior with the inferior as seldom, as possible.\" Thus the people were\nto be classified into \"best\" and \"inferior,\" and while the former were\nto be brought together as often as possible, the latter were not to be\nunited at all if it could be avoided. There was no question of marriage\nin either case. In the one, the union was for the purpose of obtaining\nchildren, and in the other for the simple gratification of the passions;\nfor only the offspring of the union between the sexes in the \"best\"\nclass were to be reared. The children of the inferior class were not to\nbe reared, \"if the flock is to be maintained in first-class condition.\"\nThis infanticide would matter little to the parents, as they had no\ncontrol over their coming together, nor concern with the rearing of\ntheir offspring. Lots were to be drawn by the \"less worthy\" on each\noccasion of their being brought together. This was that they might\naccuse their ill-luck and not the rulers, in case their partners were\nnot to their liking. The State was to provide not only what men and\nwomen were to be sexually united, but the ages within which this was to\nbe permitted for the purpose of obtaining offspring. For a woman, the\nbeginning of childbearing for the State was fixed at twenty years of\nage, and it was to continue until forty. For men, the period of\nprocreation is said to be between twenty-five and fifty-five years of\nage. After the specified ages men and women were to be allowed to \"range\nat will,\" except within certain prescribed degrees, but on the\nunderstanding that no children born to such unions were to be reared. It\nis evident that under such a system the actual relationship between the\nmembers of the State family could be known only to its rulers; but to\nprovide against the union of persons too nearly related by blood, all\nthose who were \"begotten at the time their fathers and mothers came\ntogether\" were regarded as brothers and sisters. But even brothers and\nsisters might be united \"if the lot favors them, and they receive the\nsanction of the Pythian oracle.\" Thus far for the breeding of children\nlaid down in Plato's \"Republic.\" As to the rearing of them, we need only\nsay that the children allowed to live were to be placed in the custody\nof guardians, to be appointed by the State from among the most worthy\nof either sex, who were to bring them up in accordance with the\nprinciples of virtue.\n\nThe idea which formed the basis of the regulations as to marriage in the\n\"Republic\" was carried into practice by Lycurgus in his government of\nSparta. We are told by Plutarch in his \"Lives,\" that Lycurgus considered\nchildren not so much the property of their parents as of the State, \"and\ntherefore he could not have them begotten by ordinary persons, but by\nthe best men in it.\" But he did not attempt to break up the private\nfamily, as was proposed by Plato. He sought rather to enlarge its\nboundaries by allowing the introduction of a fresh paternal element when\nthis could be done with advantage to the State. Thus, he approved of a\nman in years introducing to his young wife a \"handsome and honest\" young\nman, that she might bear a child by him. Moreover, if a man of character\nbecame impassioned of a married woman on account of her honesty and\nbeautiful children, he might treat with her husband for the loan of her,\n\"that so planting in a beauty-bearing soil, he might produce excellent\nchildren, the congenial offspring of excellent parents.\" The principles\nwhich influenced Lycurgus were the same as those sought to be applied by\nPlato, although in a different way. Plutarch says, \"He observed the\nvanity and absurdity of other nations, where people study to have their\nhorses and dogs of the finest breed they can procure, either by\ninterest or money, and yet keep their wives shut up, that they may have\nchildren by none but themselves, though they may happen to be doting,\ndecrepid or infirm.\" Hence Lycurgus sought to drive away the passion of\njealousy \"by making it quite as reputable to have children in common\nwith persons of merit, as to avoid all offensive freedom in their own\nbehaviour to their wives.\"\n\n\nLYCURGAN LAWS.--According to Plutarch, the regulations enforced by\nLycurgus, so far from encouraging licentiousness of the women, such as\nafterwards prevailed in Sparta, did just the reverse, as adultery was\nnot known among them. That the system was beneficial to the State by\ntending to secure healthy offspring is probable; but Lycurgus took other\nmeans of bringing about this result. His requiring girls to dance naked\nin public was intended to teach them modesty. But we are told further:\n\"He ordered the virgins to exercise themselves in running, wrestling and\nthrowing quoits and darts, that their bodies being strong and vigorous,\nthe children produced by them might be the same; and that, thus\nfortified by exercise, they might the better support the pangs of\nchildbirth, and be delivered with safety.\" Moreover, he provided against\nthe propagation of disease and deformation by directing that only such\nchildren should be reared as passed examination by the most ancient men\nof the tribe. If a child were strong and well-proportioned, they gave\norders for its education and assigned it one of the nine thousand shares\nof land. Thus infanticide was a recognized part of the Spartan system,\nas it was in that of Plato. The elders of the tribe were very careful\nabout the nurses to whom the children were assigned. When seven years\nold, the children were enrolled in companies, where they were all kept\nunder the same order and discipline, and had their exercises and\nrecreations in common. The boy of best conduct and courage was made\ncaptain, and their whole education was one of obedience. As for\nlearning, Plutarch says they had just what was absolutely necessary; and\ncertainly it was not such as could be recommended for imitation in these\ndays.\n\nXenophon, in his essay on \"The Lacedemonian Republic,\" adds little to\nwhat Plutarch tells us with reference to the marriage regulations of\nLycurgus. He remarks, however, that marriage was not allowed until the\nbody was in full strength, as this was conducive \"to the procreation of\na robust and manly offspring.\" He affirms, also, that those who were\nallowed by arrangement to associate with other men's wives were men who\nhad an aversion to living with a wife of their own!\n\n\nPLUTARCH ON THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN.--In his \"Morals,\" Plutarch gives\na dissertation on the training of children, the first portion of which\ndeals with stirpiculture in the limited sense of the term, but is very\ninadequate. Indeed, the only advice he gives is that a man should not\nkeep company with harlots or concubines, because children by them are\n\"blemished in their birth\" by their base extraction; and that no man\nshould \"keep company with his wife for issue's sake but when he is\nsober,\" lest he beget a drunkard. The main portion of Plutarch's\ntreatise is concerned with the education of children, which is the\nsecond part of stirpiculture as a system of complete cultivation.\nIntroductory to the subject of education he speaks of nursing, to which\nhe attaches much importance. Plutarch insists on the necessity of\nmothers nursing their own children; nature, by providing them with two\nbreasts, showing them that they can nurse even twins. But if they\ncannot, they are to choose the best nurses they can get, and such as are\nbred after the Greek fashion. For, \"as it is needful that the members of\nchildren should be shaped aright as soon as they are born, that they may\nnot afterwards prove crooked and distorted, so it is no less expedient\nthat their manners be well fashioned from the very beginning; for\nchildhood is a tender thing, and easily wrought into any shape.\"\n\nAfter referring to the importance of the choice of good companions for\na child, Plutarch proceeds to consider the question of education, which\nhe speaks of as the matter of most concern. As to education in general,\nhe points out that a concurrence of three things is necessary to the\n\"completing of virtue in practice,\" which is the aim of that process,\nthat is: Nature, reason or learning, and use or exercise; For, \"if\nnature be not improved by instruction, it is blind; if instruction be\nnot assisted by nature, it is maimed; and if exercise fail of the\nassistance of both, it is imperfect as to the attainment of its end.\"\nThere cannot be \"instruction\"--a term which is here used as equivalent\nto \"education,\" although the latter has a wider signification than the\nformer, and being equivalent to mental cultivation,--without a teacher,\nand Plutarch says well, \"we are to look after such masters for our\nchildren as are blameless in their lives, not justly reprovable for\ntheir manners, and of the best experience in teaching. For the very\nspring and root of honesty and virtue lies in the felicity of lighting\non good education.\" He is, indeed, so much impressed with its value that\nhe affirms: \"The one chief thing in this matter--which compriseth the\nbeginning, middle and end of all--is good education and regular\ninstruction.\" These two \"afford great help and assistance towards the\nattainment of virtue and felicity.\" He adds: \"Learning alone, of all\nthings in our possession, is immortal and divine.\"\n\nPlutarch dwells on various other matters connected with education\nbetter fitted for his times than ours, but he refers to the importance\nof example in words that are deserving of careful consideration. He\nsays: \"The chiefest thing that fathers are to look to is, that they\nthemselves become effectual examples to their children, by doing all\nthose things which belong to them, and avoiding all vicious practices,\nthat in their lives, as in a glass, their children may see enough to\ngive them an aversion to all ill words and actions. For those that chide\nchildren for such faults as they themselves fall into unconsciously\naccuse themselves, under their children's names. And if they are\naltogether vicious in their own lives, they lose the right of\nreprehending their very servants, and much more do they forfeit it to\ntheir sons. . . . . Wherefore we are to apply our minds to all such\npractices as may conduce to the good breeding of our children.\"\n\nIt is not improbable that the marriage regulations ascribed to Lycurgus\nwere based on institutions already in existence among the Spartans. From\nthe statement of Polybius, that the brothers of a house often had one\nwife between them, it has been inferred that in Sparta the Tibetan form\nof polyandry was practiced. According to Plutarch, another curious\nmarriage custom prevailed, showing that the Spartans, who differed in\nvarious respects from other Greeks, had retained primitive habits.\nThus, the bridegroom carried off the bride by violence, and for some\ntime after this \"marriage by capture\" he visited her \"with great caution\nand apprehension\" of being discovered by the rest of the family; the\nbride at the same time exerted all her art to contrive convenient\nopportunities for their private meetings. And this they did, not for a\nshort time only, but some of them even had children before they had an\ninterview with their wives in the daytime! This custom had much in\ncommon with the _sadica_ marriages of the early Arabs, who, as we are\ntold by Professor Robertson Smith, allowed a woman, while she remained\nwith her own tribe, to receive the clandestine visits of a lover. Her\noffspring were recognized as legitimate and became members of the tribe.\nThe incident of \"capture\" could not occur, as it was a general custom in\nancient Arabia for a husband to live among his wife's kinsfolk.\n\n\nINFANTICIDE AMONG THE GREEKS.--The practice of infanticide, which was\nthe only mode by which Lycurgus, or even Plato in his imaginary\nrepublic, could really insure the existence of a healthy and vigorous\npopulation, was undoubtedly a survival from primitive times. The\nsacredness of infant life is the result of the high moral tone which has\naccompanied the spread of Christianity; and it may be said to be almost\nunknown outside of the Christian era. Various reasons are assigned by\ndifferent peoples for the practice of infanticide; but one cause\nuniversally operative is the objection to rearing malformed or unhealthy\noffspring. Savages adopt various modes of improving, according to their\nideas, the physical appearance of their children. Giving the proper form\nto the nose is considered a very important matter by the native\nAustralian mother and by the Polynesian Islanders; as, indeed, it was by\nthe ancient Persians, among whom the molding of the nose to the proper\ncurve was essential, especially in the royal family. The flat head of\nthe American Indian of the northwest coast was at one time considered a\nbeauty, and was restricted to the members of the tribe, slaves not being\nallowed to undergo the necessary head compression. The small artificial\nfoot of the Chinese lady is another case in point. But however much the\nphysical appearance might be altered, no effect could thus be made in\nthe general physique of the race. The most easy way of keeping this up\nto a proper standard is to destroy all the infants that possess physical\ndefects; and such a course is adopted by many savages, although it is by\nno means the most influential cause of infanticide.\n\n\nGROUP MARRIAGE.--A remarkable system of relationships, with which is\ncombined a series of regulations framed with the object of pointing out\nwhat persons are entitled to enter into the marital relation, is found\nto be prevalent in nearly all uncivilized peoples. The members of a\ntribe are divided into two or more groups, each of which consists of\npersons who are nearly related by blood, and who are forbidden,\ntherefore, to intermarry. One of the tribes of Central Australia, the\nDieyerie, has a legend which explains the marriage system common to them\nand to all the other tribes, as being intended to prevent the evil\neffects of intermarriage between persons very near of kin. The story is\nvaluable as showing the opinion entertained by savages as to the effect\non the race of breeding in and in--a subject to which we may have\noccasion to make further reference. Dr. J. F. McLennan and other writers\non primitive marriage refer to the practice among certain _civilized_\npeoples of antiquity of what we regard as incestuous marriage, in\nsupport of the view that in the early history of mankind intercourse\nbetween the sexes was promiscuous.[21:A] Such an explanation is entirely\nuncalled for, however, as the custom was intended to secure purity of\nblood, that is, blood of a particular line of ancestors. Such marriages\nwere known only to a few peoples, and they were evidently of\ncomparatively late origin. Whether the purity of blood was attended with\nimprovement of the stock may be doubted; as, whatever may have been the\nactual origin of the marriage regulations of the numerous peoples among\nwhom the classificatory system of relationship is established, they are\nintended, without question, to prevent the intermarriage of persons who\nare regarded as near blood relations, the general disapproval of which\nmust have had some sufficient reason, or, at all events, must have\noriginated in ideas supposed to furnish good grounds for it.\n\n\nMAKING CHILDREN THE PROPERTY OF THE STATE.--The principles which were\nembodied in the scheme proposed by Plato, in his \"Republic,\" to bring\nabout an improvement in the race are mainly two: First, restriction on\nthe formation of procreative unions; second, infanticide. The breaking\nup of private or separate families necessarily resulted from the\noperation of his \"marriage\" regulations, and was intended to emphasize\nthe idea which Plato, like Lycurgus, insisted on, that the children\nbelonged to the State. Lycurgus sought to enforce the same idea by\nallowing wives to have intercourse with other men than their husbands,\nthus making children \"common\" in some sense, while retaining the\nseparate family intact. Thus he introduced, or rather it should be said,\nestablished a modified form of polyandrous marriage; Plato's system, on\nthe other hand, being one of mere pairing, as in the breeding of\nanimals. In either case the union of very near relations was not\npermitted, that is, between brother and sister, or parent and child. Yet\nLycurgus allowed marriage between a half-brother and sister by the same\nmother. Curiously enough, this was forbidden by the Athenian law, which\npermitted a brother and sister by the same father only to intermarry.\nThe Greek rule, as laid down in Smith's \"Dictionary of Greek and Roman\nAntiquities,\" was that \"proximity of blood or consanguinity was not,\nwith some few exceptions, a bar to marriage,\" although direct lineal\ndescent was so. Moreover, there was no attempt to enforce consanguineous\nmarriages, so as to ensure purity of blood, such as was customary among\nthe Incas of Peru, the laws of which required that the oldest son and\ndaughter of the sovereign should intermarry because the Incas were\ndescended from the Sun, and the Sun had married his sister the Moon, and\nhad united in marriage his two first children! A more practical reason\nwas found in the rule that the kingdom should be inherited through both\nparents. Hence it was not permitted to mix the blood of the Sun, or\nrather of those who claimed solar descent, with that of men.\n\n\nGRECIAN METHODS NOT SUITABLE TO OUR TIME.--It is evident that the\nprinciples which governed the ancients in their endeavors to improve the\nrace are not capable of application at the present day, under the\nconditions of modern civilization. Instead of placing further\nrestrictions on marriage, the tendency now is to loosen those which have\nhitherto existed, although certain regulations, such as relate to age,\nconsent, etc., are recognized as necessary for the interests of the\nState. Moreover, greater facilities are given than were formerly allowed\nfor dissolving ill-assorted unions, thus getting rid of the excuse for\nthe formation of irregular connections. Nevertheless, the interests of\nneither society at large nor of individuals will permit of the\nintroduction of the temporary or occasional pairing system, which is a\nreturn to an animal state, and, therefore, not worthy of the dignity\nimplied in the term, marriage, and which is inconsistent with true\nfamily life. It would be liable to all kinds of abuse, and would become,\nin most cases, a legalized system of prostitution, thus dragging society\ndown to a lower level instead of raising it, and tending to the\ndeterioration, instead of the improvement, of the race, if not to its\nextinction. As to infanticide, this certainly would not be tolerated by\npublic opinion, although it is now largely resorted to under the guise\nof abortion. To legalize child-killing under any circumstances would be\nto offer a premium for murder, even if it were permitted only with the\nexpress sanction in every case of the officials of the State. There is\nnow no justification for such a course, as the education of those who\nappear to be on a mental level with the animals has been carried so far\nthat the term \"idiot\" may soon have to be dropped from our vocabulary.\n\nIt must be affirmed, however, that the whole subject of the improvement\nof the race was dealt with by Plato, and, indeed, by the ancients\ngenerally, in a very crude and superficial manner. This has been well\npointed out by Professor B. Jowett in the Introduction to his\ntranslation of Plato's \"Republic.\" Professor Jowett objects generally\nthat the great error in the speculations of Plato and others on the\nimprovement of the race is, \"that the difference between men and the\nanimals is forgotten in them.\" The human being is regarded with the eye\nof a dog or bird fancier, or at best of a slave owner; the higher or\nhuman qualities are left out. The breeder of animals aims chiefly at\nsize or speed or strength; in a few cases, at courage and temper; most\noften the fitness of the animal for food is the greatest desideratum.\nBut mankind are not bred to be eaten, nor yet for their superiority in\nfighting or in running or in drawing carts. Nor does the improvement of\nthe human race consist merely in the increase of the bones and flesh,\nbut in the growth and enlightenment of the mind. Hence there must be a\nmarriage of true minds as well as of bodies; of imagination and reason\nas well as of lusts and instincts. Men and women without feeling or\nimagination are justly called brutes; yet Plato takes away these\nqualities and puts nothing in their place, not even the desire of a\nnoble offspring, since parents are not to know their own children. The\nmost important transaction of social life he who is the idealist\nphilosopher converts into the most brutal. For the pair are to have no\nrelation to each other but at the hymeneal festival; their children are\nnot theirs, but the State's; nor is any tie of affection to unite them.\nYet the analogy of the animals might have saved Plato from a gigantic\nerror if he had not lost sight of his own illustration! For the \"nobler\nsort of birds and beasts\" nourish and protect their offspring and are\nfaithful to one another! It is certainly surprising, as Jowett says,\nthat the greatest of ancient philosophers should, in his marriage\nregulations, have fallen into the error of separating body and mind. He\ndid so probably through a false notion of the antagonism between the\nfamily and the State, and hence, as Lycurgus did not aim at destroying\nfamily life he escaped that error.\n\nAnd yet there is nothing to show that the marriage regulations of\nLycurgus had any real effect on the children of the State. That the\nearly Spartans were a hardy and courageous people is undoubtedly true;\nbut apart from the practice of infanticide, which would necessarily get\nrid of the weak, their character and conduct can be explained by\nreference merely to the system of training, both of youth and maidens,\nwhich Lycurgus rigidly enforced. Lacedemon was essentially a military\nrepublic, and its rulers aimed to breed soldiers, rather than men in the\nnoble sense in which the term \"man\" is now used. Indeed, there is\nnothing to show that any compulsory attempt to improve the race has ever\nbeen successful, apart from the effect which the destruction of feeble\nand deformed offspring may have, and the influence of the severe\ntraining of those who are allowed to survive.\n\nNevertheless, the human race has vastly improved since its first\nappearance on the earth, if the teachings of the doctrine of evolution\nare true and applicable to man as well as to the inferior animals. The\npassage from the native Australian to the European is a long one, and\nyet they are supposed to represent a common primitive stock. The steps\nby which the European has been gradually developed, with his special\ncharacteristics, cannot now be traced; but one of the chief agencies to\nwhich the result is due is that to which Darwin applied the term,\n\"sexual selection.\" As natural selection has relation to _adaptation_,\nand its aim is \"the survival of the fittest,\" so sexual selection has\nreference to _beauty_, and its object is the perpetuation of the most\nbeautiful, according to the taste of the peoples practicing it. Darwin\nwas the first to point out the importance of sexual selection for\ncertain purposes which, as stated by Professor G. J. Romanes, in his\n\"Darwin and after Darwin,\"[28:A] \"have no reference to utility or the\npreservation of life.\" The latter writer in treating of the subject\naffirms it is universally admitted that the higher animals do not pair\nindiscriminately, the members of either sex preferring \"those\nindividuals of the opposite sex which are to them most attractive.\" Many\nbirds and certain mammals clearly display the esthetic sense, which is\nshown by the former particularly in the adorning of their nests with\ncolored objects; and it is reflected in the personal appearance of the\nanimals themselves. During the pairing season, birds take on their most\nbrilliant plumage, and the males take great pains to exhibit their\ncharms before the females, actively competing with one another in so\ndoing. There is similar rivalry among song birds, who strive to see\nwhich can best please the females by their singing.\n\n\nSEXUAL SELECTION.--Professor Romanes, after referring to those facts,\nwhich are considered in detail by his great predecessor, states the\ntheory of sexual selection as follows: \"There can be no question that\nthe courtship of birds is a highly elaborate business, in which the\nmales do their best to surpass one another in charming the females.\nObviously the inference is that the males do not take all this trouble\nfor nothing; but that the females give their consent to pair with the\nmales whose personal appearance, or whose voice, proves to be the most\nattractive. But, if so, the young of the male bird who is thus\n_selected_ will inherit his superior beauty; and thus, in successive\ngenerations, a continuous advance will be made in the beauty of plumage\nor of song, as the case may be,--both the origin and development of\nbeauty in the animal world being thus supposed due to the esthetic taste\nof the animals themselves.\"\n\nIt is not necessary to refer particularly to the evidence in support of\nthe theory of sexual selection. There can be no doubt that it is a most\nimportant factor in the perpetuation and increase of certain characters,\nthose which come within the category of \"beautiful,\" the very existence\nof which proves them to be beneficial to the stock to which the animals\nexhibiting them belong. The fundamental fact is that they have \"the\neffect of charming the females into a performance of the sexual act;\" an\nopinion which is supported by the more general fact that \"both among\nquadrupeds and birds, individuals of the one sex are capable of feeling\na strong antipathy against, or a strong preference for, certain\nindividuals of the opposite sex.\"\n\nThese statements are applicable also to man, with whom the principle of\nsexual selection must have been influential to at least the same degree\nas among the lower animals. It may be expected, indeed, to be more\ninfluential, as the esthetic taste with which it is associated becomes\nmore highly developed with man than with any member of the animal\nkingdom. Even here it is not a question of mere coloration. The theory\nof sexual selection as framed by Darwin is concerned, as Romanes points\nout, not so much with color itself as with the particular disposition of\ncolor in the form of ornamental patterns. These have a kind of\n_structural_ value, and certain birds, moreover, possess actual\nstructural peculiarities, such as ornamental appendages to the beak, the\nonly use of which would appear to be to charm the female during\ncourtship. We may suppose, therefore, that sexual selection has affected\nnot merely what may be termed the superficial characters of man, but to\nsome extent, at least, those which have a structural value.\n\nThe principle of sexual selection is applicable primarily to the\ncharacteristics of the male; but Darwin supposes them to have been\ntransferred to the other sex, and through them transmitted to the race\ngenerally. In his \"Descent of Man,\" he remarks of the actual influence\nover the race of that principle: \"The nervous system not only regulates\nmost of the existing functions of the body, but has indirectly\ninfluenced the progressive development of various bodily structures and\nof certain mental qualities. Courage, pugnacity, perseverance, size and\nstrength of body, weapons of all kinds, musical organs, both vocal and\ninstrumental, bright colours and ornamental appendages have all been\nindirectly gained by the one sex or the other, through the exertion of\nchoice, the influence of love and jealousy, and the appropriation of the\nbeautiful in sound, colour or form; and these powers of the mind\nmanifestly depend on the development of the brain.\"\n\nThat sexual selection has actually resulted in modification of human\nphysical structure, Darwin thinks can be shown by reference to the\nancient Persians, whose type was greatly improved by intermarriage with\nthe beautiful Georgian and Circassian women. He refers to several\nsimilar cases, and particularly to the Jollofs of West Africa, whose\nhandsome appearance is said to be due to their retaining for wives only\ntheir most beautiful slaves, the others being sold.\n\nSexual selection may be operative for the improvement of the race\nthrough the action of either man or woman, and the conditions of its\nactivity are different in either case. As to the action of man, Darwin\nsays in relation to primitive peoples: \"The strongest and most vigorous\nmen--those who could best defend and hunt for their families, who were\nprovided with the best weapons and possessed the most property, such as\na large number of dogs or other animals--would succeed in rearing a\ngreater average number of offspring than the weaker and poorer members\nof the same tribe. There can, also, be no doubt that such men would\ngenerally be able to select the more attractive women. At present, the\nchiefs of nearly every tribe throughout the world succeed in obtaining\nmore than one wife.\"\n\nWith reference to selection by the women, Darwin shows that among\nsavages they have much more to say in their marriages than is usually\nsupposed. He remarks: \"They can tempt the men they prefer, and can\nsometimes reject those whom they dislike, either before or after their\nmarriage. Preference on the part of the women, steadily acting in any\none direction, would ultimately affect the character of the tribe, for\nthe women would generally choose, not merely the handsomest men,\naccording to their standard of taste, but those who were at the same\ntime best able to defend and support them. Such well-endowed pairs would\ncommonly rear a larger number of offspring than the less favored.\"\nDarwin adds: \"The same result would obviously follow in a still more\nmarked manner if there were selection on both sides, that is, if the\nmore attractive, and at the same time more powerful men were to prefer,\nand were preferred by, the more attractive women. And this double form\nof selection seems actually to have occurred, especially during the\nearlier periods of our long history.\"\n\nThe investigations of Darwin as to the operation of sexual selection had\nreference chiefly to the modification of physical characters. He did not\naltogether lose sight, however, of its possible influence in affecting\nfor the better the mental characteristics of the race. He concludes his\nenquiry by the remark that \"Man might by selection do something, not\nonly for the bodily constitution and frame of his offspring, but for\ntheir intellectual and moral qualities. Both sexes ought to refrain from\nmarriage if they are in any marked degree inferior in body or mind; but\nsuch hopes are Utopian, and will never be even partially realized until\nthe laws of inheritance are thoroughly known. Every one does good\nservice who aids towards this end.\"\n\nIt is in the application of the principle of sexual selection to the\nmental characteristics of man, that any real improvement of the race,\nviewed as consisting of human beings and not of mere animals, must be\nbrought about. Beauty of physical form and feature is of importance in\nhuman relations only so far as it is associated with beauty of mind and\ncharacter, that is, with high intellectual and moral attainments. That\nthese often go together is true, but it is not always the case. Grant\nAllen says: \"To be sound in wind and limb; to be healthy of body and\nmind; to be educated; to be emancipated; to be free, to be\nbeautiful--these things are ends towards which all should strive, and by\nattaining which all are happier in themselves, and more useful to\nothers.\" But physical and intellectual perfection are not always found\ntogether, as was observed by Darwin, when he mentioned among the causes\nwhich interfere with the physical action of sexual selection the fact\nthat men are largely attracted by the mental charms of women. Professor\nJowett affirms truly that \"Many of the noblest specimens of the human\nrace have been among the weakest physically. Tyrtaens or AEsop, or our own\nNewton, would have been destroyed at Sparta, and some of the fairest and\nstrongest men and women have been among the wickedest and worst.\" Hence,\nhe properly infers that \"Not by the Platonic device of uniting the\nstrong and the fair with the strong and the fair, regardless of\nsentiment and morality, nor yet by his other device of combining\ndissimilar natures, have mankind gradually passed from the brutality and\nlicentiousness of primitive marriage to marriage Christian and\ncivilized.\"\n\nThe truth of this inference cannot be denied, because to leave out of\nview considerations of sentiment and morality would fatally vitiate any\nscheme for the improvement of the human race. But Professor Jowett\naffirms that, \"We do not know how by artificial means any improvement in\nthe breed can be effected.\" The problem is no doubt a complex one. As he\npoints out, a child has usually thirty progenitors only four steps back,\nand whatever truth there may be in the inheritance of special physical\ncharacters, \"We have a difficulty in distinguishing what is a true\ninheritance of genius or other qualities, and what is mere imitation or\nthe result of similar circumstances. _Great men and great women have\nrarely had great fathers and mothers._\" Professor Jowett thinks, indeed,\nthat too much importance may be ascribed to heredity. He says: \"The\ndoctrine of heredity may seem to take out of our hands the conduct of\nour lives, but it is the idea, not the fact, which is really terrible to\nus. For what we have received from our ancestors is only a fraction of\nwhat we are or may become. The knowledge that drunkenness or insanity\nhas been prevalent in a family may be the best safeguard against their\nrecurrence in a future generation. The parent will be most awake to the\nvices or diseases in his child of which he is most sensible within\nhimself. The whole of life may be directed to their prevention or cure.\nThe traces of corruption may become fainter, or be wholly effaced; the\ninherited tendency to vice and crime may be eradicated. And so heredity,\nfrom being a curse, may become a blessing. We acknowledge that in the\nmatter of our birth, as in our nature generally, there are previous\ncircumstances which affect us. But on this platform of circumstances, or\nwithin this wall of necessity, we have still the power of creating a\nlife for availment by the reforming energy of the human will.\"\n\nThere is much truth in these remarks of Professor Jowett, but they do\nnot affect the argument in favor of the possibility of bringing about an\nimprovement in the race if the proper means are adopted. It would not be\nany wiser for the strong and healthy to marry with the sick and weak,\nbecause the latter happen to be highly intellectual or moral, than to\nmarry with the strong and healthy if these physical characters are\nunited with mental weakness or immorality. There is a consensus of\nopinion at the present day, that what should be aimed at is the union of\nphysical perfection with that of intellect and character, in the\npersuasion that steps towards this end will ultimately lead to the\ngeneral improvement of the human race.\n\n\nDIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY.--The difficulty is to devise and carry out some\nscheme for the purpose which shall be both feasible and agreeable to\npublic sentiment. The latter consideration would prevent any attempt at\nactive stirpiculture under State direction, although the State might\nindirectly affect the result by subsidiary regulations as to marriage\nand training of children. There is nothing, however, to prevent the\nsystematic efforts of private individuals, and in such cases the causes\nwhich Darwin cites as interfering with the physical action of sexual\nselection would not operate. The most systematic experiment in\nstirpiculture of modern times was that originated by John Humphrey Noyes\nat the Oneida Community, in central New York, from 1868 to 1879. A paper\non this experiment was read by Anita Newcomb McGee before the American\nScience Association in August, 1891, which was published in \"The\nAmerican Anthropologist,\" 1891, and the following facts are taken from\nthat paper.\n\n\nAN EXPERIMENT IN STIRPICULTURE.--Noyes was the founder of a religious\nsect, the members of which, owing to their desire for freedom from sin,\nwere called Perfectionists. Holiness was the first principle of their\ncreed, and Noyes thought to transmit that condition from one generation\nto another by a process of stirpiculture. To overcome the \"selfishness\"\nof monogamic marriage he devised a \"system of regulated promiscuity,\nbeginning at earliest puberty, and by a method of his own invention he\nseparated the amative from the propagative functions.\" Its first\nprinciple was that of a judicious in and in breeding, with occasional\nmingling of foreign blood, as in stock-raising. The second principle\nadopted was that of \"careful selection of individuals for breeding\npurposes. Genealogies were studied and medical histories compiled.\" A\ncommittee, headed by Noyes, selected the holiest members who were free\nfrom physical defects, intellectual and other considerations being given\nless weight at first, although in later years they received more\nconsideration. The parents were of all ages, but the father was always\nolder than the mother. Some sympathy between the persons mated was\nalways required; and if a proposition for union came from two\nindividuals it was allowed if no objections were found. Noyes held that\nuncle and niece are as much related as father and daughter, because\nbrothers have identical blood, and that cousins are in the same relation\nto each other as half brothers. In the Oneida Community uncles and\nnieces twice paired, and it is noticeable that a considerable proportion\nof the children had Noyes' blood on one or both sides. The founder\nhimself had nine children in the Community, to which belonged also his\nbrother, his two sisters and their children. As to the care of the\nchildren, this belonged exclusively to the mothers for the first nine\nmonths, after which for a further nine months they took charge of their\noffspring at night only. When eighteen months old, the children were\ntransferred to a separate department which was managed by those who had\nshown themselves specially fitted for the work.\n\nLet us see what was the result of Noyes' experiment. Of the sixty[39:A]\nchildren born, five died at or near childbirth from unforeseen causes\ndepending upon the mother. All the others were alive at the date of Mrs.\nMcGee's communication, except a boy who was reared in spite of weakness,\nand died from a trifling malady when about sixteen years of age. All the\nchildren were strong and healthy, the boys being tall--several over six\nfeet--broad-shouldered and finely proportioned; the girls robust and\nwell-built. It is remarkable, that among the children between five and\nnine years of age, thirteen were boys and six only were girls. With\nreference to their intellectual ability, it is stated by Mrs. McGee\nthat, of the oldest sixteen boys, ten were in business, chiefly employed\nas clerks, foremen, etc., in the manufactories of the joint stock\ncompany. The eleventh was a musician of repute; another a medical\nstudent; one passed through college and studied law; one was a college\nsenior, and one entered college after winning State and local\nscholarships, and gave great mathematical promise. The sixteenth boy was\na mechanic, and the only one employed in manual labor. Of the six girls\nbetween eighteen and twenty-two years, three are said by Mrs. McGee to\nbe especially intellectual. The mothers of these children usually\nbelonged to the classes employed in manual labor, while the fathers,\nwith the exception of the Noyes family and half a dozen lawyers, doctors\nand clergymen, were all farmers and mechanics. It is noteworthy that, as\na rule, the fathers were the intellectual superiors of their mates, \"and\nenquiry develops the fact, known in the Community, that in these cases\nthe children are markedly superior to the maternal stock.\"\n\nWhen this system of complex marriage had been in operation twenty years,\nthe desire to return to the old system of monogamy arose, and it became\nso strong in the Community that its founder retired from it, and on\nAugust 26, 1879, complex marriage was renounced, although nominally \"in\ndeference to public sentiment.\" Twenty-five couples who had been married\nbefore entering the Community again became husband and wife, and twenty\nmarriages between other individuals took place within four months after\nthe abandonment of the stirpicultural experiment. There were then in the\nCommunity two hundred and sixteen adults and eighty-three children under\ntwenty years of age.\n\nSo far as the real object which the founder of the Oneida Community had\nin view in his marriage system, it was undoubtedly a failure, as of the\noffspring, in spite of their early doctrinal training, only a very few\nare church members, and but one is a Perfectionist. This is the son of\nan uncle and a niece, both of Noyes' blood. From a physical and\nintellectual standpoint the experiment would seem to have given promise\nof success, but it continued too short a time to be of much scientific\nvalue. The result may be stated in the words of Mrs. McGee, who says\nthat the complete failure to perpetuate the church through stirpiculture\n\"would seem to indicate that, while our race would doubtless be greatly\nbenefited by more attention to laws of breeding, yet to attempt\npromulgation of a belief by this means alone is only to court defeat. In\nspite of the energy and magnetism of so remarkable a man as Noyes, in\nspite of his long-continued efforts, and just when success seemed within\nhis grasp, his one misjudgment of human nature bore fruit, the neglected\ninstinct of monogamy arose in its might and crushed to nothing the whole\nstructure, and he, the builder, went last of all. With the close of his\nlife, April 13, 1886, ended a unique and interesting history.\"\n\n\nINTERMARRIAGE.--We have seen that the founder of the Oneida Community\npermitted the intermarriage of uncle and niece, although he considered\nthem related as nearly as father and daughter. This question of the\nintermarriage of near blood relations is an important one in its bearing\non the question of stirpiculture, and as already mentioned, it has\nengaged the attention of nearly all the lower races of mankind. It has,\nindeed, been provided against by the marriage restrictions of most\nuncultured peoples, and their systems of relationship clearly point out\nwhat persons are within the permitted limits of marriage. It appears to\nbe the general rule that the children of two brothers or of two sisters,\nwhether own or tribal, cannot intermarry, but that the children of a\nbrother and those of a sister may be thus united, although sometimes\nthis is not allowed where own brother and sister are concerned.[42:A]\n\nThe question of the effect on offspring of consanguineous marriages was\nsome time ago particularly enquired into by Mr. A. H. Huth, who, after a\nconsideration of all the information available, came, in his work, \"The\nMarriage of Near Kin,\" to the following conclusions:\n\n\"1--That any deterioration through the marriage of near kin, _per se_,\neven if there be such a thing in the lower animals, is impossible in\nman, owing to the slow propagation of the species.\n\n\"2--That any deterioration through the chance accumulation of an\nidiosyncrasy, though more likely to occur in families where the marriage\nof blood relations was habitual, practically does not occur oftener than\nin other marriages, or it would be more easily demonstrated.\n\n\"3--That, seeing the doubt, to say the least of it, which exists\nconcerning the effect for harm of marriages between near kin, and on the\nother hand the certainty that whenever and wherever marriage is impeded\na direct and proportionate impulse is given to the practice of\nimmorality, it is advisable not to extend the prohibition against\nmarriage beyond the third collateral degree, and to permit all marriages\nof affinity excepting those in the direct ascending or descending line.\"\n\nThere appears to be no doubt that what are regarded among Christian\npeoples as incestuous marriages are not desirable. How far marriage\nunions between first cousins are advisable depends, as appears from Mr.\nHuth's remarks, on considerations which affect the question generally.\nIf there are any serious physical, intellectual or moral defects on\neither side, no marriage should take place.\n\n\nWOMAN'S SELECTIVE ACTION.--Apart from the question of consanguinity, the\nprinciples which should govern all marriages is that of sexual\nselection, which should have reference, however, not merely to physical\ncharacters, but also to mental and moral characteristics. In applying\nthis principle, it must be remembered that while man, like the male of\nall animals, does the courting, woman, like all females, makes the\nselection; at least this is the general rule among the most cultured\npeoples. Thus it is evident that woman possesses the power of largely\ninfluencing the improvement of the human race, and in this fact we may\nsee the possibility of this being effected by the operation of general\nsocial causes, without having recourse to individual experiments, such\nas that undertaken by Noyes, which are necessarily limited in their\naction, and may, after all, have like practical result. _If all women\ncould be induced to combine for that end they could probably bring about\nthe desired improvement by their own efforts._\n\nOn this subject the well-known naturalist, Mr. A. R. Wallace, has some\njudicious remarks in an article on \"Human Progress, Past and Future,\" in\n_The Arena_ for January, 1892. Mr. Wallace, who accepts the views of\nWeismann as to the non-inheritance of acquired characters, thinks that\nthe physical and moral evils and degradation attendant on the conditions\nof modern city life will have no permanent effects, when a more rational\nand elevating system of social organization is brought about. The most\nimportant agency in this social regeneration will be the selective\naction of woman, under the influence of her newly acquired freedom and\nhigher education. Says Mr. Wallace: \"When such social changes have been\neffected that no woman will be compelled, either by hunger, isolation or\nsocial compulsion, to sell herself, whether in or out of wedlock, and\nwhen all women alike shall feel the refining influence of a true\nharmonizing education, of beautiful and elevating surroundings, and of a\npublic opinion which shall be founded on the highest aspirations of\ntheir age and country, the result will be a form of human selection\nwhich will bring about a continuous advance in the average status of the\nrace. Under such conditions, all who are deformed either in body or\nmind, though they may be able to lead happy and contented lives, will,\nas a rule, leave no children to inherit their deformity. Even now we\nfind many women who do not marry because they have never found the man\nof their ideal. When no woman will be compelled to marry for a bare\nliving or for a comfortable home, those who remain unmarried from their\nown free choice will certainly increase in number, while many others,\nhaving no inducement to an early marriage, will wait until they meet\nwith a partner who is really congenial to them. In such a reformed\nsociety the vicious man, the man of degraded taste or of feeble\nintellect, will have little chance of finding a wife, and his bad\nqualities will die out with himself. The most perfect and beautiful in\nbody and mind will, on the other hand, be most sought and therefore be\nmost likely to marry early, the less highly endowed later, and the least\ngifted in any way the latest of all; and this will be the case with both\nsexes. From this varying age of marriage, as Mr. Galton has shown, there\nwill result a more rapid increase of the former than of the latter, and\nthis cause continuing at work for successive generations will at length\nbring the average man to be the equal of those who are now among the\nmore advanced of the race.\"\n\nWe have here the application of the principle of sexual selection in its\nhighest sense, although limited in action to women, and it is\nundoubtedly the phase of stirpiculture which will become operative when\nthe \"emancipation of women\" is completed. There is one feature of modern\nsociety which may retard its operation, and which was referred to by\nDarwin as interfering with the physical effect of sexual selection in\nthe past. Wealth is now, more than ever before, an important factor in\nsociety, and not only man's but woman's choice in matrimony is often\ngoverned by money considerations. The possession of wealth may be\nevidence of mental astuteness, but not necessarily of high morality, and\nuntil it ceases to be sought after in marriage it will seriously\ninterfere with the improvement of the race on its higher planes.\n\nThe sexual selection which Mr. Wallace so ably advocates is to be\nexercised by woman, and hence its efficiency will depend on the fitness\nof woman, not only to choose proper partners in marriage, but to\ncommunicate the highest physical and mental characters to her offspring.\nShe can transmit only what she herself possesses, and she will choose\nthat which is in sympathy with her own feelings and desires, so that if\nshe is to affect the race beneficially, she must seek first her own\nperfection. Hence the great importance of the woman's movement of the\npresent day, the basis of which is the better development of her\nphysical, mental and moral faculties, without which she cannot expect to\nhave the increased social privileges to which she may aspire. The\ngreatest social privilege women can have is to be the chief agent in the\nimprovement of the race, and through it the regeneration of society\nitself. Lady May Jeune, in reply to those who think that the present\nrelations between mothers and daughters threaten family disruption,\nobserves, \"That woman was created for the purpose of being the wife and\nmother of mankind no one can deny, and that none of the discoveries of\nscience or any attempt to solve the mysteries of life have brought her\none bit nearer the knowledge of how to unburden herself of these\nresponsibilities, is also a fact.\" This must be true if the race is to\nbe continued; for without wives there can be no mothers. Being possible\nmothers, therefore, it is necessary, if the race and society are to be\nimproved, that women shall acquire the highest physical, intellectual\nand moral education they are capable of, and if they require the same\nqualities in their husbands, the problem we are considering will be\nsolved.\n\n\nMAN'S AND WOMAN'S CO-OPERATION.--We have here the central idea of the\nNew Hedonism advocated by Mr. Grant Allen, whose views necessitate the\nactive agency of man as well as of woman. This is only reasonable,\nseeing that offspring depend on the co-operation of two factors, and\nthat if either of them is defective the offspring must share in the\ndefect. \"Self-development is an aim of all,\" says Mr. Grant Allen, \"an\naim which will make all stronger and braver, and wiser, and better. It\nwill make each in the end more helpful to humanity. To be sound in wind\nand limb; to be healthy of body and mind; to be educated, to be\nemancipated, to be free, to be beautiful--these things are ends towards\nwhich all should strive, and by attaining which all are happier in\nthemselves, and more useful to others.\" Hence the New Hedonism teaches\nthat \"to prepare ourselves for the duties of paternity and maternity, by\nmaking ourselves as vigorous and healthful as we can be is a duty we owe\nto all our children unborn and to one another.\" This applies as well to\n\"the body spiritual, intellectual and esthetic\" as to the physical\nbody. Mr. Grant Allen thinks the theory he advocates will introduce a\nnew system, which \"will not include the selling of self into loveless\nunion for a night or for a lifetime; the bearing of children by a mother\nto a man she despises or loathes or shrinks from; the production by\nforce, sanctified by law, of hereditary drunkards, hereditary\nepileptics, hereditary consumptives, hereditary criminals. We shall\nexpect in the future a purer and truer relation between father and\nmother, parent and child. We shall expect some sanctity to attach to the\nidea of paternity, some thought and care to be given beforehand to the\nduties of motherhood. We will not admit that the chance union of two\nunfit persons, who ought never to have made themselves parents at all,\nor ought never to have made themselves parents with one another, can be\nrendered holy and harmless by the hands of a priest extended to bless a\nbought love, or a bargain of impure marriage. In one word, for the first\ntime in the history of the race, we shall evolve the totally new idea of\nresponsibility in parentage. _And as part of this responsibility we\nshall include the two antithetical, but correlative, doctrines of a\nmoral abstinence from fatherhood and motherhood on the part of the\nunfit, and a moral obligation to fatherhood and motherhood on the part\nof the noblest, the purest, the sanest, the healthiest, the most able\namong us. We will not doom to forced celibacy half our finest mothers._\"\n\n\nTHE INDIVIDUAL'S RIGHTS.--From the racial standpoint these views are\njust and cannot be controverted, but something must be allowed to the\nindividual. The relative position and rights of the race and the\nindividual are in a dispute, which has become intensified since the\ndevelopment of the theory of evolution. _But the individual is the\nbeginning of the race and he should be its end._ Therefore, in seeking\nto improve the race, violence must not be done to the highest sentiments\nof the individual. It is a fact that many highly cultured individuals\nhave a repugnance to certain aspects of married life, and this\nrepugnance appears to be justified by the further fact that a high state\nof refinement is often attended with loss of physical productiveness.\nOne of the most curious results of Galton's enquiries into heredity was\nthat wealthy families have a tendency to die out in heiresses, which is\npartly, but not wholly, dependent on the fact that childbearing is more\noften the accompaniment of poverty than of luxurious living.\n\nThe personal disinclination to marry attendant on intellectual\nrefinement is still more likely to be possessed by those of high\nspirituality. This is quite natural, notwithstanding the statement of\nMr. Grant Allen, which is undoubtedly true, that the origin and basis\nof all that is best and highest within us is to be found in the\nsex-instinct. Love may have begotten \"all higher arts and all higher\ncustoms,\" and yet love may in the process itself become sexless, as it\nis when it assumes the noblest form, that of divine charity for our\nfellowmen. As well might we continue to perpetuate in our highest\nactions the nature of the ape-man because we are descendants of this\ncreature, as let the idea of sex always rule our thoughts. With the\nindividual the physical influence of sex is weakened and finally ceases,\nalthough it ever remains constant in the race, and hence the influence\nof the idea of sex over the mind of the individual should be similarly\naffected. \"In Heaven,\" said the founder of Christianity, \"there is\nneither marrying nor giving in marriage,\" and in that highest mental\ncondition, which is heaven on earth, the sense of sex has ceased to be\noperative, having given place to the spiritual sense which is the\nnoblest attribute of man because the last to be developed.\n\nWe have here, however, a question between the individual and the race,\nand it does not affect the main contention that the improvement of the\nrace, which includes that of the individual, is to be found in the\napplication of the principle of selection. This must necessarily be\nchiefly in the hands of women, although both men and women must\nco-operate to bring about the best results, by seeking first of all to\nimprove their own natures by physical, intellectual and moral culture.\nThe statement of the case according to that principle, and the aim to be\nattained, exhibit the dignity and importance of the subject of\nstirpiculture. Theoretically this is admitted on all hands, and as soon\nas the conditions of the subject are clearly understood there will be no\npractical difficulty in carrying the principle into effect, so that it\nmay have its legitimate consequences.\n\nWhat parents have to realize is the necessity of so training and\ninstructing their children that they may become capable of being the\nparents of perfect offspring. The good tree only can bear good fruit.\nBut this is not the real starting point of stirpiculture. An essential\nfactor, and one that is seldom thought of, is the spirit in which the\ninception of offspring is undertaken. Marriage was to the ancients a\nsacred state, because it was associated with the religion of the\ndomestic altar, and because the perpetuation of the family, which was\nits aim, was required by the necessity of having a son to perform the\nsacred rites at that altar after the death of his father. The\nperpetuation of the family was thus a sacred duty, and the consummation\nof marriage partook of this character. According to the ancient Persian\nreligion, the union of man and woman is the act most agreeable to God,\nand the act of consummation is directed to be sanctified, and a prayer\ndirected to God that He would bless it. Marriage must be conducted in\nthis spirit, rather than as a means of gratifying the passions, if the\nhappiest results are to be obtained from the application of the\nprinciple of sexual selection.\n\n\nSPIRITUAL SYMPATHY IN MARRIAGE.--That supposes, however, the existence\nof spiritual sympathy between those who are united in marriage, and this\nsympathy must form the true basis of all improvements in the race. It\nwas the neglect of this feature, the want of which must render any\nattempt to carry out Plato's ideas on the subject of marriage futile,\nthat put a stop to the experiments undertaken by his latest imitator,\nNoyes. His adherents simply made a return to the monogamy which is the\nheritage of all the Aryan peoples, and which is based on the union of\ntwo hearts, and not merely of two persons. This is the first application\nof the principle of sexual selection above the animal plane, and it must\nbe continued notwithstanding that the range of selection is extended so\nas to embrace also the intellectual and moral planes.\n\nHow far the State may ultimately be called on to aid in the improvement\nof the race, in accordance with the ideas we have been considering, is\ndoubtful. It can aid very materially in placing restraints on too early\nmarriage, and by insisting on the attainment of a proper standard of\nphysical training and of mental culture before marriage is entered on.\nThere is no reason, moreover, why the State should not interfere to\nprevent the marriage of those who are too near of kin, or who by reason\nof physical or mental ailment, or by their moral defects are not fit\nsubjects for the propagation of the race. The objection to this\ninterference with personal liberty is so strong, however, that even so\nrational a procedure as preventing the spread, through marriage\nalliances, of disease and crime cannot yet obtain the sanction of public\nopinion. This will be educated with the general improvement of the race\nthat must gradually take place through other agencies, and then the\nState will have merely to carry into effect the decrees of the people,\nwhich will be expressed in no uncertain language when woman has attained\nto the influence to which her own perfected condition will entitle her.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[21:A] Mr. Darwin accepted this view at first; but in a note to the\nsecond edition of his \"Descent of Man\" he says: \"C. Staniland Wake\nargues strongly against the views held by these three writers on the\nformer prevalence of almost promiscuous intercourse.\" See \"Development\nof Kinship and Marriage.\" Redway, London. 1888.\n\n[28:A] The Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago. 1892.\n\n[39:A] It should be sixty-one.\n\n[42:A] See Lorimer Fison, in \"The Journal of the Anthropological\nInstitute,\" May, 1895, page 361. The whole subject is exhaustively\ntreated by C. Staniland Wake, in his \"Development of Kinship and\nMarriage.\"\n\n\n\n\nPRENATAL CULTURE.\n\n\nIn the last preceding chapter we have considered the subject of the\nimprovement of the race, especially through the action of sexual\nselection, or, as it may be expressed, selective action in the pairing\nof individuals, whether brought about compulsorily by the controlling\ninfluence of the State or some other external authority, or by the\nactual choice of one or both of the individuals immediately concerned.\nWe have now to deal with the subject of the influence over offspring of\naffections of the individual organisms from whose union such offspring\nis derived.\n\n\nJACOB'S FLOCKS.--The story of Jacob dealing with the flocks of Laban,\ngiven in Genesis xxx, is usually alluded to in corroboration of the\nbelief that offspring may be physically affected before birth, by\nanything which strongly influences the imagination of the mother. Jacob\nis represented as making an agreement with Laban, his father-in-law,\nthat Jacob should receive as his hire all the ringstreaked and spotted\nhe-goats and all the black she-goats, and also those that were speckled\nand spotted. When this arrangement had been made, Laban sought to\nbenefit by it by removing from the flock all the goats that answered to\nthat description, and giving them into the care of his sons, leaving the\nrest of the flock in Jacob's charge. This was undoubtedly an attempt on\nthe part of Laban to cheat his son-in-law out of his wages, but the\nlatter was not to be so cheated, and he adopted a plan which gave him\nthe pick of the flock, leaving the feeble goats to his less wily parent.\n\nIn describing this operation, the Bible story says: \"And Jacob took him\nrods of fresh poplar [or storax tree] and of the almond and of the plane\ntree, and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which\nwas in the rods. And he set the rods which he had peeled over against\nthe flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs where the flocks came\nto drink; and they conceived when they came to drink. And the flocks\nconceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth ringstreaked,\nspeckled and spotted. And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces\nof the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of\nLaban; and he put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban's\nflock. And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock did\nconceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the\ngutters, that they might conceive among the rods; but when the flock\nwere feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the\nstronger Jacob's.\"\n\nWhether or not this incident actually occurred as stated we do not know.\nAccording to the subsequent part of the narrative, the effect of setting\nup the peeled rods was ascribed to God's interference in his behalf; but\nit is not improbable that we have in the story a reference to ancient\nshepherd lore, based on the superstitious notions still so common in the\nEast. In the earlier part of the same chapter is a story relating to\nmandrakes, which were supposed to have influence on human generation.\nJacob is said to have used three kinds of rods, those of the poplar or\nstorax tree, the almond, and the plane tree, which produced\nringstreaked, speckled and spotted lambs.\n\nThe influence exerted by Jacob's rods was of a different character from\nthat which is supposed to give rise to the marking of offspring before\nbirth, which is not uncommon if we are to accept as true all the cases\nmentioned in books referring to the subject. What occurred took place\n_before_ conception, and not subsequent to it, as in these cases.\nNevertheless, both classes of phenomena are recognized by so competent\nan authority as M. Th. Ribot, who, in his \"Heredity,\"[57:A] when\ncriticising Dr. Lucas' explanation of the origin of the numerous\nexceptions to the law of heredity, as being due to the operation of the\nlaw of spontaneity, affirms that there is no law of spontaneity, but\nthat all such exceptions may be explained by reference to certain causes\nof diversity. M. Ribot gives three causes of diversity, which are:\n1--Antagonistic heredities of two parents; 2--Accidental causes in\naction at the moment of generation; 3--External and internal influences\nsubsequent to conception. He assigns but little importance to causes\nacting after birth, such as diet, climate, circumstances, education,\nphysical and moral influences, because, though they may produce serious\neffects, these are not radical. Possibly, however, since the advance\nmade in the education of those who are born with defects of the sensory\napparatus, M. Ribot would somewhat modify his opinion on that point. As\nto the causes which operate at the period of conception, or subsequent\nthereto and before birth, he says, in relation to the latter class, they\n\"are all the physical and moral disturbances of uterine existence--all\nthose influences which can act through the mother upon the fetus during\nthe period of gestation; impressions, emotions, defective nutrition,\neffects of imagination.\" He adds: \"These causes are very real, despite\nthe objections of Lucas, who attacks them in order to establish his law\nof spontaneity. We see from examples that between considerable causes\nand their effects there exists an amazing disproportion.\"\n\nThe causes of diversity which operate at the instant of conception\ndepend, says Ribot, \"less upon the physical and moral natures of the\nparents than on the particular state in which they are at the moment of\nprocreation.\" This fact is referred to by M. de Quatrefages as fully\nproving the universality of the law of heredity, and M. Ribot adds, \"It\nenables us to understand that those transitory states which exist at the\nmoment of conception may exert a decisive influence on the nature of the\nbeing procreated, so that often, where now we see only spontaneity, a\nmore perfect knowledge of the causes at work would show us heredity.\"\n\nProfessor E. D. Cope, the well-known author of \"The Origin of the\nFittest,\" would seem to doubt the truth of the stories of birthmarks on\nthe ground that \"the effect of temporary impressions on the mother is\nnot strong enough to counterbalance the molecular structure established\nby impressions oftener repeated throughout much longer periods of\ntime.\"[59:A] And yet there is no doubt that birthmarks do occasionally\noccur, although it is very difficult to obtain properly authenticated\ncases of them.\n\n\nAN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE.--How great is the influence on unborn offspring\nof the mother's mental condition, as well as the effect over them of\npleasant surroundings, is shown by the following case. A young girl\nattracted attention by her beauty and by the superiority of the type she\nexhibited over that of either of her parents, and on her mother being\nspoken to on the subject she remarked:\n\n\"In my early married life my husband and I learned how to live in holy\nrelations, after God's ordinance. My husband lovingly consented to let\nme live apart from him during the time I carried this little daughter\nunder my heart, and also while I was nursing her. Those were the\nhappiest days of my life. Every day before my child was born, I could\nhave hugged myself with delight at the prospect of becoming a mother. My\nhusband and I were never so tenderly, so harmoniously, or so happily\nrelated to each other, and I never loved him more deeply than during\nthose blessed months. I was surrounded by all beautiful things, and one\npicture of a lovely face was especially in my thought. My daughter looks\nmore like that picture than she does like either of us. From the time\nshe was born she was like an exquisite rosebud--the flower of pure,\nsanctified, happy love. She never cried at night, was never fretful or\nnervous, but was all smiles and winning baby ways, filling our hearts\nand home with perpetual gladness. To this day, and she is now fourteen\nyears old, I have never had the slightest difficulty in bringing her up.\nShe turns naturally to the right, and I never knew her to be cross or\nimpatient or hard to manage. She has given me only comfort; and I\nrealize from an experience of just the opposite nature that the reason\nof all this is because my little girl had her birthright.\"\n\nThe future experience of this lady was, however, of a very different\nnature. She added:\n\n\"A few years later I was again about to become a mother, but with what\ndifferent feelings! My husband had become contaminated with the popular\nidea that even more and frequent relations were permissible during\npregnancy. I was powerless against this wicked sophistry, and was\nobliged to yield to his constant desires. But how I suffered and cried;\nhow wretched I was; how nervous and almost despairing! Worst of all, I\nfelt my love and trusting faith turning to dread and repulsion.\n\n\"My little boy, on whom my husband set high hopes, was born after nine\nof the most unhappy, distressing months of my life, a sickly, nervous,\nfretting child--myself in miniature, and after five years of life that\nwas predestined by all the circumstances to be just what it was, after\ngiving us only anxiety and care, he died, leaving us sadder and wiser.\n\n\"I have demonstrated to my own abundant satisfaction that there is but\none right, God-given way to beget and rear children, and I know that I\nam only one of many who can corroborate this testimony.\"\n\nThe following case of prenatal culture appeared in _The Philosophical_\nfor October 5, 1895, above the signature of \"John Allyn,\" who says:\n\n\"About forty years ago I was a neighbor of a young couple who had been\nrecently married. They were of fair natural abilities, but not highly\neducated. The wife could play on the piano well and accompany it with\nher voice. The husband was a house-building contractor. Before their\nfirst child was born the wife was provided with instruments for drawing,\nand interested herself in their use and mathematical calculations\nconnected with them. The child proved to be a boy, who took to\narchitectural drawing as by instinct. With very little effort he became\nproficient, and is now employed at a high salary by the Southern Pacific\nRailroad as their architect.\n\n\"Some years later, before the second child was born, the mother\ninterested herself with music with reference to the effect it would have\non the unborn child. This child proved to be a girl, who is now an\nexpert singer, finding ready employment in opera companies. Though not a\nstar, she has a superior talent for music which enabled her to take\nadvantages of musical training easily.\"\n\n\nBELIEFS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES.--Whenever such cases happen, it is under\nthe influence of some very strong emotion, during the period of\ngestation, arising from the action on the nervous system of the mother\nby an external object presented to the sight, the organ of which would\nseem to have an intimate association with the general muscular system.\nThere is nothing to show that primitive peoples recognized the action of\nprenatal influence through the senses; but there is a very curious\ncustom, which is so widespread at the present time that we may well\nsuppose it to have been formerly almost universal, dependent upon the\nimagined effect of the eating of animal flesh. All primitive peoples\nbelieve that a man acquires physical or mental characteristics from\nanimals of whose flesh he partakes. Cannibalism is closely connected\nwith this notion, as the man who eats part of the body of a foe is\nthought to become endowed with the victim's courage, strength or other\nspecial quality. Probably the Mosaic regulations as to unclean animals,\nthat is, animals unfit for food, was based on such an idea; and\ncertainly the command to abstain from eating blood was thus connected;\nas we are told the blood is the life, and if so, then it must be the\ncarrier of vital influences.\n\nThe custom above referred to, which is known to ethnologists as _la\ncouvade_, or \"hatching,\" supposes injurious action on the organism of\nthe child of food eaten by its parents, as appears from the facts\nbrought together by Dr. E. B. Tylor in his \"Researches into the Early\nHistory of Mankind.\" The couvade usually has reference to the period\nimmediately following the birth of a child; but among the native tribes\nof South America, where it is more extensively prevalent than elsewhere,\nit is observed while the child is still unborn. Thus, in Brazil,\naccording to Von Martius, \"A strict regimen is preserved before the\nbirth; the man and the woman refrain for a time from the flesh of\ncertain animals, and live chiefly on fish and fruits.\" The peculiarity\nof the couvade custom, and that which gives it its special interest, is\nthe fact that it usually concerns the father and not the mother, as\ninjury to the child is supposed to be due to the conduct of the former\nrather than of the latter. Thus, among the Land Dyaks of Borneo, \"The\nhusband, before the birth of his child, may do no work with a sharp\ninstrument, except what is necessary for the farm; nor may he fire guns,\nnor strike animals, nor do any violent work, lest bad influences should\naffect the child; and after it is born the father is kept in seclusion\nindoors for several days, and dieted on rice and salt, to prevent not\nhis own but his child's stomach from swelling.\"\n\nHere food abstinence takes place after the birth of the child, but,\naccording to Brett, in Guinea \"Some of the Acawois and Caribi nations,\nwhen they have reason to expect an increase of their families consider\nthemselves bound to abstain from certain kinds of meat, lest the\nexpected child should, in some mysterious way, be injured by the\npartaking of it. The acouri (or agouti) is thus tabooed, lest, like that\nlittle animal, the child should be meager; the haimara, also, lest it\nshould be blind--the outer coating of the eye of the fish suggesting\nfilm or cataract; the labba, lest the infant's mouth should protrude\nlike the labba's, or lest it be spotted like the labba, which spots\nwould ultimately become sores.\"\n\nAnother related case, of more recent observation, is that of the\nMotumotu of New Guinea, who say that after conception the _mother_ must\nnot eat sweet potato or taro, lest the head of the child grow out of\nproportion, and the _father_ must not eat crocodile or several kinds of\nfish, lest the child's legs grow out of proportion. At Suan, a husband\nshuts himself up for some days after the birth of his first child, and\nwill eat nothing.[65:A]\n\nVarious explanations of the custom of couvade have been offered, and\nprobably C. Staniland Wake is right when he states that it is connected\nwith the idea that the father is the real source of the child's\nlife.[66:A] As he points out, on the authority of M. Girard-Teulon,\namong the European Basques, even at the present day, a husband enters\nhis wife's abode only \"for the purpose of reproduction, and to work for\nthe benefit of his wife.\" Mr. Wake remarks that, \"With some of the\nBrazilian tribes, when a man becomes a father he goes to bed instead of\nhis wife, and all the women of the village come to console him for the\npain and suffering he has had in making this child.\" This agrees with\nthe idea entertained by so many peoples that the child is derived from\nthe father only, the mother being merely its nourisher. When such an\nidea is held, it is not surprising if, as among the Abipones, the belief\nis formed that \"the father's carelessness influences the new-born\noffspring, from a natural bond and sympathy of both,\" or if the father\nabstains, either before or after the child's birth, from eating any\nfood, or performing any actions which are thought capable of doing it\nharm. Still more so, if the child is regarded, as is sometimes the case,\nas the reincarnation of the father, a notion which is supported by the\nfact, pointed out by Mr. Gerald Massey, that in the couvade the parent\nidentifies himself with the infant child, into which he has been\ntypically transformed.\n\nThat conclusion agrees with the opinion expressed by Mr. Tylor, that\nthe couvade \"implicitly denies that physical separation of 'individuals'\nwhich a civilized man would probably set down as a first principle\ncommon by nature to all mankind. . . . It shows us a number of distinct\nand distant tribes deliberately holding the opinion that the connection\nbetween father and child is not only, as we think, a mere relation of\nparentage, affection, duty, but that their very bodies are joined by a\nphysical bond, so that what is done to the one acts directly upon the\nother.\"[67:A] The couvade custom is thus closely connected with the\nquestion of the special relationship of a child to one or other of its\nparents. Curious notions on this subject have been formed from time to\ntime; but the ancients almost universally entertained the idea held by\nthe Greeks that \"the father, as endowed with creative power, was clothed\nwith the divine character, but not the mother, who was only the bearer\nand nourisher of the child.\" Professor Hearn accepts this view in his\nwork, \"The Aryan Household,\" and suggests as the Aryan thought on the\nsubject: \"A male was the first founder of the house. His descendants\nhave 'the nature of the same blood' as he. They, in common, possess the\nsame mysterious principle of life. The life spark, so to speak, has\nbeen once kindled, and its identity, in all its transmissions, must be\npreserved. But the father is the life-giver. He alone transmits the life\nspark, which from his father he received. The daughter receives, indeed,\nthe principle of life, but she cannot transmit it.\"\n\nM. Ribot, who, as we have seen, endorses the popular belief as to the\npossibility of the fetus being affected, during uterine existence,\nthrough the organism of the mother, reduces all the obscure causes of\ndeviation from heredity to two classes. Of these, the first is the\ndisproportion of effects to causes, already mentioned; and the second is\nthe transformation of heredity. As to the first of these causes, he lays\nit down as a general truth that \"the more complicated the mechanism, the\ngreater the disproportion between accidental causes and their effects.\"\nHe supports this conclusion by reference to Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire's\nresearches on the production of monsters, and he affirms that the\ndisproportion between cause and effect cannot be foreseen by measuring,\nbut is known only by experience, as \"psychological laws are analogous\nnow to mechanical and now to chemical laws,\" so that it is impossible to\nproceed by deduction from causes to effects. (Page 207.)\n\n\nBIRTHMARKS RARE.--And yet the very fact that cases of birthmarks are\ncomparatively rare, proves the greatly preponderating influence of\nheredity over the constitution of the offspring, modified by the\ndisposition of the parents at the time of procreation. Professor Cope\nhas some explanatory remarks on that subject which deserve quotation. He\nsays--after referring to the hypothesis that growth-force may be,\nthrough the motive force of the animal, directed to any locality,\nwhether the commencement of an executive organ has begun or not--that \"A\ndifficulty in the way of this hypothesis is the frequently unyielding\ncharacter of the structure of adult animals, and the difficulty of\nbringing sufficient pressure to bear on them without destroying life.\nBut, in fact, the modifications must, in most instances, take place\nduring the period of growth. It is well known that the mental\ncharacteristics of the father are transmitted through the spermatozoid,\nand that, therefore, the molecular movements which produce the mechanism\nof such mental characters must exist in the spermatozoid. But the\nmaterial of the spermatozoid is combined with that of the ovum, and the\nembryo is compounded of the animal contents of both bodies. In a\nwonderful way the embryo develops into a being which resembles one or\nboth parents in minute details. This result is evidently determined by\nthe molecular and dynamic character of the original reproductive cells\nwhich necessarily communicate their properties to the embryo which is\nproduced by their subdivisions.\" Professor Cope goes on to say, \"Richard\nHering has identified this property of the original cells with the\nfaculty of memory. This is a brilliant thought, and, under restriction,\nprobably correct. The sensations of persons who have suffered amputation\nshow that their sensorium maintained a picture or map of the body so far\nas regards the location of all its sensitive regions. This simulcrum is\ninvested with consciousness whenever the proper stimulus is applied, and\nthe character of the stimulus is fixed by it. This picture probably\nresides in many of the cells, both sensory and motor, and it probably\ndoes so in the few cells of simple and low forms of life. The\nspermatozoid is such a cell, and, how or why we know not, also contains\nsuch an arrangement of its contents, and contains and communicates such\na type of force. It is probable that in the brain-cell this is the\ncondition of memory of locality. If, now, an intense and long-continued\npressure of stimulus produces an unconscious picture of some organ of\nthe body in the mind, there is reason to suppose that the energies\ncommunicated to the embryo by the spermatozoid and ovum will partake of\nthe memory thus created. The only reason why the oft-repeated stories of\nbirthmarks are so often untrue, is because the effect of temporary\nimpressions on the mother is not strong enough to counterbalance the\nmolecular structure established by impressions often repeated\nthroughout much larger periods of time.\"[71:A]\n\n\nWHY CHILDREN RESEMBLE PARENTS.--That children reproduce the general and\nphysical and mental characteristics of their parents in combination is\nunquestionable truth, although the particular mode in which they are\ncommunicated is yet undetermined, notwithstanding the fact mentioned by\nProfessor Cope that they are somehow conveyed by the microscopic sperm\nand germ in the union of which the new being has its beginning. Thus\nevery individual must possess the general characteristics of the\nprimitive human family from which through a vast number of ancestors he\nhas descended. And yet at every stage of descent the organism may have\nobtained fresh characters, or at least have undergone some modification.\nAs remarked by Dr. G. H. Th. Eimer, \"Every character which must have\nbeen formed through the activity of the organism is an acquired\ncharacter. All characters, therefore, which have been developed by\nexertion are acquired, and these characters are inherited from\ngeneration to generation. The same holds for all organs atrophied\nthrough disease--the degree of atrophy is acquired and inherited. In the\nfirst class we see especially the action of direct adaptation; in the\nsecond, the results of the cessation of the action. A third class of\nacquired characters is to be traced simply to the immediate action of\nthe environment on the organism, and, originally, at the commencement of\ntheir appearance, all characters must have belonged to this\nclass.\"[72:A] We have here a general argument in opposition to the\ntheory propounded by Professor Weismann, that acquired characters are\nnot transmissible. Elsewhere (page 382) Dr. Eimer observes: \"Phyletic\ngrowth, or the evolution of the organic world ever into higher and more\ncomplex forms, or at least into forms of different structure, is, as I\nhave said, merely the sum of the processes of growth of the\nancestors--together with the result of external influences on the forms\nduring their development and their existence. This additional\nmodification which the individuals as such undergo is--together with the\ninfluence of crossing--the very cause of the constantly progressing\nevolution. All that the members of a series of individuals directly\nconnected by descent acquire constitutes together the material for the\nformation of a new species.\"\n\n\nLIFE'S EXPERIENCES AFFECTING CHILD.--Unless characteristics acquired by\nan individual, that is, the modifications of the organism due to his\nown life experiences, are capable of being handed down to his offspring,\nit is difficult to see how any progress could be made in the development\nof the race. Weismann's declaration that acquired characters are not\ntransmissible was a surprise to the scientific world when first made,\nbut it has been accepted by many Darwinians. His conclusion is dependent\non his doctrine of heredity, which differs from that propounded by\nDarwin, but is by no means new; as its leading ideas, as pointed out by\nProfessor G. J. Romanes,[73:A] are largely a reproduction of those of\nMr. Francis Galton, whose work on heredity attracted much attention when\nfirst published. The views of Darwin, Galton and Weismann on that\nsubject have been compared by Professor Romanes, who explains the\ndistinction between them. He says (page 133), after referring to the\nsupposed continuity of the germ-plasm, common to the theories of Galton\nand Weismann, but not required by that of Darwin, \"The three theories\nmay be ranked thus--The particulate elements of heredity all proceed\ncentripetally from somatic-cells to germ-cells (gemmules): the\ninheritance of acquired characters is therefore habitual.\n\n\"These particulate elements proceed for the most part, though not\nexclusively, from germ-cells to somatic-cells (stirp): the inheritance\nof acquired characters is therefore but occasional.\n\n\"The elements in question proceed exclusively in the centrifugal\ndirection last mentioned (germ-plasm): the inheritance of acquired\ncharacters is therefore impossible.\"\n\nThe first of these theories is that of Darwin, and the last that of\nWeismann, whose notion of the continuity of germ-plasm supposes that no\npart of an organism generates any of the formative material which goes\nto make up its offspring. This material is regarded in much the same\nlight as the sperm which the male parent confides to the keeping of the\nfemale, according to the notion of the ancient world above referred to.\nFor, as Romanes states (page 26): \"In each generation a small portion of\nthis substance [germ-plasm] is told off to develop a new body to lodge\nand nourish the ever-growing and never-dying germ-plasm--this new body,\ntherefore, resembling its so-called parent body simply because it has\nbeen developed from one and the same mass of formative material; and,\nlastly, that this formative material, or germ-plasm, has been continuous\nthrough all generations of successively perishing bodies, which\ntherefore stand to it in much the same relation as annual shoots to a\nperennial stem: the shoots resemble one another simply because they are\nall grown from one and the same stock.\"\n\nAlthough Professor Weismann denies that acquired characters, that is,\nindividual peculiarities arising as the result of personal experience,\nare transmitted, he admits that congenital characters, that is,\npeculiarities with which an individual is born, are transmitted to\noffspring. As congenital characters must, originally, have been\nindividual, it is not easy at first sight to perceive Weismann's real\nmeaning. It is necessary, therefore, to enter more particularly into a\nconsideration of his theory, which he regards as in general accord with\nDarwin's theory of pangenesis. Darwin supposes that all the cells of the\nbody continually give off great numbers of _gemmules_, which are\nconveyed by the blood and deposited in the germ-cells of the organism.\nThese cells are thus endowed with the power of developing a new organism\nof the same kind, each gemmule reproducing the cell from which it was\nderived. These ultimate vital units are called by Weismann _biophors_,\nbut he supposes them not to be the ultimate \"bearers of vitality.\" They\nare said to be arranged in groups to which the term _determinants_ is\napplied, and these groups are combined so as to form ancestral _ids_ or\ngerm-plasms. Each determinant, which is made up of perfectly definite\nnumbers and combinations of biophors, is the primary constituent of a\nparticular cell, or of a group of cells, such as a blood corpuscle. The\ndeterminants thus \"control the cell by breaking up into biophors, which\nmigrate into the cell body through the nuclear membrane, multiply there,\narrange themselves according to the forces within them, and determine\nthe histological structure of the cell,\" impressing upon it its\ninherited specific character. The structure of the cell, and of every\nsubsequent stage, exists therefore potentially in the inherited\nstructure of the id, and the determination of its character \"depends on\nthe biophors which the corresponding determinant contains, and which it\ntransmits to the cell.\"\n\n\nGERM-PLASM.--While Weismann regarded germ-plasm as absolutely stable,\nthe only mode by which congenital variation could be brought about was\nthat of _amphimixis_, or intermingling of individuals in the process of\ngeneration. As modified, however, by his latest work, \"The Germ-plasm, a\nTheory of Heredity,\" published in 1892, his theory now allows the plasm\nto be capable of modification, and he ascribes that variation to the\ndirect effects of external influences on the biophors and determinants\nof the germ-plasm. The instability of this substance is so slight,\nhowever, that congenital variations cannot be acted on and perpetuated\nby natural selection, and the influence of amphimixis is thus required\nfor the purpose. Mr. Herbert Spencer, however, in criticising\nWeismann's theory, declares that \"functionally produced modifications of\nstructure are transmissible,\" and he refers in support of his contention\nto the remarkable effect of arrested nutrition on the structure and\nhabits of wasps and bees. It especially affects the reproductive organs,\nand hence there is no occasion to call in the aid of amphimixis to\nperpetuate the variations produced, its office being the blending of the\nelements on which the characteristics of offspring depend.\n\nIf it be asked how modifications are actually transmitted, we may say\nthat it can be only by an affection of the germ-cell. This probably\ntakes place by deviations in the structure of what Weismann calls\ndeterminants, or of groups of determinants, through rearrangement of\ntheir primary units. The modification would be preceded, however, by a\ncorresponding change in the nerve centers concerned in the use or disuse\nof the organs affected. Mr. Spencer shows that under certain conditions\nchanges take place in the conduct of certain insects, and that \"the\nmaternal activities and instincts undergo analogous changes,\"[77:A]\nfacts which point to a loss of nervous energy and to an intimate\nconnection between the nervous system and the reproductive function. Use\nor disuse first increases or diminishes the activity of certain nerve\ncenters, and this leads to a modification of the corresponding\ngerm-cells. If so, the determinants, instead of being first affected, as\nproposed by Weismann, and thus determining the variations, are in\nreality modified as the result of the functional changes, and are thus\ncapable of transmitting these changes to succeeding generations.\n\nIn a subsequent article, published in _The Contemporary Review_ for\nOctober, 1894, Mr. Spencer recapitulates his argument in favor of the\ntransmission of acquired characters, and refers to observations made by\nProfessor Hertwig and others, which he regards as \"showing, firstly,\nthat all the multiplying cells of the developing embryo are alike; and,\nsecondly, that the soma-cells of the adult severally retain, in a latent\nform, all the powers of the original embryo-cell,\" facts which he\nrightly considers disproves Weismann's hypothesis of _panmixia_. If this\nis surrendered, then, says Mr. Spencer, \"all that evidence collected by\nMr. Darwin and others, regarded by them as proof of the inheritance of\nacquired characters, which was cavalierly set aside on the strength of\nthis alleged process of panmixia is reinstated. And this reinstated\nevidence, joined with much evidence since furnished, suffices to\nestablish the repudiated interpretation.\"\n\nGreat stress was laid by Professor Weismann, as evidence in support of\nhis theory, on the supposed fact that the inheritance of injuries\nsustained during life has not been proved. Particular attention has been\npaid to this point by Dr. Eimer, in relation to which he remarks: \"That\ninjuries incurred during life are but seldom transmitted to the\noffspring does not appear to me wonderful: the inheritance of the\ncomplete form and complete activities of the organism, which took root\nsuch enormously long periods of time ago, and has been strengthened at\neach generation, will, as a rule, counterbalance in the offspring any\nsuch injuries incurred only once and not repeated.\"[79:A] This is the\nsame argument as was used, as quoted above, by Professor Cope, to\ndisprove the occurrence of birthmarks, and Dr. Eimer goes on to state\nthat there are injuries which are not transmitted to offspring, although\nthey are constantly repeated, as an instance of which he refers to the\nrupture of the hymen. He adds, however: \"In such cases we must presume a\nspecially effective power of correlative activity, directed to the part\naffected and residing in the whole organism--the same compensating power\nwhich leads in lower animals, during the life of the individual, to the\nregeneration of parts which have been lost or artificially removed. But\nthese cases do not prove the general proposition that injuries are not\ninherited; they do not prove that even injuries which have been\nrepeated during a considerable period are not inherited. Hitherto little\nimportance has been attached to the demonstration of the inheritance of\ninjuries. Yet single cases of the inheritance of injuries only once\nincurred seem to me to be thoroughly authentic.\"\n\n\nCONGENITAL DEFORMITIES.--Professor Weismann, in replying to the\ncriticisms of Professor Virchow, admitted the existence of a number of\ncongenital deformities, birthmarks and other individual peculiarities,\nwhich are inherited, but he affirms that we do not know from what causes\nthey first appeared, and that a great proportion of them proceed from\nthe germ itself, and are due, therefore, to alteration of the germinal\nsubstance. There is no proof of this, however, according to Dr.\nEimer,[80:A] who appeals to various facts in support of his contention\nthat injuries and diseases are inherited. He thinks the degeneration of\nthe tail in the higher mammals is a case in point, although it has\nrequired great periods of time to complete. Among other instances of\ninherited injuries mentioned by Dr. Eimer is one in which a scar over\nthe left ear and temple, caused to a girl by being thrown from a\ncarriage, was transmitted to her son and grandson, the son of the latter\nalso showing absence of hair on the injured spot, although the defect\ngradually disappeared with him, nearly a hundred years after the\naccident. The case of Dr. Nosseler, who inherited from his mother a\ncrushed finger joint, caused by an accident which happened two years\nbefore his birth, would seem to be conclusive proof that injuries are\ntransmissible. Dr. Eimer refers also to the breeding of short-tailed\npointers from dogs whose tails had been artificially shortened; and also\nto Brown-Sequard's experiments with guinea pigs, in which epilepsy was\ninherited by their offspring, who showed also the loss of certain\nphalanges, or even whole toes of the hind feet, the parents having\nsuffered a similar loss owing to the division of the sciatic nerve. He\nadds that numerous other instances of the inheritance of injuries have\nbeen recorded, as \"inheritance of the artificially shortened tail of the\nbull, of artificially produced hornlessness in cattle, many cases of\ninheritance in man of curvature in a finger, caused by injury,\ninheritance of the absence of one eye which had been lost by the father\nduring life or by disease, etc.\"\n\nThe question of the inheritance of deformities and diseases, and the\ncauses of the germ-variations on which it depends, have been considered\nby Zeigler, whose conclusions, as quoted by Dr. Eimer (page 186), are\ntoo important to be omitted. The causes which Zeigler assigns for the\norigin of such germ-variations are of three kinds. These are: 1--Union\nof sexual nuclei which are not adapted for copulation; 2--Disturbance of\nthe copulatory process itself; 3--Injurious influences which affect the\nsexual nuclei or the fertilized ovum at a time when separation of the\nsexual cells from the body cells has not yet occurred. \"If the embryo is\ninjuriously affected at a later period,\" says Zeigler, \"either a\nmalformation or a constitutional anomaly arises, which is not inherited,\nor only the sexual cells are injured, in which case the body-cells\ndevelop normally, and a disturbance shows itself only in the development\nof the next generation.\" The union of sexual nuclei not adapted for\ncopulation appears, however, to be \"the most frequent and most important\ncause of hereditary local malformations as well as of hereditary morbid\ntendencies, or of a defect in any system of the whole organism.\" If the\nnuclei are altogether unadapted to each other, sterility occurs, as in\nthe sexual nuclei of distinct species.\n\n\nPSYCHICAL DISEASES.--Zeigler's conclusions are supported by reference to\nthe enquiries of the distinguished psychiatrist, D. Von Krafft-Ebings,\nwho has considered the heredity of psychical diseases, and in connection\ntherewith mentions three \"essential facts\" which it is necessary to keep\nin view when dealing with that subject. The first of these facts is\nAtavism, by which \"the bodily and mental organization and character can\nbe transmitted from the first to the third generation, without any\nnecessity that the second and intermediate one should exhibit the\npeculiarities of the first--thus the condition of the life and health of\nthe grandparents are of interest for us.\" Secondly, \"Only in rare cases\nis the actual disease transmitted in procreation (congenital insanity,\nhereditary syphilis), as a rule only the disposition thereto. Actual\ndisease only occurs when accessory injurious influences produce an\neffect based upon that disposition. . . . We must, therefore, consider\nalso the state of health of the relatives (uncles, cousins, aunts), and\nsince here also the law of atavism holds good, the possible diseases of\ngreat-uncles and great-aunts.\" Thirdly, Dr. Von Krafft-Ebings says,\n\"Only exceptionally does the same disease develop in ascendant as\nin descendant lines, in consequence of the transmission of morbid\ndispositions. On the contrary, there exists a remarkable variability in\nthe forms of disease which may almost claim the value of a law (the law\nof polymorphism or transmutation).\"\n\nThis law is referred to by M. Ribot as one of the causes of deviation\nfrom heredity, and he speaks of it as \"transformation.\" As examples of\ntransformation of heredity, Ribot refers to fixed ideas in the\nprogenitor, which may become in the descendants \"melancholy, taste for\nmeditation, aptitude for the exact sciences, energy of will, etc.;\" the\nmania of progenitors may be changed in the descendants into \"aptitude\nfor the arts, liveliness of imagination, quickness of mind,\ninconsistency in desires, sudden and variable will.\" \"Just as real\ninsanity,\" says Moreau of Tours, \"may be hereditarily reproduced only\nunder the form of eccentricity, may be transmitted from progenitors to\ndescendants only in modified form, and in more or less mitigated\ncharacter, so a state of simple eccentricity in the parent--a state\nwhich is no more than a peculiarity or a strangeness of character--may\nin the children be the origin of true insanity. Thus in transformations\nof heredity we sometimes have the germ attaining its maximum intensity;\nand again, a maximum of activity may revert to the minimum.\"[84:A]\n\nIt should be borne in mind, as mentioned by Von Krafft-Ebings,[84:B]\nthat everything which debilitates the nervous system and the generative\npowers of the parents, \"be it immaturity or too advanced old age,\nprevious debilitating diseases (typhus, syphilis), mercurial treatment,\nalcoholic and sexual excesses, overwork, etc., may give rise to\nneuropathic constitutions, and thereby indirectly to every possible\nnervous disease in the descendants.\"\n\n\nTELEGONY.--There is one remarkable phenomenon, spoken of by various\nwriters as _telegony_, which has an important bearing on the subject of\nthe transmission of acquired characters, and shows the action of\nprenatal influence in an unexpected form. It is referred to by Professor\nRomanes, when he says, \"It has not unfrequently been observed, at any\nrate in mammals, that when a female has borne progeny to a male of one\nvariety, and subsequently bears progeny to a male of another variety,\nthe younger progeny presents a more or less unmistakable resemblance to\nthe father of the older one.\"[85:A] This curious fact was considered, in\nrelation to plants especially, by Darwin, who affirms, as quoted by\nRomanes, that it is of the highest theoretical importance, as \"The male\nelement not only affects, in accordance with its proper function, the\ngerm, but at the same time various parts of the mother-plant, in the\nsame manner as it affects the same parts in the seminal offspring from\nthe same two parents. We thus learn that an ovule is not indispensable\nfor the reception of the influence of the male element.\"\n\nThe curious phenomenon of telegony is not limited, however, to plants.\nMr. Herbert Spencer drew attention, in _The Contemporary Review_ for\nMarch, 1893, to a case which has long been known to horsebreeders, and\nwhich may be said to have become classic. The facts were brought, by the\nEarl of Morton, to the attention of the Royal Society of Great Britain,\nas long ago as the year 1820. The Earl, who possessed a male quagga,\nsaid, in a letter to the President: \"I tried to breed from the male\nquagga and a young chestnut mare of seven-eighths Arabian blood, and\nwhich had never been bred from; the result was the production of a\nfemale hybrid, now five years old, and bearing, both in her form and in\nher colour, very decided indications of her mixed origin. I subsequently\nparted with the seven-eighths Arabian mare to Sir Gore Ouseley, who has\nbred from her by a very fine black Arabian horse. I yesterday morning\nexamined the produce, namely, a two-year-old filly and a one-year-old\ncolt. They have the character of the Arabian breed as decidedly as can\nbe expected, where fifteen-sixteenths of the blood are Arabian; and they\nare fine specimens of that breed; but both in their colour and in the\nhair of their manes they have a striking resemblance to the quagga.\nTheir colour is bay, marked more or less like the quagga in a darker\ntint. Both are distinguished by the dark line along the ridge of the\nback, the dark stripes across the forehead, and the dark bars across the\nback part of the legs.\" Mr. Spencer refers to an analogous case of the\ninfluence of a wild boar over the subsequent progeny of a domestic sow,\nand it now appears that such effects are not so uncommon as the\nscientific world has supposed.\n\nProfessor Romanes made particular enquiries on this subject of\nprofessional and amateur breeders of animals, and he says most of his\ncorrespondents \"are quite persuaded that it is of frequent occurrence,\nmany of them regard it as a general rule, while some of them go so far\nas to make a point of always putting a mare, bitch, etc., to a good\npedigree male in her first season, so that her subsequent progenies may\nbe benefited by his influence, even though they be engendered by\ninferior sires.\"[87:A] His own more modest conclusion is that the\nevidence he obtained \"is enough to prove the fact of a previous sire\nasserting his influence on a subsequent progeny, although this fact is\none of comparatively rare occurrence.\"\n\nThe English Darwinian met with only one case in which the offspring of a\nwoman by a second husband, who was a white man, showed the influence of\nher first husband, who was a negro. Mr. Herbert Spencer would seem to\nhave been more successful. In _The Contemporary Review_ for May, 1893,\nMr. Spencer gives the result of his own enquiries as to the effect on a\nwhite woman's subsequent progeny of a previous union with a negro, and\nhe quotes the opinion of a \"distinguished correspondent,\" that\ninformation given to him many years ago was to the effect that \"the\nchildren of white women by a white father had been _repeatedly_ observed\nto show traces of black blood, in cases where the woman had previous\nconnexion with [i. e., a child by] a negro.\" Mr. Spencer refers also to\nProfessor Marsh as authority for such a case, and to the opinion of\nseveral medical professors who assured him, through Dr. W. J. Youmans,\nthat the alleged result \"is generally accepted as a fact.\" He gives as\nauthoritative testimony the following statement by Dr. Austin Flint,\ntaken from his \"Text-book of Human Physiology:\" \"A peculiar and, it\nseems to me, an inexplicable fact is, that previous pregnancies had an\ninfluence upon offspring. This is well known to breeders of animals. If\npure blooded mares or bitches have been once covered by an inferior\nmale, in subsequent fecundations the young are likely to partake of the\ncharacter of the first male, even if they be bred with males of\nunimpeachable pedigree. What the mechanism of the influence of the first\nconception is, it is impossible to say; but the fact is incontestable.\nThe same influence is observed in the human subject. A woman may have,\nby a second husband, children who resemble a former husband, and this is\nparticularly well marked in certain instances by the color of the hair\nand eyes. A white woman who has had children by a negro may\nsubsequently bear children to a white man, these children presenting\nsome of the unmistakable peculiarities of the negro race.\"\n\nThis phenomenon would alone seem to answer the question of the\ntransmission of acquired characters in the affirmative, for its\nexplanation is to be found in the facts brought out by Darwin, as to the\naction of foreign pollen on the structure of the mother plant; in\nrelation to which Professor Romanes remarks: \"When one variety\nfertilizes the ovules of another not unfrequently the influence extends\nbeyond the ovules to the ovarium, and even to the calyx and\nflower-stalk, of the mother plant. This influence, which may affect the\nshape, size, colour, and texture of the somatic tissues of the mother,\nhas been observed in a large number of plants belonging to many\ndifferent orders.\"[89:A] May we not have here the explanation of the\nfact, which has frequently been pointed out, that husband and wife show\na tendency to grow like each other, both physically and mentally, the\nresemblance after a long married life being sometimes very striking?\n\n\nPOWER OF HEREDITY.--The most important fact brought out in the\ndiscussion of the possibility of the transmission of acquired characters\nis the power of heredity. If organisms did not reproduce their own\nspecial characteristics, there could be no fixity of form and no order\nin organic nature. Nevertheless, if there were no change by individual\nmodification or divergence, in whatever way this may be rendered\npermanent in the race, there could be no evolution. Hence we can say,\nwith Dr. Eimer, \"Any one who thus completely renders allegiance to the\nsupremacy of the principles of the unity of the organic world, who\nrejects everything which contradicts that principle, cannot help\nadmitting that in truth, as I assert, the ultimate origin of the various\nkinships in the animal and vegetable kingdom is to be traced to\nindividual differences, and that the difference between the former, like\nthe latter, must be essentially determined by external conditions, by\nthe modification of organic growth.\"\n\nThe causes of diversity which interfere with the action of heredity may\noperate, as we have seen, at the moment of conception, or subsequent to\nconception. The former class of causes is of great importance, in\naccordance with the principle, laid down by M. Ribot, of the\ndisproportion of effects to causes, and it is essential, therefore, if\nchildren are to be well-born, that their parents should be careful that\nat the moment of procreation they are fitted for the performance of so\nserious an act. Mr. J. F. Nisbet in his \"Marriage and Heredity\" (page\n126), well observes, \"Twins usually bear a closer resemblance to each\nother than to their brothers and sisters born at a different period;\nand the reason generally assigned is that they are conceived under\nprecisely similar conditions. If so, it follows that the difference\nexisting between ordinary members of a family is due to their being born\nat considerable intervals of time and therefore under changed conditions\non the part of their parents.\"\n\n\nSOBRIETY IN THE FATHER.--Especially does it concern the father, who is\nthe most active agent in reproduction, to see that he is then in a fit\ncondition. This is quite apart from the question of the diseased\ncondition of the organism treated of by Dr. Von Krafft-Ebings, and\nrefers to temporary rather than to continuing causes. Sobriety is in\nthis connection of great importance, and, as appears from a passage,\nalready quoted, in Xenophon, was insisted on at the time of procreation,\nby the ancients.\n\nZeigler points out, as quoted by Dr. Eimer, that \"substances taken up\nfrom without, as, for example, poisons, are brought by the blood to the\nsexual cells, and others produced in the body are conveyed to the sexual\norgans.\"[91:A] It is suggested that alcohol has such an effect, and\nthere can be no doubt that a tendency to the drinking habit may be\nimplanted in a child by a parent intoxicated at the time of\nprocreation, with the possibility of its leading to other evils in\nsucceeding generations, ending in the early extinction of the family.\nNisbet refers to several cases of this character, and remarks (page 112)\nthat, \"There is a limit to the transmission of abnormal characters,\neither in an original or in a disguised form. Always striving after\nperfection, or rather uniformity of type, Nature either purifies a race\nof its physical and moral defects, or, if the type be too vicious,\nexterminates it, as in the case of the Caesars, the Stuarts, and many\nother historical families.\" Doutrebente came to the conclusion, however,\nthat insanity--and doubtless it is true of other conditions--may be\nworked out of a family by the infusion of healthy blood, except where\nboth parents were insane, in which case their offspring will become\nextinct.\n\nThe law of Leviticus (chap. x, verse 9) provides, under penalty of\ndeath, that the priests should not drink wine or strong drink before\ngoing into the tent of meeting. The more stringent regulations provided\nby this law in relation to intercourse between Jehovah and His people\nrequire physical and moral perfection in those who approach the deity,\nand they may be studied with advantage at the present day by those who\nwish to aid in the perfecting of the race. The man who had a blemish was\nnot allowed to go near the altar of sacrifice, that the sanctuary might\nnot be profaned; and the sanctuary of the human organism should no less\nbe preserved from profanation.\n\n\nSACREDNESS OF PARENTAGE.--It would be well if the sacred act of\nprocreation were performed more often in the spirit of the ancients, who\nregarded marriage as a sacred institution, designed not only for the\nperpetuation of the race, but also for the carrying on of the religion\nof the domestic hearth. The first-born child especially was considered\nto have been sent by the gods, and care was taken, therefore, that it\nshould be well-born. Prayer and offerings were made to the spirits\nbefore the nuptial bed was approached, and everything was done to ensure\nthe gift they were asked for should be in every respect worthy of them.\nAmong the ancient Hebrews the first-born of \"all that openeth the womb\"\nwas dedicated to Jehovah (Exodus xxxiv, 19), and hence the rights of the\neldest son could not be defeated by his father: \"for he is the beginning\nof his strength\" (Deut. xxi, 17).\n\nThe disturbance of uterine existence between conception and birth is\nthat which has engaged most attention, and the fact that such\ndisturbances can take place requires that the expectant mother should be\nprotected from anything that can so act on her own organism as to\nprevent the due operation of the law of heredity. The precautions taken\nby primitive peoples in relation to food may have some foundation in\nfact, and any food should be avoided by the enceinte woman which will\ninjuriously influence the system, or give rise to organic disturbances\nthat may affect the blood by which the embryo is nourished. Emotional\ndisturbances are to be no less avoided, as through the nervous system\nthey act on the blood itself. How far the action of the emotions can\ninfluence the physical organism has become a moot question with\npsychologists, who now seem inclined to think that \"movements are not\ncaused by the emotions, but are aroused reflexly by the object.\" Thus,\nif the sight of a disagreeable object affects by reflex action the\nmuscular system of the mother, it will arouse in her a concomitant\nemotion, which being transmitted to the embryo may act on its muscular\nsystem, leaving the impression as a birthmark, which may be regarded as\na reflection from the cerebral nerve center of the mother, whether\nemotion is the cause or effect of muscular movement.\n\nIf the unborn child can be affected injuriously by disturbances of the\nmother's environment, it is reasonable to suppose that the child can be\ninfluenced in the opposite direction by making that environment as\nconducive to the normal activity of the material organism as possible.\nThe story of Jacob and Laban, referred to at the beginning of this\nchapter, affords an important lesson as to the surroundings with which\nthe wife should be provided. The bedchamber itself may become a means\nof influencing offspring for good or evil, and hence it should contain\nonly what is agreeable to the senses, and capable of giving rise to\npleasant imaginings. Especially should this be the case where a woman is\nof a highly sensitive nature. Impressions received from without depend\nlargely for their force and influence, however, on the condition of the\nreceptive mind, and beautiful surroundings cannot make up for the want\nof inward harmony. A happy and contented mind is the best guarantee that\nthe due action of the law of heredity will not be disturbed at the time\nof conception or afterwards. Thus, bickerings between husband and wife\nmust have a disturbing effect, especially if carried into the\nbedchamber. The sage of old said: \"Let not the sun go down upon thy\nwrath,\" and parents should make it a point of duty, for the sake of\ntheir future offspring, never to let the disputes of the daytime--if\nunfortunately they occur--be carried into the night. The bedchamber is\nthe place for mental as well as physical repose.\n\nThe surest guarantee against the occurrence of conditions which may\ninjuriously affect the future offspring, either at the time of\nprocreation, or during the subsequent period of gestation, is to be\nfound in the general life of the parents. This will give the general\nimpress which affects the disposition of the child as a whole, and it\nwill show what are the conditions of the family life under the\ninfluence of which it was born. The nature of the \"home\" is thus an\nimportant factor in determining that of the offspring, and it will\nnecessarily be a reflection of the general character of those on whom it\ndepends. A noble life in the parent will bear fruit in the physical,\nintellectual and moral character of the child, and although this is true\nin relation to the father as well as to the mother, it is doubly true as\nto the latter, seeing that the mother alone is the bearer and nourisher\nof offspring during the period of gestation. During this period the\nchild acquires probably many of the characters which it inherits from\nits mother, and the maternal influence may thus be extended to the\nperiod of lactation. The importance attached to fosterage, where this\npractice became an established custom, as with the early Irish and\nArabs, would seem to prove that the characteristics of the nurse were to\nsome extent transmitted to the child with the milk. The early Arabs\nregarded the milk-tie as constituting a real unity of flesh and blood\nbetween the foster mother and the foster child, and between foster\nchildren, so much so as to be a bar to marriage.\n\n\nSELF-CONTROL.--One very serious matter which should be kept in mind by\nan expectant mother is the duty of exercising self-control. The\ninfluence of this principle in relation to the general life and conduct\nhas been repeatedly pointed out, and it is referred to by Jennie\nChandler in _The Journal of Hygiene_ for August, 1895, where we are\ntold: \"The power of self-mastery is believed by scientists to be the\nlast one acquired by the human race in the process of evolution, and the\nlast powers acquired are not so firmly fixed in our natures as some\nwhich have been longer in our possession. The result is, it becomes\nderanged more readily than more fixed forces. In many cases,\nself-control has never been acquired at all, and so the person can only\npartly master himself. As a rule, children have little of this power.\nThey are like animals. Little by little, as they grow older, it grows,\nand in some it becomes so well developed that it is almost perfect. In\nothers, like music in those who never acquire it, or any other faculty,\nit never becomes a potent factor in life.\"\n\nDr. Chandler adds, \"Woman as well as man needs to learn self-mastery.\nWith a large amount of feeling in her nature, it is very hard for her to\ndo it, but she should try. Too many of us go through life never making\nany effort to be our own masters. We give way to caprices, whims,\nfeelings, follies, far more than is good for our health. Hysteria gives\nus a good example of the loss of self-control. Any uncontrolled passion\ngives an equally vivid example. Men and women often say they can't\ngovern themselves; that is admitting they have defects of character\nwhich are their masters. They ought to make effort and see if they are\nnot mistaken. The worst effect of lack of self-control are on the\nhealth. It allows every kind of bad habit in eating, drinking, dressing,\nsleeping, to gain possession of the person, and the result is a weak\ninstead of a strong character.\"\n\nConsidering the effect which the organic disposition of the mother has\non the future offspring, it is evident that whether a child shall have\nthe power of self-control depends very largely on the mother herself,\nand it is all-important, therefore, that she should have and exercise\nthat power herself. As Dr. Chandler remarks, \"No matter how much you\nhave been to school, how many college degrees you have, you are not\neducated till you have a reasonable control of your own nature, and can\ndirect your own lives rather than have them directed for you by your\nfeelings and emotions.\" This truth obtains fresh significance when we\nconsider that a woman's conduct affects the direction not only of her\nown life, but the lives of her future children, and possibly of\nsucceeding generations.\n\nAlthough much has yet to be done to prove the actual effects on\noffspring of the conduct of its parents, enough is known to establish\nthe fact that both the general disposition and the particular conduct of\nfather or mother may interfere with the orderly action of the law of\nheredity. This law ensures the inheritance of race and individual\ncharacters; but when these are good, a noble life will cause the\ntendencies towards good to be still further strengthened in offspring,\nand if they are evil, then the disposition will receive an inclination\nin the opposite direction, or, at least, the further development of evil\nwill be arrested. On the other hand, a degrading life will produce bad\neffects on offspring, causing deterioration of the organic disposition\nand strengthening the tendency to evil it may have inherited, or\nweakening its tendencies towards the good.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[57:A] \"Heredity.\" By Th. Ribot (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1875), p.\n201.\n\n[59:A] \"The Origin of the Fittest.\" By E. D. Cope (D. Appleton & Co.,\nNew York). Page 408.\n\n[65:A] \"Pioneering in New Guinea.\" By James Chalmers. 1887. Page 165.\n\n[66:A] \"Development of Kinship and Marriage.\" Page 264.\n\n[67:A] \"Researches into the Early History of Mankind.\" Page 292.\n\n[71:A] Cope's \"Origin of the Fittest.\" (Redway, London. 1889.) Page 407.\n\n[72:A] \"Organic Evolution.\" Translated by J. T. Cunningham, M. A.\n(London, Macmillan & Co., 1890.) Page 86.\n\n[73:A] \"Examination of Weismannism.\" The Open Court Publishing Co.,\nChicago. 1893.\n\n[77:A] _The Contemporary Review_, September, 1893.\n\n[79:A] \"Organic Evolution.\" Translated by J. T. Cunningham, M. A. Page\n13.\n\n[80:A] \"Organic Evolution,\" page 176.\n\n[84:A] \"Organic Evolution,\" page 211.\n\n[84:B] Op. cit., page 201.\n\n[85:A] \"Examination of Weismannism,\" page 77.\n\n[87:A] \"Examination of Weismannism,\" page 22.\n\n[89:A] \"Examination of Weismannism,\" page 79.\n\n[91:A] \"Organic Evolution,\" page 187.\n\n\n\n\nHEREDITY AND EDUCATION.\n\n_A Lecture delivered before the Brooklyn Ethical Association._\n\n\nIn presenting the subject of heredity and its relation to education, it\nseems to me best to consider first what is meant by the term, and after\nthis the views held on the subject by our leading evolutionists, when\nits relation to education will be easier and, I hope, more satisfactory.\n\nIn common parlance, heredity is the transmission of any trait or\npeculiarity from the parent to the offspring, as the color of the hair,\nthe form of the nose, the tones of the voice; or any disease, or any\nspecial character that may exist in either parent.\n\nIf a horse has a star on its forehead like one of its ancestors, we say\nit is due to heredity. If an ox has color marks on its body like its\nparent, it is a case of heredity. If a human being has a disease which\nhis ancestors had, very often he declares he inherited it from them,\neven if it be only a common catarrh. But this is a narrow view of the\nsubject, and does not include all that a biologist means when he uses\nthis word.\n\nBy heredity he understands the production from a fertilized ovum of an\nindividual, with all the general characteristics of structure and\nfunction of body and brain of the species to which it belongs. It means\nthat the offspring, however much they may vary in general characters,\nwill always be of the same species as the parents. The offspring of dogs\nwill be dogs; of wolves, wolves; of negroes, negroes, and of white men,\nwhite men. Anything less is not heredity in its full sense.\n\nDarwin, whom we all love and honor, says: \"The whole subject of\ninheritance is wonderful,\" and in this he but voices the universal\nsentiment of those who have given any serious consideration to it. Let\nme try to show you how wonderful it is by an illustration. From very\nancient times the horse has been the constant companion of man. This\nanimal, with his splendid muscular system, the most perfect, perhaps, of\nany creature, has for his food and shelter, and not always the best of\nthese, rendered mankind almost infinite service. Now, every horse that\nhas ever been born into the world began life as a minute ovum, which\nunder the microscope presents no appearance of a horse, or any other\nanimal, and, strange to say, this ovum is, to all appearance, like the\novum of other animals, and no amount of study, without knowing its\norigin, can decide whether it will develop as a dog, an ox, a horse or a\nman. After, however, it has gone through the process of gestation, this\napparently simple egg becomes an animal of a very complex nature, with\nheart, lungs, brain, eyes, ears, mouth, stomach, and blood vessels, all\nwhere they should be and ready to perform their functions; with mental\ntraits of a peculiar kind which adapt him to the service which man\nrequires. Nay more: In the process of the evolution of the horse, little\nby little he has changed in various ways, and many, if not all of these\nchanges in his bodily constitution and in his mental characteristics,\nwhich have been found useful or made him more serviceable to man, his\ngreater docility, his increased size, his enormous strength and speed,\nhis wonderful beauty, through a wise selection and the weeding out of\nthe unfit on the part of the breeder, have been transmitted through\nheredity to his offspring, so that today only a paleontologist can tell\nus if he finds the remains of a primitive horse, that it belongs to the\nsame class of animals as the horse of our time.\n\n\nTHEORIES.--Our theories of heredity will depend on the extent of our\nknowledge, and especially our knowledge of embryology. In the last\ncentury knowledge on this subject was very meagre, especially that part\nof embryology which could only be studied with the microscope;\nconsequently the views of scientists and others of that time were\nexceedingly crude. The most important was that of Malphigi and Bonnet,\nwho maintained that the miniature animal existed in the egg; that\nfertilization by the male element simply furnished it with food for\ngrowth, and that this was added to and stored up in its interstices.\nCuvier, Haller and Leibnitz adopted substantially these views. The\nlatter found them to support his opinion that everything was the result\nof growth from monads, and that there was no such thing in all nature as\ngeneration.\n\nSuch a theory was very simple, but it explained nothing except the bare\nproduction of offspring. It gave no clue to their endless variations,\nnor to the fact that they often resembled the father more than the\nmother. According to this theory the offspring should resemble the\nmother, as the complete individual is formed by her and should be in her\nimage.\n\nLeeuwenhock, one of the early microscopists, by the aid of his lenses,\nopened a new world to mankind, and discovered the sperm cells to be\nactive, living, moving elements, and he gave a death-blow to the belief\nthat the perfect organism exists in the ovum; but he went to the\nopposite extreme, and maintained that it exists in the male cell and\nthat it is only fed and developed by the female. Even today we find in a\nvague way both these theories held by educated persons.\n\nWe are indebted to Harvey in the early part of the eighteenth century\nfor advocating the view held by Aristotle, now known as _Epigenesis_,\nand combatting the view of growth from a miniature, but already\nperfectly formed animal, to a visible one. Epigenesis consists in the\nsuccessive differentiation from the relatively homogeneous elements as\nfound in the egg, to the complicated parts and structure as seen in the\noffspring.\n\nAccording to Huxley, this work of Harvey alone would have entitled him\nto recognition as one of the founders of biological science, had he not\nimmortalized himself as the discoverer of the circulation of the blood.\n\nNot long after Harvey's publication, Casper Frederick Wolf established\nthe theory of epigenesis upon a firm foundation, where it still remains.\n\nThe doctrine of _epigenesis_ has very much complicated the whole\nquestion of heredity. No wonder even so great a mind as that of Darwin\nexclaimed, \"The whole subject is wonderful.\" How can an egg, which in\nstructure is comparatively simple, an aggregation of cells, not one of\nwhich bears the slightest resemblance to any organ in the body, develop\ninto the perfect individual? How can this egg, formed in special organs,\ndevelop other organs than those like the ones in which it was formed?\nHow can sexual cells develop brain cells, with their wonderful modes of\naction?\n\nWe cannot explain the philosophy of heredity without being able to\nanswer these questions; but difficult as is the problem, our biologists\nhave made various attempts at an explanation. I cannot go over all the\nvarious speculations, but only those most intimately connected with the\nsubject will be mentioned.\n\nThe first is Darwin's own attempt at an explanation by the theory of\n_pangenesis_, or genesis from every part. He saw the necessity of having\nin the sexual cells some power or force to represent the other organs\nand functions of the body, else how could these organs be formed in the\nembryo? Pangenesis was supposed to be accomplished as follows: Every\norgan through its cells gives off _gemmules_. These are inconceivably\nsmall, too small for any microscopical vision; also inconceivably great\nin numbers, and with great power of growth and multiplication. They pass\nfrom the various organs in which they are formed to the special sex\norgans for generating the sexual cells; some of them are stored up as\nrepresentatives of the various organs from which they have been given\noff. The consequence is that every egg has in it something from every\norgan in the body of both parents which is able, during gestation, to\ndevelop into that organ.\n\nAccording to this theory, for instance, if no gemmules are given off\nfrom the brain, then no brain can be developed from the egg, and so of\nother organs. As in a representative government, all parts of the\ncountry send representatives to the capitol to do the bidding of the\npeople, so every organ of the body sends representatives to the sexual\ncells to form their respective organs; without them these organs would\nnot be formed.\n\nThere are many objections to pangenesis, but they need not be named\nhere. It occurred to Galton, whose studies in heredity have been more\nprolific of good than those of any other man, to test it by practical\nexperiment. If these gemmules are circulating in the blood of animals\nbefore being stored up in the sexual cells, by transfusing blood from\none variety of any species to another it ought to affect the offspring\nof this other. For his test cases he chose eighteen silvergrey rabbits\nwhich breed true, and into their bodies he transfused the blood of other\ndifferent varieties, in several cases replacing one-half of this fluid.\nThere were eighty-six offspring bred at once from these silvergrey\nrabbits, and all true silvergreys. The theory did not work. But if it\ndid not work in practice, it certainly worked on the intellects of\nbiologists everywhere, exactly what Darwin wished; it set them to\nthinking. It acted as a ferment, so to say, and brought forth a rich\nharvest in speculation if not in actual knowledge.[106:A]\n\n\nCONTINUITY OF THE GERM-PLASM.--The only other theory which I shall\nmention is that of Weismann, which has been before the public for more\nthan a decade, and it is safe to say it has produced a more profound\nimpression upon biologists than all others. It has its basis in what he\ncalls _continuity of the germ-plasm_. By the germ-plasm is meant that\npart of the germ cell containing all the chemical and physical\nproperties, including the molecular structure, which enables it to\nbecome, under appropriate conditions, a new individual of the same\nspecies as the parents. In it lies hidden all the characteristics both\nof the species and of the future individual. In it lies all the\nphenomena of heredity. It is the product of the coalescence of the male\nand female elements requisite for reproduction. Only, however, in the\nnuclear substance is to be found the hereditary tendencies. Now, this\ngerm-plasm is _continuous_, that is to say, it contains not only\nmaterial from both parents, but from grandparents and greatgrandparents,\nand so on indefinitely. This germ-plasm is exceedingly minute in\nquantity, but has great power of growth. Not all is used up in the\nproduction of any individual, but some is left over and stored up for\nthe next generation. The germ-plasm might be represented as a long\ncreeping root, from which arise at intervals all the individuals of\nsuccessive generations. The amount of ancestral germ-plasm in each\nfertilized ovum is calculated in the same way that stock breeders\ncalculate the amount of blood of any ancestor running in any individual.\nFor instance: The germ-plasm contributed by the father and mother is\neach one-half; each grandparent one fourth, and so on. Ten generations\nback each ancestor contributes only one part in one thousand and\ntwenty-four parts. This continuity has by some been called the\nimmortality of the germ-plasm. Theoretically, the original Adam and Eve\nhave contributed an infinitesimal part. This probably explains why there\nis so much of the original Adam in most of us. By it we are able to\nexplain that wonderful fact of _atavism_, or the appearance of\ncharacters from a remote ancestor in offspring. Some of the germ-plasm\nfrom this ancestor by some means has had an opportunity to grow rapidly\nand contribute more than its share in the production of the individual\nin which it appears.\n\nIt also enables us to explain the fact that no two individuals are quite\nalike, but that there is constant variation. Each person is the product\nof a multitude of ancestors, and the germ-plasm which produced them is\nnever mixed, in quite the same proportion, nor do the different parts\ngrow with quite the same vigor.\n\nIt was on this theory of the continuity of the germ-plasm that Weismann\nbuilt his doctrine of the non-transmission of acquired characters. On\nthis subject he says: \"Hence it follows that the transmission of\nacquired characters is an impossibility, for if the germ-plasm is not\nformed anew in each individual, but is derived from that which preceded\nit, its structure, and above all, its molecular constitution, cannot\ndepend upon the individual in which it happens to occur, but such an\nindividual only forms, as it were, the nutritive soil at the expense of\nwhich it grows, while the latter possessed its character from the\nbeginning, that is, before the commencement of growth.\" Of this,\nhowever, I will speak later.\n\n\nA RATIONAL VIEW OF HEREDITY.--I might continue giving other theories of\nheredity--Haeckel's, for instance--or the metaphysical theory, but it is\nhardly necessary. I do not accept in full any of them. Their authors, it\nseems to me, have not worked along the lines of evolution, but have gone\nfurther than was necessary into the fields of speculation. Darwin, in\nhis theory of Pangenesis, admitted this frankly, and yet he clung to the\nidea with great tenacity. If we take the unicellular organisms which\nmultiply by division, we may see that heredity is simple. One\nunicellular individual growing larger than is convenient, divides into\ntwo. Each is like the other. It could hardly be different. Reproduction\nby spores or buds is practically the same thing. The spores or buds are\nminute particles of the parent organism. When it comes to the\ncoalescence of the germ and sperm elements from two organisms, the\nphenomena become more complicated, and it is still more so as the animal\nrises in the scale of creation; but I believe the processes of organic\nevolution have gone on so slowly that the sexual cells have acquired the\npower to transmit the whole organism without the necessity of the\ngerm-plasm being continued from parent to offspring indefinitely, and\nalso without the aid of pangenesis.\n\nThe egg has acquired a tendency to develop in a certain direction. Just\nhow we cannot tell, further than to say that it was probably the result\nof variation first and natural selection selecting out those variations\nmost suitable. It is this tendency to vary that gives rise to many of\nthe phenomena of heredity. The subject is, for the present, beyond our\npower to settle satisfactorily, and so hypotheses must be resorted to.\nThe sexual cells, comparatively simple in anatomical structure, must be\nhighly complex in their molecular structure; and the more highly evolved\nthe organism, the more complex becomes this molecular structure. If it\nwere possible to study this molecular structure we should be able to\nunderstand the whole subject far better than is possible now. But this\nis not possible, and there is little hope that we shall ever be able to\naccomplish it.\n\n\nHEREDITY AND THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.--The next question which comes\nup for consideration is that of the education of children and its\nrelation to heredity. This brings us at once to the problem as to\nwhether acquired characters are transmitted to offspring or not. If\nacquired characters are transmitted, the relation of heredity to\neducation must be very close and important. If acquired characters are\nnot inherited, then heredity and education have a very different\nrelation. That acquired characters are transmitted has long been\nbelieved. It was the belief of Lamarck. He tried to explain the\nstructure of the organism by this principle. The illustration of the\nlong neck of the giraffe is familiar to every one. It originated by the\nconstant stretching of this part to obtain food from the trees. In times\nof scarcity, he had to exert himself in this way still more to reach the\nhigher branches. The young of the giraffe had longer necks than their\nparents because of the efforts of the latter in this way. So the keen\nsight of birds, it was argued, was acquired in the same manner. The hawk\nhad to exercise his eyes most vigorously to discern his prey at a\ndistance, and his offspring inherited this keenness of sight acquired by\nthe exercise of his ancestors.\n\nDarwin believed that the effects of the exercise of any part were\ntransmitted. He says: \"We may feel assured that the inherited effects of\nthe use and disuse of parts will have done much in the same direction\nwith natural selection in modifying man's structure of body.\"\n\nWe may say that this belief has been held by the common people,\nuneducated in science. They not unfrequently get at truths in a rude way\nlong before the scientists do. Many parents tell us their children are\nstrongly influenced by some particular occupation of the mother during\npregnancy. So strong is this belief, that many mothers are in our times\ntrying to influence the character of their unborn children by special\nmodes of life, by cultivating music or art, or science, in order to give\nthe child a love for these pursuits.\n\nIt is by Herbert Spencer that this has been most ably presented. Indeed,\nhe holds that there is no explanation of evolution without the\ntransmission of the effects of the use and disuse of parts. His words\nare: \"If there has been no transmission of acquired character there has\nbeen no evolution.\"\n\nHe also says: \"If we go back to the genesis of the human type from some\nlower type of primates, we see that while the little toe has ceased to\nbe of any use for climbing purposes, it has not come into any\nconsiderable use for walking or running. It is manifest that the great\ntoes have been immensely developed since there took place the change\nfrom arboreal to terrestrial habits. A study of the mechanism of walking\nshows why this has happened. Stability requires that the line of\ndirection--the vertical line, let fall from the center of gravity--shall\nfall within the base, and the walking shall be brought at each step\nwithin the area of support, or so near that any tendency to fall may be\nchecked at the next step. A necessary result is that _if_ at each step\nthe chief stress of support is thrown on the outer side of the foot, the\nbody must be swayed so that the line of direction may fall within the\noutside of the foot, or close to it; and when the next step is taken it\nmust be similarly swayed in an opposite direction, so that the outer\nside of the foot may bear the weight. That is to say, the body must\noscillate from side to side, or waddle. The movement of the duck when\nwalking shows what happens when the points of support are far apart.\nThis kind of movement conflicts with efficient locomotion. There is a\nwaste of muscular energy in making these lateral movements, and they are\nat variance with the forward movement. We may infer, then, that the\ndeveloping man profited by throwing the stress as much as possible on\nthe inner side of the feet, and was especially led to do this when going\nfast, which enabled him to abridge the oscillations, as indeed we see it\nnow in the drunken man. Then there was thrown a continually increasing\nstress upon the inner digits as they progressively developed from the\nefforts of use, until now the inner digits, so large compared with the\nouter, bear the greater part of the weight, and being relatively near\none another render needless any swaying of the body from side to side in\nwalking. But what has meanwhile happened to the outer digits? Evidently\nas fast as the great toes have come more and more into play and the\nsmall ones have gone more and more out of play, dwindling for--how long\nshall we say?--perhaps 100,000 years.\" In other and simpler words, the\ngreat toe of man has wonderfully developed since he began to walk\nupright. This has been from greater use, and the transmission of the\neffects of this use to offspring. The small toe has decreased in size\nproportionately. This we can reasonably infer has been the result of\ndisuse, the effects of which were also transmitted to offspring.\n\nA still more remarkable illustration of the effects of use and disuse is\nseen in the sense of touch in different parts of the body. Prof. Weber,\nin his laboratory for experimental psychology, has worked out this\ndifference most minutely. He finds that by taking a pair of compasses,\nthe points of which are less than one-twelfth of an inch apart, the end\nof the forefinger is not able to distinguish more than one point. Going\nto the middle of the back we have the least discriminating power in the\nskin, for the points must be separated two and one half inches before\nthe nerves can decide that there are two. Any one may test this on\nhimself. Between these extremes we have many differences. The end of\nthe nose has four times as great power of discrimination as the\nforehead. When we come to the tip of the tongue, we find it far excels\nany part of the body in its power of tactual discrimination, it being\ntwice that of the forefinger. In every case we find there is greatest\ndelicacy of touch in those parts where this sense has been most\nexercised. The tongue is being constantly exercised on our food, on the\nroof of the mouth, the teeth, etc. It is rarely idle. There is in man no\nadvantage for his survival, Mr. Spencer asserts, by having such a\nsensitive tongue. He could get on just as well without it. He regards it\nas a case where the exercise of a function has exalted it remarkably,\nand this exaltation has been transmitted to offspring. Natural\nselection, he thinks, is not sufficient to account for it. Natural\nselection only preserves those characters which will give their\npossessor some advantage in the struggle for existence.\n\nStill another argument is drawn from the whale. This monster once lived,\nit is believed, partly on land, probably on low land near water, and\nmust have been smaller than now. It had hind legs; but since it has\nlived continuously in the water its tail has so developed as to make a\nfar better organ of locomotion, and the legs have dwindled from disuse,\nso that now there is only a remnant left, and this is hidden beneath\nthe skin. The tail has become more efficient from use, and this has been\ntransmitted so that all whales are born with well developed tails. The\nlegs have dwindled for want of use until they have almost disappeared;\nand this effect of disuse has also been transmitted to offspring.\n\nAnother illustration is furnished by Havelock Charles, an English\nsurgeon, who has spent much time among the Punjab tribes in India, and\nstudied them anthropologically. His account is given in \"The Journal of\nAnatomy,\" in a paper on the structure of the skeletons of these people.\nIt appears they have facets on the bones, fitting them for the sitting\nposture. These do not develop after birth, but are seen in the fetus. It\nseems hardly possible that these facets could have any other origin\nexcept by transmission after being acquired by ages of use of sitting\nposture.\n\nAnother argument is drawn from the coadaptation of parts. We know that\nthe male sheep, likewise the goat, the stag, and the males of many other\nanimals, have large horns. They are supposed to be useful in fighting\nwith rivals in order to secure as large a number of females as possible.\nNow these large horns require at the same time a greater development of\nthe bones of the head to hold them, also larger and stronger vertebrae of\nthe neck and back, and larger muscles of these parts to maintain and\nuse them effectively. In other words, there must be coadaptation of all\nthe parts, otherwise these larger horns would be an incumbrance and\nuseless. Now, if we accept the theory of the inheritance of acquired\ncharacters, this is all simple. The use of the head in butting against\nother males exercises all these parts simultaneously, and they develop\nequally and at the same time. If, however, inheritance has no part in\nthe matter, then we must fall back on variation in the germ-plasm and\nnatural selection for an explanation; but it is difficult or, as Spencer\nsays, impossible to conceive of variation producing large and heavy\nhorns on these animals and at the same time coadaptation of all the\nother parts to hold and use them. Sometimes coadaptation does not take\nplace, as in the common brook crab, familiar to every country boy. Its\nforeclaws or fingers are out of all proportion to the rest of the leg,\nand its awkwardness is well known. The lobster is another case. Even in\nhuman beings we have instances of non-coadaptation, as where the head\nand brain are out of proportion to the size of the body, or the reverse.\nI need not multiply instances.\n\nNow, if acquired characters are transmitted, any system of training\nwhich exists for a considerable time must necessarily appear in the\nstructure of the body and in the character. If the training is not in\naccord with the laws of evolution, it causes the race to deviate from\nthe true line of progress, and by just so much hinder advancement. If,\non the other hand, our systems of education conform to correct\nprinciples, progress is advanced by them.\n\nQuite recently an entirely new theory has grown up, opposed to\nLamarckianism, and the theory of the transmission of acquired\ncharacters. It has been before the world little more than a decade and\nhas made remarkable progress, though it is too soon to say it has been\nestablished beyond dispute. Prof. Weismann, its author, is well equipped\nas a biologist to maintain and defend it. I have already stated briefly\nhis theory of heredity, namely, that the germ-plasm is continuous from\nparent to offspring. This necessitates a remodeling of commonly accepted\nviews, an entire giving up of the Lamarckian belief that use and disuse\nhave their effect on progeny. If the germ-plasm continues from one\ngeneration to another, then it must already have been formed, or at\nleast provided for, even before the birth of the parents. They may\nmodify it, through growth and nutrition, but not through exercise of any\nfunction. Prof. Weismann went at the demonstration of his views in a\nthoroughly scientific way by the making of experiments on living animals\nand the collection of facts. From his experiments it is now pretty well\nestablished that wounds and injuries, which he considers to be acquired\ncharacters, are not transmitted. No matter for how many generations you\ncut off the tails of dogs, cats, horses or sheep, the effects of this\nremoval do not appear in the progeny. Most parents have some mark on the\nbody, received in early life, some cut or bruise, some scratch, but\ntheir children do not inherit them. The famous experiment of cutting off\nthe tails of mice, for generation after generation, and then breeding\nfrom them was one of Weismann's methods of substantiating the theory\nthat acquired character is not inherited. The offspring of these\nmutilated mice had as long tails as if those of their parents had not\nbeen removed. The explanation is, the germ-plasm was not in any way\naffected by the bodily mutilation. The practice of the Flathead Indian\nis another case. The children of parents whose heads have been\nartificially flattened are not affected by it. The small feet of Chinese\nwomen, made so by binding them and preventing their growth, may also be\nmentioned.\n\n\nINTELLECTUAL ACQUIREMENTS.--Not to depend on such evidence, however, he\nadduces that of a very different character, namely, the non-transmission\nof intellectual acquirements. Language is an example. Although human\nbeings have been communicating their thoughts to each other from very\nancient times by speech, yet every child has to learn how to do this\nfor itself. No matter how many languages the parents master, their\nchildren have to go over all the ground the parents did, make all the\ntoil and effort to learn to speak. The children of the most gifted\nlinguists, if brought up without coming in contact with those who can\nteach them to talk, will never learn a single word. There are, it is\nclaimed, a few cases on record of children who never acquired their\nnatural tongue because they had lived among animals and not among human\nbeings. They learned to make the same vocal sounds the animals did, no\nmore. The environment in this case was everything, the parental\nacquirements nothing.\n\nMusic, like language, is also an acquired character, and it is probably\nnot transmitted. Our musical geniuses are not the children of great\nmusicians, but in most cases the reverse. They seem to spring into\nexistence from lowly sources, or at least from parents whose advantages\nfor a musical education have been very limited, though generally they\nhave had good health, and a climatic environment of a favorable kind.\nGreat musical talent usually dies out in any family in a few\ngenerations, no matter how much it is cultivated, or, if it does not die\nout entirely, it becomes mediocre; and yet the opportunities of the\nchildren of great musicians, and the ambition of their parents for its\nculture, are usually very favorable.\n\n\nINSTINCT.--In accepting the theory of the non-transmission of acquired\ncharacters, it becomes necessary to give up prevailing views of the\norigin of instinct. According to the old belief it was a gift of God,\nand not acquired by any effort on the part of its possessor. In speaking\nof the instinct of bees, Sidney Smith says: \"_Providence has done it._\nThere are the bees, there is the comb, and the honey, get rid of it or\nfind some other explanation if you can.\"\n\nThe early evolutionists changed all this, and made instinct the\ninheritance of an oft-repeated act. The young kitten, as soon as old\nenough, hunts for a mouse and catches it without any training. The sight\nof the mouse acts on its nervous system in such a way as to compel it to\ncreep up softly, jump on it, toy and play with it, and finally kill and\neat it. It would have required long practice on the part of its\nancestors before so wonderful a character could have become fixed. The\nsame is true of the setter dog.\n\nThe new view is, that instincts arise from variations in the germ-plasm.\nThe union of the germ elements of two individuals causes it to vary more\nor less from either parent. These variations will be favorable and\nunfavorable. The unfavorable ones will produce offspring handicapped in\nthe struggle for life and they will disappear. The favorable variations\nwill produce descendants possessing advantages for survival and leave\nnumerous offspring.\n\nIt is not easy to accept this view, but I think there are some facts\nthat support it. I will advance a few. The hive of the honey-bee\ncontains three kinds of insects: the queen, the drones or males, and the\nworkers. The queen makes her nuptial flight but once in a life-time, and\ndoes it from instinct. How can an instinct like this have been acquired\nby being performed but once? The drones are derived from unfertilized\neggs; yet their instincts are those of the male, not of the female. As\nthey have no male ancestors, it seems probable there was in the\ngerm-plasm of some queen bee, at a time far back, some change which\nallowed unfertilized eggs to produce males.\n\nThe workers are all females, not fully developed sexually on account of\na diet with too small a proportion of nitrogenous food and containing so\nlarge a proportion of the hydrocarbons. They inherit from the mother, or\nrather from the germ-plasm, the instinct to gather honey, yet neither\ntheir male nor female ancestors ever gathered any honey in their lives,\nnor have they for ages. Far back in antiquity the queen, no doubt, did\ngather honey, but the disuse of this instinct has not caused it to\ndisappear in the working bee, as it should have done according to the\nLamarckian theory of disuse causing decay of function. Is there any way\nto account for this, except on the theory that the germ-plasm produces\nworking bees as well as the other kinds, irrespective of the habits of\nthe queen? Her character in this respect is fixed and does not change.\nIs it unreasonable to think that some time in the past, in some queen\nbee, was formed a germ-plasm capable of producing three varieties, and\nthat there was such an advantage in it for survival, that it has been\ncontinued ever since by natural selection? Queens not able to do this\nhave not been selected, left no offspring, and thus the perfection of\nthe stock has been assured.\n\nOne more case. Some years ago, when interested in agricultural\nentomology, I made a study of the so-called seventeen-year locust.\nNoting the wonderful precision with which the female cuts into a soft\ntwig of a tree and lays its eggs in two rows, the thought was suggested\nto me, how can an instinct, used only a few hours, once in seventeen\nyears, be acquired by exercise and persist in the offspring seventeen\nyears later? Weismann's theory of the origin of instinct from favorable\nvariations in the germ-plasm offers, it seems to me, a rational\nexplanation.\n\nI do not need to extend illustrations which abound in the insect world,\nespecially among the ants, which furnish cases of coadaptation that\ncannot be transmitted, as they do not propagate, so I will not mention\nthem here.\n\nNow, if acquired characters _are not_ transmitted to offspring, how\nshould these facts affect our methods of educating children?\n\nOne advantage will be evident, I think, to all. Erroneous systems of\ntraining, which do not injure the health, will not appear through\nheredity in the offspring of parents thus wrongly trained, except as a\nresult of environment. That is to say, the injury does not become\ncongenital--will not be in the blood--and, consequently, it will be less\ndifficult to eradicate it and to introduce better systems. This may be\nconsidered an advantage. But it is not all. If heredity takes place only\nthrough the germ-plasm, then it seems to me that whatever promotes a\nknowledge of how to maintain it in a high degree of health, and how to\nfavor more perfectly natural selection, are subjects with which our\neducators may busy themselves far more than they do. That is to say, the\nstudy of biology, of life--of the laws of human growth and development,\nand of evolution, will become, more and more, important factors in our\nschool curriculum. We can hardly imagine how much our common every-day\nlife has been aided by even the slight knowledge of mathematics gained\nby an acquaintance with addition, subtraction, multiplication and\ndivision. By it we are able to keep our little accounts correctly, and\nneither cheat our creditors nor be cheated by them. Could we not by a\nknowledge of the laws of evolution, and also the laws of growth and\ndevelopment, keep our larger account with nature in a far better\ncondition? Could we not keep ourselves from being cheated out of our\nhealth and happiness, and also do something to put an end to physical,\nintellectual and moral deterioration which threatens so many families\nand even races? It seems to me that the time is not far distant when\nthese studies will be quite as much attended to as the not unimportant\nones of arithmetic and grammar.\n\n\nKNOWLEDGE OF HEREDITY.--Whatever doctrine of heredity prevails, however,\none thing is certain, some knowledge of the subject will be very useful\nto those who have in care the training of children. To them, often more\nthan to the parent, is entrusted the task of developing the character\nand the individuality of the child. Can he do this well if he knows\nnothing of what the bent of the child's genius from ancestral influence\nis? I doubt very much if any of us realize how important it is that this\nindividuality should have its proper share of attention. As the\nevolution of society goes on, more and more must there be\ndifferentiation of our various activities. If every boy and every girl\ncan be educated so that to a considerable extent they can follow the\nbent of their genius, _whenever that bent is a normal one_, will not the\navailable intellectual and moral energy of society be considerably\naugmented? If you educate a boy which nature intended for a blacksmith\nfor a preacher, has not the world lost something? Educate another for a\nblacksmith who should have been a preacher, is there not also a great\nloss? There are a few children who will come out all right, no matter\nhow much they are schooled, or whether they have any schooling, so well\nhave they been born, but with the majority this is not the case. Now it\nseems to me that the teacher who knows the natures of his pupils, and\nsomething of their ancestors', can direct their energies more\nsatisfactorily than the one who does not. If there are hereditary\ndefects of intellect or morals, he can more easily correct them. If\nthere are ancestral tendencies to disease through imperfections of\ncertain organs, for instance, the lungs or the brain, he can often put\nthe child on such a course of physical culture or mental training as to\nlift it above danger, so that it may go through life a useful person\ninstead of a feeble one or a lunatic. Even the tendency to crime might\nbe averted.\n\n\nINDIVIDUALITY.--If we could educate the young so as to bring out more\nfully their normal individualities we should be able to cultivate in\nthem more independence of character. On this subject Prof. Mills says:\n\"With all its imperfections, I am bound to say that the individuality\nof the pupils in the old log school-house was often more developed than\nin the city public schools of today, where for a boy to be himself\nfrequently brings with it the ridicule of his fellows--a condition of\nthings that has its effect afterward on the lad at college. I find that\nthis fear of being considered odd,--out of harmony with what others may\nthink,--one of the greatest drawbacks to the development of independent\ninvestigating students at college. The case is still worse for girls.\nWhen women begin to be really independent in thought, in feeling, in\naction, I shall be more hopeful of the progress of mankind. Happily, the\ndawn of this day is already begun.\"\n\nWe must not forget that there is also a spectre of heredity. It is seen\nunder different forms. The physician is often reminded by his patients\nthat they have inherited this or that disease from father or mother, or\nan ancestor farther back. Now, there are few diseases which come to us\ndirectly through inheritance. In a majority of cases they are not\ntransmitted. Even consumption is not. If we accept the modern theory of\nits origin, as we must, this plague is the result of germs floating in\nthe air being introduced into our bodies by respiration, or in food, or\nthrough contact with abraided Surfaces. Those with weakened\nconstitutions are more liable to it than the strong, and a weakened\nconstitution may be inherited, for in this case the germ-plasm will not\nbe well nourished and will suffer; but those thus handicapped in the\nrace of life will get on far better by endowing themselves with\nknowledge and obeying the laws of life than they can by living under the\nshadow of the great spectre of heredity, and casting anathemas at their\nancestors for not having done more for them. No doubt most of them have\ndone the best they could; and if life is worth living, as most of us\nbelieve, we owe them many thanks for having brought us into the world.\n\n\nTHE SPECTRE OF HEREDITY.--There is a spectre of heredity of a more\nserious nature. It is the spirit of the dead past, with its mighty hand\non society, on institutions, on modes of life. Wendell Phillips used to\ntell a story, in his anti-slavery addresses, which illustrates the evil\neffect of this inherited spectre. It ran in this wise. In an Eastern\ntemple, an idol, in the image of a god, stood calmly on its pedestal. It\nwas sacrilege to touch it with human hands; but rats having no such\nfeelings of awe in the presence of a deity, began to gnaw about it in\nvarious places, yet no one was bold enough to remove it to a place of\nsafety; and so the rats gnawed on and on, and built their nests within\nthe sacred image. In time they loosened it from its firm foundation, and\none morning, when the worshippers came in to pay their devotions, they\nfound their god had fallen prostrate on the floor. So it is sometimes\nwith our inherited beliefs. They hold us back from progress like a heavy\nweight. We fear to remove them, for they are sacred inheritances, idols,\ngods, and so our institutions decay, perish.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[106:A] Darwin did not regard this experiment as settling this question.\nHe had great affection, so to speak, for this poor, despised theory, and\nbelieved it would finally be established as in the main true.\n\n\n\n\nEVOLUTION'S HOPEFUL PROMISE FOR A HEALTHIER RACE.\n\n_Given before the Greenacre Conference of Evolutionists._\n\n\nWe have most of us in the past looked upon health as a matter of\ninheritance, or temperance and moderation in working, in eating and\ndrinking; or as depending on climate; or exercise, or plenty of sleep,\npure water and a morning bath, or some other secret, one or more of\nwhich is pretty sure to be in the possession of most persons who have\nlived long enough to have had some experience with those things that do\nthem good or harm. All these agencies have great value; but I think few\nof us realize that nature, through the laws of evolution, has long been\nworking to produce a brave and strong, healthy and hardy race of men and\nwomen by other methods than those health habits which most of us value\nso highly.\n\nNature has been doing this chiefly by two methods, and it seems\nnecessary that I should say something about them in order to present my\nsubject as I wish to present it. The methods to which I refer are those\nof sexual and natural selection. It is to these two processes that we\nare largely indebted for race improvements--more perfect bodies, more\nactive brains, and the high degree of health which a considerable\nportion of the race enjoys.\n\n\nSEXUAL SELECTION.--By sexual selection is meant that preference which\nthe male or the female has for certain characteristics of the other sex.\nIt also includes the advantages which the stronger and more capable male\nhas over the weaker one in obtaining a choice, or, among polygamous\nanimals, a larger number of females, thus allowing offspring to be\ngenerated by the most capable, and preventing the most incapable from\nprocuring mates.\n\nThe first principle of sexual selection, that of preference, would imply\na considerable development of the intellect, and some taste, but I do\nnot think it has had great influence on the lower forms of life. It is\ndifficult to study the preferences of insects, for instance; but I have\nstudied the moth of the silkworm, and could never observe that either\nmale or female had a choice for any particular mate. They always appear\nto take the first one that comes along. I think this is the conclusion\ncome to by those entomologists who have had opportunities for studying\nother insects. The spider might perhaps be studied in this relation to\nadvantage, as the female is ferocious, often eating her male suitors\nwhile they are trying to woo her. Nor do I believe that it is a very\nimportant matter in many other animals. Certainly among the domestic\nones--the sheep, the horse, the bull and the cow--a superior male and\nfemale will mate with inferior ones of the opposite sex, apparently\nwithout the slightest objection. I have sometimes thought I had observed\nin pigeons a preference, having occasionally seen a male leave his mate\nfor a more attractive female; at least one that seemed more attractive\nto me.\n\nWhen it comes to sexual selection through struggle, no doubt there has\nbeen great advantage, and it has produced important effects. This occurs\namong polygamous and also among non-polygamous animals, and the strong\nmales are certain to secure the largest number of females and,\nconsequently, leave the largest number of offspring. This would, no\ndoubt, through the laws of inheritance, be beneficial in producing\nanimals of greater vigor and more perfect health. But even in this case,\nthe males seem to have little preference for any particular female; and\nso while the least vigorous ones would leave few, and many no offspring,\nthe least vigorous females would leave nearly as many as the more\nvigorous ones. Still, through pure-blooded males alone, stockbreeders\ntell us, herds of cattle can be brought up to a high degree of\nperfection in three or four generations, even if the females, at the\nbeginning of the experiment, are inferior. The first generation would\nbe half pure blood; the second three-fourths; the third, seven-eighths,\nand the fourth fifteen-sixteenths, or almost thoroughbred.\n\nWhen it comes to man, however, the case is different. With him sexual\nselection is more important, and the preference shown by both sexes is\nvery marked. Many women have strong prejudices against marrying men with\ncertain characteristics, and nothing will induce them to such a union.\nSo strong are the desires many of them have for mates with particular\nqualities, that they prefer to remain single rather than marry one not\npossessing these qualities. Through this preference, on the whole, the\nbetter and those most adapted mate with those most suited to them, and a\nconsiderably larger class of physically and mentally inferior ones do\nnot mate at all, or, if they do, leave few offspring. The idiot would\nstand no chance of securing a mate, although, if left free, he would\nunite with another idiot, like an animal. Such things have happened, and\nthe offspring were not idiots, as might have been expected; but they\nwere not superior beings. The most deformed in body would, in most\ncases, unless they had mental traits of a high order to counterbalance\nthem, rarely find mates. Thus, through this agency, some of the poorest\nspecimens of both sexes do not produce offspring, and this raises the\nstandard of the health and ability of the race.\n\nThere are many characters which have come into existence, it is\nbelieved, through sexual selection. One is beauty in women, greater\nbeauty of form, of hair, of eyes, of grace, fidelity, chastity, power of\nlove, etc. These all give pleasure to the opposite sex, and have an\nelement of usefulness in them. Whenever these characters have appeared\nin women they have given the possessors a better chance to find a\npartner with superior characters. The same is true of men. Woman being\ndebarred from the hardest labor through maternity has found it useful,\neven in early times, to choose men who were strong, brave, courageous\nand capable of defending and caring for her, so far as was possible, and\nthus by sexual selection she has indirectly promoted health and vigor in\nman, for these qualities are inseparable from it.\n\nBut the results of sexual selection are by no means perfect. The sexes\nare nearly equally divided, and as polygamy is not to any great extent\npracticed among human beings, with the exception of those already named,\nmost men and women can find mates if they wish, even though they may\nhave many serious imperfections of body and mind, and from them many\nchildren will be born physically and mentally incompetent.\n\nThere is no doubt that sexual selection is coming more and more into\nplay, however. We have abundant evidence of this in the growing\nsentiment against the marriage of those with a tendency to any serious\ndisease, as insanity, syphilis, etc. Only a little while ago was\npublished an account of a suit for a breach of promise brought by a\nyoung woman in an English court against her suitor. He, having in view\nthe value of a healthy wife, and also of children well endowed\nphysically, asked her before the engagement if any of her near relatives\nhad died of consumption, and she replied that none had, which he\nafterwards found was not true. On learning of it he refused to marry\nher. I am sorry to say that she won her suit. One of the questions asked\nin court was: \"Is it possible that a lover would ask such questions of\nhis sweetheart as would be asked of a candidate for life insurance?\"\n\nCourtship is such a delightful occupation for the young, that it seems a\npity to mar it by bringing in questions of health. Yet men and women are\noften such deceivers, and frequently so ignorant, that some way must be\ndevised to prevent deception if sexual selection is ever expected to\nhave its full influence on race improvement.\n\n\nHUMAN SELECTION.--Under the head of human selection Galton and Wallace\nhave made some interesting and valuable suggestions for improving the\nhealth and quality of man. Mr. Galton proposed a system of marks for\nfamily health, intellect and morals, and those members of families\nhaving the highest number were to be encouraged to marry early by state\nendowments sufficient to enable them to make a good start in life, early\nmarriages being favorable to large families. It was a bold suggestion,\nsavoring too strongly of socialism or state control of marriage to suit\nmany of us.\n\nProfessor Wallace's plan is that women shall, so far as possible, be\nmade independent, so that they will not feel the necessity of marrying\nfor a home. Her time might be occupied either in public duties or\nself-culture, or any occupation she might prefer. She should be educated\nto believe it degrading to marry for a home, without love and\nadaptation, and equally wrong to marry her inferior. This would compel\nmen to be more manly, to leave off their bad habits and many vices, in\norder to obtain wives; and the idle, selfish, sickly and deformed would\nnot easily get them. One difficulty in the way of carrying out this plan\nis the greater number of women in society as it exists today, owing to\nthe larger mortality among boys. But by a better hygiene which is likely\nto result from the evolution of the race, this greater mortality of the\nmasculine sex is certain in the future to be prevented, and there will\nthen be an excess of men instead of women. This will be a real\nadvantage, for a scarcity of women would give her a greater influence\nin selection, and the result would be, the worst men would not be able\nto get wives.\n\nBeing in a minority, women would be held in higher esteem, be more\nsought for, and have a real choice in marriage by being able to reject\nunsatisfactory suitors, which is certainly not the case now to any\nconsiderable extent.\n\nMr. Wallace's plan would not require such early marriages as that of Mr.\nGalton's, and this would be a positive benefit to the physical vigor of\nthe children, for we know that the progeny of too early marriages are\nmore delicate, and reproduction before bodily maturity lowers the\nstandard of health in parents as well as of their offspring. Marriage\nbeing delayed, and the culture of the mind being more attended to than\nis possible when it is early, would reduce the number of children in any\nfamily, and this would enable parents to bestow more care upon them. It\nwould also prevent, to a limited extent, over-multiplication of the\nrace, which is a real evil, for if every couple left three or four\nchildren the whole world would soon be full, and over-population would\nresult in much disease.\n\nMr. Wallace's scheme has in view the prevention of marriage by the weak\nand worthless. He believes that if this can be done little more will be\nrequired, for the superior would be the only ones to procreate, and this\nwould be quite sufficient in a few generations to produce a strong and\nhealthy race. He calls his plan that of \"human selection,\" but it may\nbe considered practically as a modification of sexual selection.\n\n\nNATURAL SELECTION.--Natural selection is another process which takes\nplace on an enormous scale and constantly among all organisms, whether\nanimal or vegetable. Natural selection is the result of the operation of\ncertain laws in the natural world which brings about the survival of\nthose best fitted for their environment. It is a weeding-out system by\nthe destruction of a certain portion, at least, if not all, of the weak\nand the bad, and it occurs because there is such a rapid increase of\nmost organisms. We speak of it as the survival of the fittest, but it is\nalso, at the same time, the destruction of the unfit.\n\nMr. Darwin says: \"We have seen that man is variable in body and mind,\nand that the variations are induced either directly or indirectly by the\nsame general causes, and obey the same general laws as with the lower\nanimals. Man has spread widely over the face of the earth, and must have\nbeen exposed during his incessant migrations to the most diversified\nconditions. They must have passed through many climates and changed\ntheir habits many times before they reached their present homes. They\nmust have been exposed to a struggle for existence and, consequently, to\nthe rigid law of natural selection. Beneficial variations of all kinds\nhave been preserved and injurious ones eliminated. If, then, the\nprogenitors of man, inhabiting any district, especially one undergoing\nsome changed conditions, were divided into two equal bodies, the\none-half including those with the best adapted powers for movement, for\ngaining a subsistence, for self-defence, would, on the average, have\nmore offspring than the other and the less well endowed half.\"\n\nWe may have a good object lesson in the elimination of the unfit going\non about us constantly. In New York City, for 1891, the deaths of\nchildren under five years of age was 18,112; for 1892 it was 17,577, or\nslightly less. This is more than one-third, but not quite one-half, of\nthe total deaths at all ages for these years. A very large proportion of\nthese deaths occurred in the tenement house districts, and a very\nnatural question arises in the mind: Are the children of those who live\nin tenement houses more unfit to survive than those who live in houses\nin which only one family dwells. No doubt in most cases the children of\nthose are most fit who are most able to provide them with hygienic\nsurroundings, the better food and most suitable care; such are usually\nthe prudent and the capable. The love of children is usually stronger in\nthem. The intelligent affection of parents for their young is one of the\nincentives to their best training. It certainly is not nearly so strong\namong the residents of the crowded quarters of a city as among the more\nprosperous. Any one may observe this by going with a company of mothers\non the excursions of some fresh air society, which may be seen in most\ncities. It is hard to find one of these mothers who shows what we may\ncall intelligent affection or intelligent care of her young. Some\npathetic instances illustrating this might be mentioned.\n\nWhen it comes to the question of their physical or mental inferiority, a\ncursory inspection is all that is required to show they are far below\nthe average. There is a great want of symmetry of body and\nmind--evidence of degeneration. In order to test the strength of\nconstitution, which is a good way to get at one form of physical fitness\nfor survival, it seems to me, I made a study of the blood of a\nconsiderable number of these children and found the amount of protoplasm\nin the colorless blood corpuscles deficient. This shows that their power\nto resist disease is slight. It must be borne in mind, however, that a\nstrong constitution alone is not evidence of fitness for survival. A\nstrong person may not have prudence, foresight, keenness of perception,\njudgment, and many other qualities equally important. The characters\njust mentioned may constitute fitness when there is only a moderately\nvigorous body. Mr. Darwin recognized this when he said: \"We should bear\nin mind that an animal possessing great size, strength and ferocity, and\nwhich, like the gorilla, could defend itself from all enemies would not,\nperhaps, have become sufficiently social, and this would effectually\nhave checked the acquirement of the higher mental qualities, such as the\nsympathy and love of his fellows. Hence, _it might have been of immense\nadvantage to men to have sprung from some comparatively weak but social\ncreature_.\"\n\nFitness is a complicated condition and not a simple one. It depends upon\nso many external conditions. Fitness in one place would be unfitness in\nanother. Still, other things being equal, strength of constitution is a\nvery important factor, and must not be left out of consideration. With\nit there is a surplus of material in the body beyond what is required\nfor digestion, assimilation, circulation and other bodily functions, to\nenable the parents not only to do hard labor, but also to endow their\noffspring with vigor equal to their own, often greater vigor. The feeble\nindividuals will have a small amount of stored up material in their\nbodies which we may designate as physiological capital to give\ncontinuous food, warmth and protection to their young; they will not be\nso well adjusted to their environment, and, consequently, natural\nselection will cause their non-survival--or their offspring, if not\nimmediately, at no distant period.\n\nThis doctrine of natural selection has been designated as cruel, harsh,\ninexorable, and under the influence of the human feeling every effort is\nin our time being made to prevent this wholesome check upon the\nprocesses of nature from having its due influence upon evolution and\nrace progress. Modern hygiene undertakes to put an end to disease, to\nsave all who are born, to surround them with every influence which can\nfavor their health and development. It would stamp out diphtheria,\nscarlet fever, summer complaint, consumption and a host of other\ndiseases which now decimate the ranks of the unfit, and often, no doubt,\nof the comparatively fit. This would perpetuate a type of feeble,\nunhealthy persons. There would not be much hope of more perfect health\nfor the race if our hygienists could carry out this daring scheme along\nthe lines now working. There seems an antagonism between nature's\nmethods of bettering the physical condition of the race and the efforts\nof man himself, acting under the guidance of his moral feelings, to\nprevent the action of natural law. Mr. Darwin recognized this, and\nreferred to it in his great work, \"The Descent of Man,\" where he says:\n\"With savages, the weak in body and mind are soon eliminated, and those\nthat survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized\nmen, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of\nelimination. We build asylums for the imbeciles, the maimed and the\nsick; we institute poor laws; and our medical men exert their utmost\nskill to save the life of every one to the last moment.\"\n\n\"There is,\" says he, \"reason to believe that vaccination has preserved\nthousands who from a weak constitution would have succumbed to smallpox.\nThus the weak members of civilized communities propagate their kind. No\none who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt but\nthis must be highly injurious to the human race. Excepting in the case\nof man himself hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst\nanimals to breed.\"\n\nOther evolutionists, in more recent times, have taken a still more\nsomber view of this danger of race deterioration through the prevention\nof the full action of the law of natural selection.\n\nDr. John Berry Haycraft, in a recent work entitled \"Darwinism and Race\nProgress,\" has sounded the alarm in no uncertain tones. He says: \"Races,\ntherefore, subject to epidemics of a particular fever, suffer selections\nin the hands of the microbes of that fever, and those living are\nsurvivals, cast in the most resisting mould. It may not be flattering to\nour national vanity to look upon ourselves as the product of the\nselection of the micro-organism of measles, scarlet fever, smallpox,\netc.; but the reasonableness of the conclusion seems to be forced upon\nus when we consider his immunity from these diseases as compared with\nthe natives of the interior of Africa, or the wilds of America, whose\nraces have never been so selected, and who, when attacked for the first\ntime by these diseases, are ravaged almost to extinction. By\nexterminating these diseases we shall no doubt preserve countless lives\nto the community who will, in their turn, become race producers; but in\nas much as the individuals thus preserved will, in most cases, belong to\nthe feebler and less resisting of the community, _the race will not\nbecome more robust_.\"\n\nThe same author concludes in these words: \"In the meantime we may view,\nand not without inquietude, the probability that our statistics, as far\nas they go, indicate that race deterioration has already begun as a\nconsequence of that care for the individual which has characterized the\nefforts of modern society. The biologist, from quite another group of\nfacts, has independently arrived at conclusions which render this view\nin the highest degree probable.\"\n\n\"Thus, the great English race, once so hardy, so powerful,\" says this\nmodern writer, \"by hygiene and better physical conditions, is becoming\nweaker and weaker.\"\n\nThis view of the case is growing largely in England and, perhaps, other\nEuropean countries. There is already some evidence of its truthfulness\nin statistics. The death rate for those in middle life is rather\nincreasing than diminishing. This arises from the fact that the great\nnumber of children who formerly died in infancy have lived, but being of\nmore feeble constitutions, they swell the death rate later on. It is\nfelt, also, in many educational institutions in the larger number of\nyouths who cannot stand the strain and stress of student life. They are,\nhigh medical authority says, the youth saved from early death by modern\nhygienic and medical care. Formerly, natural selection would have chosen\nthem as unfit to survive, and there would have remained alive few\nbesides the hardy ones with good constitutions, capable of great strain,\nwith great powers of endurance.\n\nIt is also shown in the stress of modern competition, in which there are\nmultitudes who cannot stand this strain. It is from these, in some\ndegree, that we hear the cry for governmental aid. \"We must make the\nconditions of life easier for them,\" say our social reformers, \"or they\nwill become 'a submerged class.'\"\n\n\nCONFLICT BETWEEN EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES AND OUR HUMANE SENTIMENTS.--And\nnow I wish to consider another phase of my subject. Those who have\nfollowed closely what was said concerning natural selection will have\nseen that there appears to be a conflict between evolutionary theories\nand the humane sentiment of the age--a want of correspondence between\nwhat is being done by natural law and what man is trying to do under the\ninspiration of his loving heart. Can we reconcile this want of\ncorrespondence? To some extent no doubt we can.\n\nIn the first place, the growth of the moral nature has always been held\nin high esteem by every nation and every race. Our moral giants stand\nhigher in the scale of being than our great generals or statesmen, even\nin an age when moral culture is at a low ebb. We draw our moral\ninspiration from Buddha, Socrates and Christ rather than from Aristotle;\ntheir science may be, yes, is, faulty, but their spirit is lofty.\n\nAnd the moral nature is cultivated in laboring for the good of others,\nin trying to save for a better life the poor, the weak, the distressed.\nAll that is required is that we do this work wisely, not unwisely, under\nthe guidance of reason, not feelings. We want to prevent these\ncalamities rather than cure them.\n\nAnother satisfaction arises from the fact that in learning how to\nperfect the lives of the feeble so that they may live longer, we also\nlearn how to perfect, in a still higher degree, the lives of the strong,\nor those we call the fit, so that they also will not only live longer,\nbut be able to live with much greater satisfaction the complex lives of\nour times.\n\nThe knowledge which helps the first may help the second even more than\nthe first, for they have better opportunities and can take advantage of\nit. We may also comfort ourselves with the fact that a majority of those\nwith feeble constitutions, whose lives have been for a time snatched\nfrom the operation of the laws of natural selection, will not, after\nall, contribute very extensively to the increase of the population.\nGreat powers of generation and numerous offspring rarely go with\nphysical weakness. If there are exceptions they are explainable. It is,\nI think, pretty certain that a great majority of such leave few, often\nno offspring. They find their way into places where work is light and\nthe pay small, and they cannot afford to marry and care for families,\nand do not do it.\n\nThe law of natural selection will continue to work on them so long as\nits action is required, with little regard to the efforts of man to\nabrogate it. Nature works continuously for ages, and she works on every\npart of man, every organ, every function. We may almost say she is\nomnipotent; that she watches for every slight improvement; that she\nknows what to do under every circumstance. Foiled in one direction, she\nhas other means, infinite means, for gaining her ends. Man can no more\nput a stop to the operation of natural law than he can put a stop to the\nflow of Niagara. He may turn off a trifle of its water to whirl wheels\nand spindles, but the mighty river flows on until nature makes some\nchanges in the watersheds, that make its flow impossible. Man, on the\nother hand, acts on his own body in a finite way. He works mainly for\nimmediate, not remote, ends. He changes his methods as his needs change,\nor his knowledge increases. Today he works with limited knowledge of\nhygiene, inspired by old ideas of philanthropy. Tomorrow he may have a\nvastly extended knowledge of this subject and an entirely new social\nscience which will enable him to do more good and less harm.\n\n\nIDEAL OF HEALTH.--Let me now consider some of the things necessary to\ngive us a greater hope for the future of human health, of ourselves and\nfor our children.\n\nThe first thing necessary is to get a higher ideal of bodily or physical\nperfection than we have today. Sir James Paget, in a lecture on National\nHealth, in 1884, put this in the following words:\n\n\"We want,\" says he, \"more ambition for health. _I should like to see a\npersonal ambition for health as keen as that for bravery, for beauty, or\nfor success in our athletic games or field sports. I wish there was such\nan ambition for the most perfect national health as there is for\nnational renown in war, in art or in commerce._\" Sir James then gives\nhis own ideal. It is for man or woman to be so full of health as to be\ncomparatively indifferent to the external conditions of life, and to\nmake a ready self-adjustment to all its changes. He should not be deemed\nthoroughly healthy who is made better or worse, more fit or less fit, by\nevery change of weather or food, or who is bound to observe exact rules\nof living. It is good to observe rules, and to some they are absolutely\nnecessary; but it is better to need none but those of moderation, and,\nobserving these, to be willing to live and work hard in the widest\nvariations of food, air, climate, bathing and all other sustenances of\nlife.\n\n\nADAPTATION TO ENVIRONMENT.--This sounds very much like saying that to be\nhealthy one must be adjusted to his environment; and this is practically\nwhat Herbert Spencer long before said in his \"Principles of Biology.\"\nHere are his words:\n\n\"As affording the simplest and most conclusive proof that the degree of\nlife varies as the degree of correspondence, it remains to point out\nthat perfect correspondence would be perfect life. Were there no changes\nin our environment but such as the organism had adapted changes to meet,\nand were it never to fail in the efficiency with which it met them,\nthere would be eternal existence and universal knowledge. Death by\nnatural decay occurs because in old age the relations between\nassimilation, oxidation, and the genesis of force going on in the body\ngradually fall out of correspondence with the relations between oxygen\nand the food and absorption of heat by the environment. Death from\ndisease arises either when the organism is congenitally defective in its\npower to balance ordinary internal actions, or when there has taken\nplace some unusual external action to which there was no answering\ninternal action. Death by accident implies some neighboring mechanical\nchanges of which the causes are either unobserved from inattention, or\nare so intricate their results cannot be foreseen, and, consequently,\ncertain relations in the organism are not adjusted to the relations in\nthe environment. Manifestly, if, to every outer co-existence and\nsequence by which it was ever in any degree affected, the organism\npresented an answering process or act, the simultaneous changes would be\nindefinitely numerous and complex, and the successive ones endless, the\ncorrespondence would be the greatest conceivable and the life the\nhighest conceivable, both in degree and length.\"\n\n\nKNOWLEDGE.--Another requirement to promote human health is a better\nknowledge of how the constitution of the body may be strengthened, and\nmore certitude as to whether such improvements as it may receive by\nhygienic training will be transmitted to offspring. That human health\nmay be improved by right training of the body, a better supply of fresh\nair, greater moderation in living, there is not a shadow of doubt; but\nis the constitution itself thus strengthened, or only its original vigor\nconserved and made effective? I have been working on the problem for\nsome time by a series of studies on the blood, and especially the amount\nof living matter in the colorless corpuscles, and have satisfied myself,\nfrom some observations on individual cases, that the original\nconstitution of feeble persons can be strengthened in early life, but\nthe extent of this strengthening seems somewhat limited. Much original\nresearch is still required to get at important facts in this direction.\nIf some of the study now given to micro-organisms could be devoted to\nthis subject it would be most useful. The work might be done in\nconnection with our numerous schools of physical culture, now happily\nmultiplying, and also in our physiological laboratories.\n\nThat any gain to the vigor of the constitution can be transmitted to the\noffspring is very probable. While education and training do not seem to\naffect the germ cells in any marked degree, nutrition does affect them.\nWhether acquired characters in the form of skill, music, language or\nother like things are transmitted or not may still be an open question.\n\nStrengthening the constitution seems to be best accomplished by\nincreasing the resources of the body beyond its outgo, so that there\nshall be some gain; and this brings up a very important subject, that of\nthe importance of living within the bodily income.\n\nIn our fast age we are likely to use up the physiological resources in\nexcessive work or dissipation, and so rob our children of their just\ninheritance.\n\n\nEFFECTS OF LIVING AT HIGH PRESSURE.--One generation may, by living at\nhigh pressure and under specially unfavorable conditions, use up more\nthan its share of the living matter of its bodies and draw a bill on\nposterity which the next generation cannot pay. Many of us now have the\nbenefit of the calm, unexciting lives of our forefathers. They stored up\nphysiological wealth for us; we are using it. The question is, Can we,\nworking at high pressure, keep this up during our lives (which, in that\ncase, will be on an average rather short), and transmit to the coming\ngeneration a large supply of living matter for their needs?\n\nHow often has it happened in the history of the world that people who\nfor generations have exhibited no special genius, have blazed out in\nbursts of national greatness for a time, and then almost died out! We\nought to take care that this does not happen to us. How often we see a\nquiet country family, whose members have for generations led calm,\ntemperate lives, suddenly produce one or two great men and then relapse\ninto obscurity. They had by their quiet, inexpensive living stored up\nenergy for this purpose. On the other hand, how often have we seen the\nreverse--families whose energies have been used up in overwork or\nsensuality producing offspring below themselves in ability. The true\nrule, however, is neither to waste the bodily energy nor to keep too\nmuch of it lying idle and producing nothing.\n\n\nGIRLS IN MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS.--We need also a new departure in our\nmanufacturing centers. Manufacturing as now conducted is a far less\nhealthy occupation than agriculture and horticulture. The reason for\nthis is that workmen and workwomen and even children in most mills and\nfactories are exposed for hours at a time to an atmosphere which is\nloaded with dust and the debris of cotton, of wool, and often to that\nworst of all dust which comes from shoddy and rags. They are also, in\nmany cases, kept away from light, and in cramped positions, and this,\ncontinued for years, slowly deteriorates the constitution; and if, in\ncase of a war, we were obliged to enlist a large army, we should find a\nfar less number of able bodied men among the factory workers than among\nthe farmers. Let me give you a picture, perhaps one of the very worst\nto be seen anywhere, of a visit to a New England paper mill.\n\n\"We left, with a company of ladies and gentlemen, the light of a mellow\nafternoon to climb some steep and dusty stairs under the courteous\nguidance of a superintendent. We had hoped to 'see it all,' 'but that\nwas quite impossible,' said our guide, 'since the room where the rags\nare sorted is so dusty that the gowns of the ladies would be ruined.' So\nwe contented ourselves with less dangerous rooms. But even about the\nstairway the dust cloud hung heavily, obscuring the sight and choking\nthe breath. From the narrow landing the room, into which it was\nimpossible to venture, was in full view. It was long and large. From end\nto end were ranged huge boxes, waist high. Fastened to each were two\ninverted swords on whose sharp blades the workers cut the piled-up\nmasses of rags, shredding them for the bleaching boiler. All the floor\nwas covered with rags, billows upon billows of soiled white pieces, in\nwhich the toilers stood, their feet buried deep beneath the dirty,\ntattered material.\n\n\"Not a word was spoken. Even where we stood speech was difficult, so\ncompletely did the thick dust fill eyes, mouth and nostrils, choking,\nblinding and exasperating. The effect of this perfect silence was\noppressive. A certain solemnity hung over the place. Through the fog of\ndust the figures loomed unnaturally large. All the workers were white\nand hollow-cheeked, with great sunken eyes, emphasized by the circles\nunderneath. Each woman had bound upon her head some rag, larger or finer\nthan the rest, to protect her hair, and the gray-white bands folded\nstraight across the forehead showed weirdly in the dim half-light.\n\n\"As they stood there in long, silent rows, cutting, _cutting_, CUTTING,\nthey looked like the priestesses of some ancient and frightful\nceremonial. We were glad to escape, to exchange the dust, the grime, the\nwan faces, and the burning eyes for the breath of cool wind, the full\nglow of the sunlight, and the face of nature herself, so many of whose\nhuman children have no time to know or learn her ways.\n\n\"It gave a tragic significance to the memory of those silent workers to\nknow that they have but a few years to live.\"\n\nThe same unfortunate condition of things is complained of in Manchester,\nEngland, one of the greatest manufacturing centers in the world. \"The\nheated air of the mills, the dust, lack of light, the employment of\nchildren,\" says the London _Lancet_, \"are causing vast deterioration and\na most disastrous effect on the morals of the people. Football is\npopular, but all the players are imported from Scotland. The natives\nsimply look on and shout. If they want men for policemen or constables,\nthey go to Scotland or Ireland for them. The women and girls are\nequally stunted and feeble.\" In the manufacturing towns the prospect for\na strong, healthy race from such material is poor indeed.\n\n\nCO-OPERATION: AN EXAMPLE.--It is difficult to see the remedy for this\nstate of things. Probably the evolution of a higher standard of ethics,\na higher sense of justice, and a more thorough belief that health is a\nduty, may do something. Meantime it is important that the working man\nshould do all he can for himself; and perhaps I can do no better than to\ngive here a picture of what some of them have done under the inspiration\nof co-operation, not only for their health but for their pockets.\n\nIt is a picture of a great manufacturing establishment of the Scottish\nCo-operative Wholesale Society, at Shieldhall, near Glasgow, on the\nClyde. This society is a federation of all the retail societies of\nScotland, 238 in number, with a membership of over 150,000 persons. The\nsociety began on a moderate scale many years ago, but its development\nhas been marvelous. In 1887 it started out on a career which has since\ncontinued, owing to the indomitable energy of one of its members,\nhimself a working man. The buildings stand in a very healthy locality,\nthe health of the working force being considered of the first\nimportance. They seem to have learned that sickness is loss--loss of\ntime, of productive energy--and that it is a costly matter. As Mr.\nBeecher once said, \"it is the one burden that bends, almost breaks, the\nback of society.\"\n\nThese Scotchmen are realizing, just as far as is possible, the condition\nof a sound mind in a sound body. They recognize the rights of the\nlaborer to health, and place him in a position while working, so that\nhis body may not deteriorate any more than is natural for it to do as\nage advances. The living machine must not be harmed more than the dead\nmachinery. The land consists of 12 acres, and cost $2,500 an acre;\nnearly all of it is covered with fine buildings, in which 19 different\nindustries are carried on, many of them on a large scale. Every one of\nthese buildings is constructed after modern methods, with every\nrequirement, not only for convenience but for health. The workrooms are\ncosy and spacious, well ventilated, warmed in cold weather by steam, and\nlighted by electricity. The best sanitary arrangements known have been\nintroduced, and the excellent health of the workmen and workwomen, of\nwhom there are over 1,000 of each, tells the story of sanitation.\n\nTwo large dining-rooms, one for men and one for women, are provided;\nalso two large reading-rooms with all necessary papers, periodicals,\nbooks and means of amusement. Its only lack is a gymnasium and a field\nfor athletic sports, but these may in time be added. Food of the best\nquality is supplied for all who desire it at cost. A dish of oatmeal\nand milk costs three cents; a large scone with tea or coffee, the same;\nScotch broth or soup, two cents; stewed meat and potatoes, eight cents;\nroast beef or mutton, with potatoes, ten cents; a good and sufficient\nmeal need not cost over twelve cents. Standard wages are paid, and two\nand one-half hours less time demanded than in private shops.\n\nMen work fifty-three hours weekly, women forty-four. Most of the latter\nwork in the shirt factory, but they do not need to sing Hood's _Song of\nthe Shirt_. Sweating is unknown; every worker, from the youngest to the\noldest, receives his or her share of the profits, which amount to about\n$15,000 yearly.\n\nHere we have an almost ideal manufacturing establishment, and if all\nwere such we should have higher hopes for human health in the immediate\nfuture for our workers in factories. It was the outgrowth, the effort of\nthe Scotch, a highly intellectual race, to adjust itself to its\nenvironment. Necessity and competition acting on them forced them to new\nand better adjustments. Such a result could hardly have been achieved by\na less hard-headed and practical people, a race on which evolution has\nfor ages produced some of its best effects.\n\n\nHYGIENE.--But I fancy you ask me, Is there any hope that in the future\nevolution, and with it adjustment to environment, will carry man so far\nthat an ideal state of health will be the lot of all? This is what\nhygiene promises. Is it a vain hope? If we look at what older sciences\nhave done for man we find much to encourage us. In astronomy, by the aid\nof mathematics, we can calculate with certitude the date of future\neclipses. In many other sciences we can make accurate predictions and\naccomplish results of the greatest importance. Indeed, science has\nbecome almost our only authority. Imperfect as it yet is, we trust it,\nperhaps, too implicitly. The science of hygiene is the youngest of all\nthe sciences. Not that the Greeks, the Hebrews, the Hindoos and Chinese\ndid not have some practical knowledge on the subject, but it was rude\nand empirical. With the discoveries of micro-organisms as the cause of a\nseries of the worst diseases, we have begun to place hygiene alongside\nmathematics and chemistry.\n\nWe now know the origin of many diseases which formerly were enveloped in\nmystery. Can we remove them? That is the next task. Hygiene will in the\nfuture busy itself with this great question. It has, it is believed,\nalready made many cities proof, or almost proof, against cholera and\nyellow fever. It will try to make them proof against other contagious\ndiseases also, and it will without doubt succeed. But its work will not\nthen have been accomplished. We may avoid the causes of disease and\nstill be puny creatures. Our great task will be the building up of\nbodies equal to the needs of our environment. This we have, in a small\nway, already begun to do--imitating the ancient Greeks--in our schools\nof physical culture, where the body can be trained up to its best, and\nalso in our laboratories for psychological research, in which the\nrelation of mind and body are being carefully investigated, where every\nsubject connected with every function is being studied, even weariness,\nanger, hope, despair, drink, food, sleep, the weather, and their effects\non function. The results of such knowledge will prove beyond a doubt\nthat the health of the body, as well as of the mind, is of the highest\nimportance for success in life, for happiness and usefulness, and that\nwe can do much to secure both.\n\nMy own personal hope for the future of human health lies in the\nevolution and spread of this gospel of hygiene.\n\nHygiene interests itself in all that relates to human well-being. It may\nbe defined as _the ethics of the body--the science of true living_. It\npromises health to all who obey its laws. It makes no such promise to\nthose who disregard them. In the future, no doubt, a higher average of\nhealth will be the result of our ever-increasing knowledge; and whenever\nwe are able and willing to apply this knowledge to our own bodily and\nmental conduct we shall be amply rewarded. This much we can safely\npromise, but no more. On the contrary, the violators of hygienic laws\nwill, with their offspring, suffer in the future as in the past, and\nthat suffering will be in the form of pain, disease, degeneration,\npremature death.\n\nThis may seem hard to many who are sensitive to the pains and sorrows of\nthe world, and some have gone so far as to attribute to the author of\nnature, the unknown cause of all things, a character anything but good.\nBut this is a very erroneous way of looking at the subject. To discuss\nit fully we should have to consider the question of the mystery of evil,\nwhich cannot be done here. Suffice it to say, the creation, the\nevolution of the race, is by law. Causes produce their legitimate\nresults. If it were not so, our sufferings might be far greater, and no\nprogress would result. Let us be thankful that nature is as it is, and\nlet us do our best to put our lives in harmony with it. By so doing, we\nmay in the end attain all that we strive for.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GERM PLASM; ITS RELATION TO OFFSPRING.\n\n\nThe germ plasm is a most interesting and remarkable substance. It must\nbe interesting, for everything which relates to life and reproduction is\ninteresting. It must be remarkable, for out of it, under proper\nconditions, remarkable results are produced. Although our knowledge of\nits nature is very imperfect, yet let us not on this account refuse to\ntry to understand what little is known.\n\nIn the first place, the germ plasm of animals which reproduce sexually\nis composed of two germ plasms--that of the male, and that of the\nfemale. That of the male is called the _spermatozoon_ (pronounced\nsper'ma-to-zooen). It is sometimes called spermatozoid; the plural is\nspermatozoa. It is exceedingly small, the smallest of any cell in the\nbody, and has the power to move from place to place. These cells are\nproduced in enormous numbers, and so far as they have been observed\nunder the microscope they differ considerably in power of movement and\nin perfection of development. Considering their small size, they must\nmake a very long journey to find the ovum; and if they were only few in\nnumber, they would rarely succeed; but existing in large numbers, for\nthere are millions of them produced in each sexual act of the male, some\nof them are pretty sure to do so, and, probably in most cases, it would\nbe those most vigorous and capable of making the journey most direct and\nin the least time.\n\nThat of the female is called the _ovum_, or egg; plural, _ova_. Only a\nsmall number are produced, when compared with the number of the male\nspermatozoa, but there are quite enough for the ends they are to serve.\nThey have not the same power of movement, though they do move somewhat\nas the amaeba does. They are also very much larger than the male cells.\n\nThe eggs of all mammals look alike as they come from the ovaries, but\ntake on some changes afterward. Haeckel says: \"Every primitive egg being\nan entirely simple, somewhat round, moving, naked cell, possesses no\nmembrane, and consists only of a nucleus and protoplasm. These two parts\nhave long borne distinctive names: the protoplasm being called the\n_vitellus_, or yelk, and the nucleus the _germinal vesicle_ (_vesicula\ngerminativa_).\" The same author also says: \"The human egg cannot be\ndistinguished from that of most other mammals, either in its immature or\nin its more complete condition. Its form, its size, its composition, are\napproximately the same in all. In its fully developed condition it has\nan average diameter of one-tenth of a line--about the one hundred and\ntwentieth part of an inch. If the mammalian egg is properly isolated,\nand held on a plate of glass towards the light, it appears to the eye as\na very fine point. The normal eggs of most of the higher mammals are of\nalmost exactly the same size. They have the same spherical form; always\nthe same characteristic covering; always the same clear, round germinal\nvesicle with its dark germinal spot. Even under the highest power of our\nbest microscopes there _appears_ to be no essential difference between\nthe eggs of a human being and that of the ape, the dog, the cat or other\nanimal.\" This similarity is one of appearance only. There is a\ndifference, and of this I shall speak later. It may be asked if the egg\nof a bird is the same as the egg of a mammal. The mature bird's egg, as\nit is laid in the nest, differs materially from that of any mammal; but\nin its miniature form, as found in the hen's ovary, it is also the same.\nThe egg of a bird after it leaves the ovary, and as it passes along the\noviduct, takes on secretions in its passage which it converts into yelk,\nand afterwards a shell is added to give it protection in the external\nworld, where it must undergo incubation before it can become a bird; but\nbefore it takes on its shell it has been fertilized, and this also\ncauses other changes. Haeckel says: \"After the ripe egg of the bird has\nleft the ovary, and has been fertilized in the oviduct, it surrounds\nitself with various coverings which are secreted from the inner surface\nof the oviduct. The thick layer of transparent albumen first forms round\nthe yellow yelk; this is followed by the formation of the outer\ncalcareous shell, within which is another envelope, or skin. All these\ncoverings and additions which are gradually formed round the egg are of\nno importance to the development of the embryo; they are parts which\nhave nothing to do with the simple egg cell. Even in the case of other\nanimals we often find large eggs with thick coverings. For example, the\nshark's; but even in this case the egg is originally exactly similar to\nthose of mammals when in its primitive condition as it comes from the\novary. In the case of the bird these additions serve only as food for\nthe growing embryo, which, in the case of mammals, is furnished by a\nstream of the mother's blood, making 'stored-up' nutriment unnecessary.\"\n\nBefore, however, we can have _true germ plasm_ the mother cell must be\nfertilized by the male cell. This is true of all the higher plants and\nanimals. There are some low plants and animals in which fertilization by\nthe male cell is not required. This has been called virginal generation.\nIn no mammal is this possible.\n\nHow fertilization takes place and what it signifies are both important\nquestions which have not been entirely settled, and it almost seems as\nif they could not be settled in some of their details, except in the\nlower forms of life. Nature has so protected the process from\nobservation in the higher animals that it cannot be studied in detail;\nbut in plants and the lowest animals it has been observed with some\nsuccess, and we may infer that the process is very much the same in the\nhigher animals.\n\nHaeckel, in his great work on the Evolution of Man, tells us that \"The\nprocess of fertilization in sexual generation depends essentially on the\nfact that two dissimilar cells meet and blend. In former times the\nstrangest views prevailed with regard to this act. Men have always been\ndisposed to regard it as thoroughly mystical, and the most widely\ndifferent hypotheses have been framed to account for it. It is only\nwithin a few years that closer study has shown that the whole process of\nfertilization is extremely simple, and entirely without special mystery.\nEssentially, it consists merely in the fact that the male sperm-cell\ncoalesces with the female egg-cell. Owing to its sinuous movements, the\nvery mobile sperm-cell finds its way to the female egg-cell, penetrates\nthe membrane of the latter by a perforating motion, and coalesces with\nits cell material.\n\n\"A poet might find in this circumstance a capital opportunity for\npainting in glowing colors the wonderful mystery of fertilization; he\nmight describe the struggles of the 'seed animalcules' eagerly dancing\nround the egg-cell shut up in its many coverings, disputing the passage\nthrough the minute pore-canals of the chorion, and then of purpose\nburying themselves in the protoplasm of the yelk mass, where, in a\nspirit of self-sacrifice, they completely efface themselves in the\nbetter 'ego.' But the critical naturalist very prosaically conceives\nthis poetical incident, this 'crown of love,' as the mere coalescence of\ntwo cells! The result of this is, that in the first place the egg-cell\nis rendered capable of further evolution, and, secondly, that the\nhereditary qualities of _both_ parents can be transmitted to the child.\"\n\nBy coalescence is understood, growing together, not mingling as water\nand milk might when mixed. More recent observations indicate that during\ncoalescence both the male and female cells throw off some portions of\ntheir substance. It is also considered that the important part of each\ncell is its nucleus. In it all hereditary characteristics are stored up.\nIf the nucleus be absent in either cell these cells cannot reproduce. In\nunicellular, or one-celled, organisms, it has been found in\nmultiplication by division, a part of the nucleus must go with each\nhalf, otherwise the half without a part of it does not grow. In\nexperiments in laboratories, artificial division of simple organisms may\nbe made, and each fragment will become a perfect creature if only a very\nsmall piece of the nucleus goes with the separated portion; but if a\npart is cut off without any of the nucleus, then, while it may live on\nfor a short time, it can not grow or propagate.\n\nPossibly we have here an explanation of some hereditary phenomena in\nhuman beings. If there is an unequal division, and more of the male than\nof the female nucleus, the child might, as a result, inherit more of the\nfather's than of the mother's characteristics, or the reverse.\n\nWhat has been so far said about the germ plasm has been to enable the\nreader to possess a degree of intelligence on the nature of\nfertilization, so far as it is known; but from a practical standpoint\nthe most important knowledge for those prospective parents who wish to\npractice intelligent stirpiculture is to understand that the health of\nthe germ plasm or fertilized ovum depends on the health of the parents.\nBy health, I mean the possession of a good constitution, to which will\nbe added a strong hold on life, power to do and to endure, and quickly\nto recover from weariness. Disease will be easily warded off in such\npersons, so that there will be generally good health. Such a condition\nof body is usually inherited. It depends on the possession of a large\nsupply in the body of living matter--firm muscles, a good heart, lungs\nand digestive organs. Those who are feeble cannot endure much; whose\nheart, lungs and digestive organs are weak; whose hold on life is\nslight, can rarely endow their offspring with these high qualities.\nTheir children may live if no great strain comes upon them; but if they\nmust take an active part in the struggle and competition going on in the\nworld they cannot endure it. Mr. Spencer puts the case very aptly in his\nwork on Ethics where he says: \"It results that where maternal vigor is\ngreat, and the surplus vitality consequently large, a long series of\nchildren may be borne before any deterioration in their quality becomes\nmarked; while, on the other hand, a mother with but a small surplus may\nsoon cease altogether to reproduce. Further, it results that variations\nin the state of health of parents which involves variations in the\nsurplus vitality have their effects on the constitutions of offspring to\nthe extent that offspring borne during greatly deranged maternal health\nare decidedly feebler. And then, lastly and chiefly, it results that\nafter the constitutional vigor has culminated, and there has commenced\nthat gradual decline which in some twenty years or so brings absolute\ninfertility, there goes on a gradual decrease in that surplus vitality\non which the production of offspring depends, and a consequent\ndeterioration in the quality of such offspring. This which is _a\npriori_ conclusion is verified _a posteriori_.\n\n\"Mr. J. Mathews Duncan, in his work on Fecundity, Fertility, Sterility\nand allied topics, has given results of statistics which show that\nmothers of twenty-five bear the finest infants, and that from mothers\nwhose ages at marriage range from twenty to twenty-five years there come\ninfants which have a lower rate of mortality than those resulting from\nmarriages consummated when the mothers' ages are smaller or greater. The\napparent slight incongruity between these two statements being due to\nthe fact that whereas marriages commenced before twenty and twenty-five\ncover the whole of the period of highest vigor, marriages commenced at\nfive and twenty cover a period which lacks the years during which vigor\nis rising to its climax and includes only the years of decline from the\nclimax.\"\n\nThis quotation from Mr. Spencer needs a qualifying remark. Mr. Galton,\nin his work on Hereditary Genius, found that the average age of mothers\nof men of the greatest ability was about thirty, and of their fathers\nthirty-five. In such cases, the physical and intellectual strength must\nhave been above the average, and, consequently, it continued to a more\nadvanced age. Besides, those of great ability mature later.\n\nIt may also be added that Duncan's statistics, quoted by Spencer, are\naverage statistics gathered from tables of mortality, and include every\nclass of persons. Now, average statistics do not apply to individual\ncases, and they would not apply to those highly endowed physically and\nintellectually.\n\nFurther, those who are well endowed at birth and whose lives are in\naccordance with hygienic law, that is, those who do not squander their\nphysiological resources by sensuality, by intemperance, or by excesses\nof any sort retain their health to a greater age than those whose lives\nare the reverse. Such are of a youthful physiological age, which is not\naltogether determined by the actual number of years they have lived, but\nby very high physiological conditions.\n\nFrom all this we conclude that a very important rule in the production\nof offspring, if we would have those offspring superior, is to maintain\na high degree of health--a condition in which there is a surplus of\nphysiological capital to produce children with endowments equal to, if\nnot superior to, their parents.\n\nAnother subject requires treatment here. It is the effect of alcohol on\noffspring. We are yet lacking in statistics giving the facts we need to\nknow on this subject; but the general observation of competent persons\nwho have had good opportunities to study it may teach us something.\nAlcohol, in its circulation in the blood, penetrates every part; not\neven the germ plasm escapes. Demme studied ten families of drinkers and\nten families of temperate persons. The direct posterity of the ten\nfamilies of drinkers included fifty-seven children. Of these,\ntwenty-five died in the first weeks and months of their lives; six were\nidiots; in five a striking backwardness of their longitudinal growth was\nobserved; five were affected with epilepsy, and five with inborn\ndiseases. Thus, of the fifty-seven children of drinkers only ten, or\n17.5 per cent., had normal constitutions and healthful growth. The ten\nsober families had sixty-one children, five only dying in the first\nweeks; four were affected with curable diseases of the nervous system;\ntwo only had inborn defects. The remaining fifty, 81.9 per cent., were\nnormal in their constitutions and development.\n\nIn this statement we have a graphic object lesson of the evil effects of\nalcohol on the germ plasm. Natural selection had far more to do in\nremoving those unfit to survive in the intemperate than in the temperate\nfamilies.\n\nA knowledge of the evil effects of alcohol on the unborn child was known\nto the ancients. The mother of Sampson was warned \"not to drink any wine\nor strong drink nor to eat any unclean thing\" because she was to\nconceive and bear a son who was to deliver Israel out of the hands of\nthe Philistines. Manoah was so interested in what the angel of the Lord\nhad said to his wife that he sought an interview with him for further\nconfirmation, and asked: \"How shall we order the child, and how shall we\ndo unto him?\" evidently meaning, \"How shall we train and educate him?\"\nand the same advice was given as before. Whatever view the reader may\nhold as to the inspiration or non-inspiration of the Bible, certainly\nthis advice was good. Other examples similar to it are to be found, not\nonly in the same book, but in numerous historical works, and also\nabundant evidence in our own time of the evil effects of alcoholic\ndrinks on unborn children giving them a tendency to insanity, idiocy and\nother nervous diseases. A whole book might be written on this branch of\nour subject.\n\nTo what extent food affects the germ plasm we remain somewhat in\nignorance. We know that it is from it that the body is nourished, and\nfrom it also the stored up or surplus matter in our systems is obtained.\nThe larger the surplus the more highly will the offspring be endowed\nwith energy is a fact clearly set forth by Mr. Spencer. A surplus of\nfatty food stored up in the body, however, cannot be of much service and\nmay prove injurious. A deficiency of nitrogenous food would also, it\nseems to me, be an evil. The germ plasm, or its most important part, is\na highly nitrogenous substance, like all protoplasm, or living matter.\nThe highest form of germ plasm, that with a most complex molecular\nstructure, would hardly be formed if there was a deficiency of\nnitrogenous matter in the blood.\n\nAir is also food the same as bread is. The activities, the chemical\nchanges in the body, are mainly, though not entirely, between the oxygen\nof the air and the carbon and hydrogen of our food. The body is quite as\nmuch injured by a deficiency of air inhaled into the lungs by exercise\nas by a deficiency of food, though the injury may be of a different\nnature. Physicians and others have long ago observed that the offspring\nof parents living much in the open air and sunlight are healthier and\nstronger than those of parents living in confined spaces, where air and\nlight are deficient. Air which is impure, which is loaded with poisonous\nmatter, if inhaled for a long time by the mother, lowers the standard of\nher health. In malarious regions, the vigor of the offspring is less,\nand the number who die in infancy greater, than in regions where the air\nand water are pure. Many years ago I remember reading in one of the\njournals devoted to sanitary science published in London, an account of\na rural town where both air and water were of extraordinary purity, and\nin this town a very large percentage of the children born lived to grow\nto maturity. There is also an isolated region in France, bordering on\nthe sea, where both air, water and climate are unusually salubrious,\nand though intermarriage has been practiced for a long time among the\nseveral thousand inhabitants, the people are remarkably well formed and\nhealthy. Similar facts have been observed in other places. They indicate\nto us that a healthful climate, with good air and water, are important\nfactors in all true stirpiculture.\n\nWhile all diseases which exhaust the physiological resources of the\nsystem are detrimental to the offspring, there are certain ones which\nare peculiarly so. Specific diseases or those resulting from a sensual\nlife are the first to be mentioned. If the bodies of either father or\nmother become saturated with the poison, which is probably a germ, then\nthe child born of such parents will certainly be infected and either die\nat birth or live only a short and feeble life. It is one of the\npenalties of an impure life--a very severe one, no doubt, but perhaps\nnot too severe, that the offspring of the sensualist must suffer the\npenalties for its parent's physiological sins. Medical men have long\nbeen trying to discover a remedy which will make it safe for a man\ninfected with specific disease to marry and become a father, but so far\nthey have not had much success. It is doubtful if they ever will.\n\nEpilepsy is another disease which is so often transmitted to children\nthat any one of either sex suffering from it had better abstain from\nparentage. If one parent is remarkably healthy, the children may escape\nthe severest form of penalty; but even then they may suffer from\nnervousness and other diseases, and rarely enjoy robust health.\n\nThe question whether persons who have a consumptive tendency should\nbecome parents or not has frequently been discussed by sanitarians, but\nnever settled. Such persons are frequently intellectual, and often of an\nunusually cheerful and hopeful disposition. They are, in most cases,\nquite prolific. In the female they generally make excellent wives and\nmothers; in the case of the male, they are not uncommonly good providers\nfor their families, and also good fathers. Except in the worst cases,\ndoes the welfare of the race demand that they shall not marry and become\nparents. Probably not. But we must advise them to take the very best\ncare of their imperfect bodies; to develop their chests by wise but not\nexcessive physical training; to husband their physiological resources\ncarefully; not to marry young, nor rear too many children. Excessive\nchildbearing is a prolific cause in women of consumption, and excessive\nsexual indulgence is a frequent cause of it in both sexes.\n\nThese remarks should not be construed to mean that those who are already\nin the early stages of this disease, or whose families on both sides\nhave been deeply affected by it, may become parents. They should not.\nBut in the present state of society, we cannot hold men and women up to\nan ideal standard. Some slight risks may be taken, but not too great\nones. As the race progresses in knowledge, however, we may raise our\nstandards, and finally make them so high that no one with a tendency to\nany serious disease which is likely to affect the offspring unfavorably\nshall have any right to contribute to the world's population.\n\nI have mentioned only a few of the many diseases which affect the germ\nplasm unfavorably. It is hardly necessary to extend the list.\n\nOne other subject deserves consideration, when I will bring this chapter\nto a close. Every child born into the world is, to a certain extent, an\nexperiment. That is to say, the parents cannot predict its sex, nor what\nits chief characteristics will be. These depend on what potentialities\nare stored up in the germ plasm. If this be formed by parents in good\nhealth, with a surplus of vital force, and a long line of ancestors with\nnormal lives, we may believe that if the environment be favorable, the\nchild will develop so as to show the same characteristics, perhaps in an\neven higher degree. Whatever variations there are will not be much below\nor above the average line of its ancestors. The congenital characters\nwill tend to be transmitted. They are in the germ plasm, even in great\ndetail. Whether the acquired ones are transmitted may still be\nuncertain; but whether they are or not, normal right living will be sure\nto have good effects. Obey the laws of life and far better results will\nfollow than if they are disobeyed.\n\n\n\n\nFEWER AND BETTER CHILDREN.\n\n\nIn the present age suggestions on this subject may seem superfluous. The\nmore highly educated and wealthy classes have already sufficiently\nreduced the number of children which they bring into the world. But are\nthese offspring any better than they would have been had their parents\ngiven birth to a larger number?\n\nMr. Darwin did not think much could be done to improve the race by\nparents limiting the number of their offspring. He would trust to\nnatural selection to weed out the unfit, and to sexual selection as an\naid. He thus describes the probable manner of action of sexual selection\namong primeval men: \"The strongest and most vigorous men--those who\ncould best defend and hunt for their families; those who were provided\nwith the best weapons and possessed the most property, such as a large\nnumber of dogs or other animals--would succeed in rearing a greater\naverage number of offspring than the weaker and poorer members of the\nsame tribes. Such men would doubtless generally be able to select the\nmore attractive women. . . . If, then, this be admitted, it would be an\nunexplainable circumstance if the selection of the more attractive women\nby the more powerful men of the tribes, who would rear on the average a\ngreater number of children, did not, after the lapse of generations,\n_modify the character of the tribes_.\"\n\nThe way in which the tribe would be modified would be by its producing\nbetter children. Of course among primitive men the richer and more\npowerful had several wives, but it is not likely that the number of\nchildren by each one was large.\n\nNatural selection is, however, a painful process, necessary, no doubt,\nwhere ignorance prevails; but if the number of children of each pair\ncould be limited and of a superior character, so far as vigor and\nadaptation to environment are concerned, would there not be less need\nfor natural selection with all its evils? It seems to us that this would\nbe so.\n\nWe have already quoted Grant Allen as favoring abstinence from\nparenthood on the part of the unfit and the duty on the part of the fit\nto become parents, and, theoretically, Mr. Allen is right; but except as\nboth of these classes are swayed by duty we would make little progress\nin this way. A majority of mankind think they are the fit. Why should\nthey crucify their desires for the benefit of the race? As mankind\nbecomes more moral Mr. Allen's views may have a larger influence on\nthought than now; but before that time little can be expected from\nthem.\n\nMr. Spencer says: \"We have fallen upon evil times, in which it has come\nto be an accepted doctrine that part of the responsibilities [of\nparenthood] are to be discharged, not by parents, but by the public--a\npart which is gradually becoming a larger part, and threatens to become\nthe whole. Agitators and legislators have united in spreading a theory\nwhich, logically followed out, ends in the monstrous conclusion that it\nis for parents to beget children and for society to take care of them.\nThe political ethics now in fashion makes the unhesitating assumption\nthat while each man, as parent, is not responsible for the mental\nculture of his offspring he is, as a citizen along with other citizens,\nresponsible for the mental culture of all other men's offspring! And\nthis absurd doctrine has now become so well established that people\nraise their eyes in astonishment if you deny. But this ignoring of the\ntruth, that only by due discharge of parental responsibilities has all\nlife on the earth arisen, and that only through the better discharge of\nthem have there gradually been made possible better types of life, is,\nin the long run, fatal. Breach of natural law will, in this case, as in\nall cases, be followed in due time by nature's revenge--a revenge which\nwill be terrible in proportion as the breach has been great. A system\nunder which parental duties are performed wholesale by those who are\nnot parents, under the plea that many parents cannot or will not perform\ntheir duties--a system which fosters the inferior children of inferior\nparents at the cost of superior parents and consequent injury of\nsuperior children--a system which thus helps incapables to multiply and\nhinders the multiplication of capables or diminishes their capability\nmust bring decay and ultimate extinction. A society which persists in\nsuch a system must--other things equal--go to the wall in the\ncompetition with a society which does not commit this folly of\nnourishing its worst at the expense of its best.\"\n\nWe have evidence among primitive people that they understand the\nnecessity of limiting offspring, and practice it in a perfectly\nhealthful way. The natives of Uganda, a region in Central Africa, offers\nan illustration: \"The women rarely have more than two or three children;\nthe practice is that when a woman has borne a child she is to live apart\nfrom her husband for two years, at which age children are weaned.\"\n\nSeaman, speaking of the Fijians, says: \"After childbirth husband and\nwife keep apart three and even four years, so that no other baby may\ninterfere with the time considered necessary for suckling children.\"\n\nSome fifty years ago there lived in New York a young couple, strong,\nhealthy, ambitious to be rich, and both saving and industrious enough to\nbecome so under ordinary conditions. The husband was in a business which\nrequired constant attention; and in order to promote it and save the\nexpense of help which he thought he could not afford, he labored nights,\noften up to the hours of twelve and sometimes one o'clock, and then\narose early and went at it again. His wife sympathized with him in all\nhis undertakings, helped him in every way possible, even to the sharing\nof his midnight toils. In no way did either of them spare themselves.\nThey knew something of the evils of poverty, and were determined that it\nshould not always be their lot. Fortune favored them, and their bank\naccount grew larger and larger until they could count the value of their\npossessions as amounting to several million dollars. They lived in a\nfine country seat, and could gratify every wish, so far as food,\nclothing, books and travel were concerned. During their early married\nlife, when the strain of work was the greatest, two children were born\nunto them, both boys, and they are alive today; but are they a comfort\nto their parents, and a help in their declining years? Instead of this\nthey are both deformed and cripples, unable to help themselves or do any\nlabor. Their family physician has told me that the overwork and\nprivation of the parents at the time of their birth and before, was\nundoubtedly the cause of the children's inferiority. A younger son born\nafter the wife had ceased to toil like a slave, gives some promise of\nbeing a man of character.\n\nWe have here a typical case of strong, healthy parents, with a limited\nnumber of offspring, yet they were not superior. On the other hand, it\nwould be easy to collect a large number of instances where the children\nin large families have had superior endowments. Take Benjamin Franklin\nas an example. He was the fifteenth child of his father, Josiah\nFranklin, and the eighth of the ten children of his mother.\n\nIt seems that superiority is a result of great vigor and perfection of\nbody and mind and of abundant reproductive power. Where this is absent\nthe children will hardly be superior. Yet in both cases a certain degree\nof limitation ought to be advantageous.\n\nIn conclusion, let me say what I have indirectly said already. Let the\nstrong, the capable and the good rear as many children as they can\nwithout overburdening themselves in any way, and let the weak, the\nimperfect and the bad rear few or none, but devote their lives to\nperfecting their own characters. In this way the future race will be\nmodified for good and not for evil.\n\n\n\n\nA THEORETICAL BABY.\n\n_Reported by request of Dr. Holbrook._\n\n\nIt was our first baby. I was making a living as a doctor by writing\narticles on the general care of the health; and my wife before her\nmarriage had been a kindergartner, a trainer of kindergartners, and a\nlecturer to mothers on the scientific and expert methods of rearing\nchildren aright. We believed in the theories we had taught, and our baby\ngot nothing else from the start. According to the first applied theory,\nwe made our temporary home before the boy began to be, in the Rocky\nMountains of Colorado; and were a large part of the time either in our\ngarden or on horseback, in this perfect outdoor climate. My wife was\nentirely in love with me, and I made each day count for nothing more\ncertainly than to deserve and return that sentiment of hers. We lived\nsimply but freely, and had next to no anxieties. My wife had practiced\ngeneral gymnastics for years; but for months prior to the birth of her\nboy, she every day went through with a series of special maternal\ngymnastics, by which the muscles that aid in parturition can be made\nstrong and entirely to be relied upon. We were rewarded for this outlay\nof time in a delivery that was rapid and easy, without more than an\nounce of haemorrhage, and everything so perfectly controlled that--except\nfor the inconvenience of it--the presence and aid of the physician\n(myself) might have been dispensed with. Recovery was rapid also. My\nwife made no haste to get up, keeping quiet most of the time for two\nweeks, to ensure good milk. But she did a family washing without effort\nafter three weeks, and was on horseback again by the sixth week. The\nbaby was not severed from his mother till ten minutes after birth\n(ensuring a better blood supply). Then he got no bath, no food, no\ndressing process; but was simply swathed in cotton batting and laid\naside for six hours in a padded box-bed, surrounded by bottles of hot\nwater, and covered with plenty of soft blankets, to sleep and get used\nto his new environment. On the second day we began rubbing him daily\nfrom head to foot with vaseline. His first bath, with a flannel cloth\ndipped in warm milk diluted with soft water and without soap, came when\nhe was a week old, and was followed by the thorough rub with vaseline.\nThis bath he has had nearly every day up to date. He has often cried, or\ncrowed and begged for this bath; but never cried during its performance,\nexcept when his clothes were being replaced. On the contrary, he enjoys\nevery moment of it.\n\nFeeding began with a meal every hour of the twenty-four, for the first\nweek. Then night feeding was reduced to two meals, and he was fed every\ntwo hours, from four or five o'clock in the morning till nine at night,\ntill two months old. About then he began sleeping right through the\nnights; and until three months old was fed every three hours of the day\ntime; then for a month he went four hours between his meals. At his\nfourth month began the present regime of four meals _per diem_. Now and\nthen he has cried in the night from thirst, and a few spoonsful of cold\nwater have sufficed to send him off to sleep again. All in all, I think\nI could count on my fingers the times that he has wakened us out of\nhours, and not once has anyone walked the floor with him. In fact, no\ndiversions of this sort have ever been practiced on him. He has never\nbeen rocked to sleep; whenever cross or fretful in the day, we have\nknown that sleep was all he needed, and into his little bed he has been\npromptly plumped, and covered with a loosely knit afghan, tented on a\nlight framework, which we call \"the extinguisher.\" Here shut away and\nentirely unnoticed he soon learned to give himself up to his own\nreflections, and then presently to sleep. Thus we have kept down the\nfirst great nuisance of ordinary infancy, namely, egoism and a habit of\nhowling for attention when no attention is really needed. But social\nrelations, and those of the gayest, he has constantly with both his\nparents. We take up and make into play with him each idea of his own. We\nhave shown him some finger-plays. In the main we leave him to originate\nhis own amusements.\n\nFrom the keeping of stomach and bowels absolutely healthy, by a regular\nand reasonable exercise of their all-important functions, not only has\nthe boy been free from irritability, and spontaneously happy and\nself-amused, sometimes quiet, and sometimes jolly to overflowing. But\nthe second great nuisance of those ordinarily attending baby-raising,\nnamely, sour stomach followed by colic, was eliminated. A secondary\nresult of this entire regularity of functioning at the upper end of the\nalimentary canal was that a like regularity set in at the other end.\nThat is, at the thirteenth week he began to have but one daily passage\nof faecal matter, and that soon after breakfast. Of the approach of this\nact he notified his mother without fail, and thereafter we had no soiled\ndiapers. Movements were received on pieces of old cloth, and cloth and\nall tossed into a pan of ashes, or the fire, when we had one. When, at\nsix months, we put him onto cow's milk, mixed with thin graham porridge,\nto supply the extra nourishment demanded by rapid growth, he went up to\ntwo movements per diem--morning and evening. Thus, the third great\nnuisance of of diaper washing was eliminated, in its more disagreeable\nfeature. Eructation of curds, rashes, colic, diarrhoea--these common\nailments of ordinary babyhood, we have never had a sight of. We believe\nit due solely to strict adherence to the four-meals-a-day plan. These\nconsist of an early breakfast, a later breakfast, a dinner about one\no'clock and a supper between six and seven. The bath comes at any\nconvenient time. On pleasant days, even in winter, he is outdoors, well\nwrapped, in a chair, for hours, and often has a long nap there. He was\nprovided, by my own needle and penknife, with an ample fur sleeping\nsack, into which he is securely buttoned every evening and laid in his\nbox-bed, on a trunk. He never sleeps with his parents. According to the\ncoolness or coldness of the nights, additional covering, in the shape of\nsoft blankets and shawls, is laid in on the box, their weight supported\nby the edges of the box. He cannot uncover himself, but he can kick\nfreely, and use his arms. We dressed him, from the first, in the\n\"_Gertrude_\" system of baby clothes, introduced by Dr. Grosvenor, of\nChicago--all woolen princess garments, with shirring strings at the\nlower hems, by which they are made closed bags, ending just below the\nfeet; warm, but allowing of kicking _ad libitum_. At five months--it\nbeing winter time--he went into short clothes, including solid suits of\nwarm flannel underwear, shirts, drawers and long snug-fitting stockings.\nHe has never had a cold. His muscles, from the first (due to his\nmother's gymnastics), were firm and active, like those of an adult. At\nthe fourth week he surprised us by suspending his entire weight from his\nhands and arms one morning. Legs, neck, back and hands particularly have\ndeveloped steadily in power and quickness. There was never any fat\ndeposited--that _avant courier_ of so much infant mortality--yet he is,\nand has been all along, a rosy, plump, dimpled baby, or boy, rather, for\nbabyhood very early lost its hold on him. Too often children seem\nfinally to emerge from the miseries and ailments of a tedious infancy\nand to take on, at last, individuality and distinct character at the\nsecond or third year. This child, _per contra_, having never had a\nsensation of illness, or of pain, save honest hunger, has seemed to be a\nhappy little boy almost from the first, alert or thoughtful, shouting or\ncooing, laughing and crowing, especially after his meals and movements,\nstudying the world of things about him by the hour, keenly appreciative\nof colors and of music, and preferring some sorts to others, his face\ncrossed by vivid changes of expression, wonder, merriment, surprise,\nreverie--all as perfect at six months as ordinarily seen at three years.\nHe has good color from head to foot, is pale when hungry, but the moment\na bit of food is down expands to his most genial flow of spirits.\nImmediately after his day-time naps his cheeks are regularly flushed and\nrosy. His spirits become more pronounced toward each evening, reaching\ntheir high-point of talking, laughing, crowing and squealing at just\nabout bed-time. He keeps it up for some time after being tucked away for\nthe night, till sleep masters him; and begins where he left off early\nnext morning. All this is good physiology. So happy day succeeds happy\nday, and we trust and hope that many good tendencies are getting a fair\nstart in a harmonious and spontaneous beginning of this great work of\ngrowing up that we are fostering but not forcing.\n\n\nAT ONE YEAR OLD.--Everything continues as begun. Teething at times\ncauses slight transient fretfulness, and more cold water is drunk. The\nbowels remain absolutely regular. The all-night sleep (never \"put to\nsleep,\") and two day-time naps are unchanged, in all thirteen or\nfourteen hours of sleep _per diem_. On warm days he needs _and gets_\nplenty of cool water to drink, often two-thirds of a pint at a time.\nTalking, standing and creeping he has attained by his own unaided\ninitiative (this on principle). As for amusements, he invents his own\nalways, except when engaged in social exchange with his father and\nmother, and in these, too, we are careful that he makes at least half\nthe advances.\n\nOn particular occasions he comes in need of mothering--and gets it. On\nall others he simply lives with two big but highly sympathetic\nplayfellows; and he has developed separate lines of play and talk for\neach. Often he chooses to alternate as between two poles of attraction,\nturning his face to his mother's for her sympathy between shouts to his\nfather, or _vice versa_. From week to week we notice that the older\nplays are mostly dropped one by one, and fresh ones invented. All,\nhowever, are real and vivid to him.\n\nIn early prospect we have but two more points to compass. Perfect health\nin all respects he has intact. Self-control and self-sufficiency, both\nin amusing himself and in enduring lesser ills, such as bumps and mild\ndegrees of hunger, he is getting as fast as growth permits. But\nobedience and responsibility will soon be needed in his repertoire.\nNegative obedience his mother is obtaining already in response to \"No,\nno,\" and shakes of the head. Positive obedience will be the far more\nvital thing to secure--just as soon as he can help in little ways. Here\nwe hope to make him responsible as far as can be for the welfare, safety\nand amusement of younger playfellows, whether brother or sister it is\nnow too soon to say.\n\n\nAT EIGHTEEN MONTHS.--A cold douche has, for three months past, ended his\nmorning bath, regularly given by his father after his sister arrived,\nand his weight became considerable. This douche, poured slowly from a\ndipper until redness set in, has added markedly to his spirits,\nmuscular activity and digestive capacity. It causes screaming at the\nmoment, but an instant later, as three Turkish towels are wrapped\nclosely about him, his exuberance is delightful to see. Coincidently he\nhas taken up a selected diet of solid food, including chocolate and\ncooked fruits, and will have but one nap, though often that is a long\none.\n\nAs the child is working out of babyhood, every day counting (as no day\nof half illness in childhood can count), and well into boyhood, the\nsingle principle already outlined, of leaving the little individuality\nto establish its own activities and socialities, seems sufficient, as\nthe illustrations appended, I believe, prove. Doubtless a child that is\nnot, day after day, enjoying, and often thrilled by health and life, as\nthis little boy is, a child not brought up in an unbroken _camaraderie_\nwith both parents, such as he has had, and particularly a child not\nhaving the send-off of trust and amiable impulse which he received\nbefore his birth, could not be left to blossom in such wild-flower\nstyle. Ugly, sulky or \"streaky\" conduct, jumping perversely out in place\nof good cheer, we have never had to deal with. In fact, we have never\nbeen able to detect the slightest resentment immediately after punishing\nhim for taking forbidden articles, or for raising an outcry over being\ndenied sundry things he wanted. His crying when punished is that of pure\ngrief, and he is ready at once to nestle down under the hand that had\nspatted disapproval, to be comforted, resuming good spirits two or three\nminutes later on. In the main, simply \"No, no!\" from either parent, has\nsufficed to stop him in the beginnings of mischief, sometimes resulting\nin cheerful desisting, and sometimes in a little of what we call the\n\"grieved cry.\" But this, too, if it becomes loud or insistent, can be\nhushed by another \"No, no,\" and enable him to regain control of himself.\nWith this regained self-control has always come gratefulness for aid in\nthe matter, as evinced by extra sweetness and brightness immediately\nafter, and eager resumption of some one or other of his plays or calls\nwith one or both of us. This may be what is known as discipline. It\nalways brings a smile to our faces, however.\n\nWithout a break of more than a day or two at a time, we have been able\nto be equally near him all the while, and divide up about equally the\nmatters of bathing, feeding, dressing and undressing him. The\nconventional estimate of those standing nearest to a child of,\n\n     1--Mother,\n     2--Nurse,\n     3--Teacher,\n     4--Servants and playmates,\n     5--Older brother or sister,\n     6--Father--the man behind the newspaper,\n\ncertainly does not apply here. When I am absent for from three to six\nhours his uneasiness sets in, and grows stronger and stronger, ending in\nrepeated expeditions to a short distance along the road, where he stands\nand calls \"Vager,\" \"Vager,\" (Father, Father,) at first hopefully, then\nprotestingly, and sometimes at last with indignation or tears. When I\nreturn--and he listens and catches the first distant sound of hoofs, or\nwheels, or whinny of the left-at-home colts, or voice, or opening\ngate--an eager, beaming face welcomes me from gate or doorway, or even\nseveral rods down the beaten snow on the road. Once back, things are all\nright in his little domain again, and he goes on, without special\nattention to me, in his series of occupations and plays.\n\nI say \"occupations.\" They are nothing else to him; serious matters that\nhe goes about accomplishing. He is at his best when he can help his\nmother at her work--blowing the fire, bringing her kindling, handing her\nclothespins one by one as she needs them, shutting or opening doors on\nrequest, picking up articles from the floor. But there are many hours\ncontinuously when he is left to his own devices, which are numerous,\nthough many of them he goes through daily, such as feeding the cat,\nvisiting his little sister, emptying and refilling the wall-pockets,\ncollecting his blocks, and fishing articles off the table with a long\nstick. He has learned, untaught, to get a cloth to open the stove door\nwith and save burned fingers; to get and bring clean diapers to his\nmother when he wishes a change; to stoop and lap water out of the pail;\nto stand by his bed and point up at it when wishing his mid-day nap; to\nretreat to a dark corner and drape his handkerchief over his head for a\nbrief period towards the close of a day, in lieu of the discarded second\nnap; to scoop bread or biscuit out of a pail hung above his reach, with\nan iron spoon; to lasso peaches toward him with a cord, said peaches\nbeing in pan on the floor just beyond where he could reach from a little\ngate separating the kitchen and sitting-room. None of these things has\nbeen taught him. Nothing whatever has been taught him, and especially no\nwords and no \"tricks.\" He invents or does without, in all non-essential\nmatters, in regular Spartan style. So, in pursuit of his own\nundertakings, he rarely asks for what he would have; just tries and\ntries, day after day, until he succeeds or is beaten. But as he is at\nsome new act or plan much of the time when left to himself, he has, we\nare satisfied, independently attained to more of childish accomplishment\nthan the most incessant teaching processes could have effected. In doing\nwhat he does do, for instance, in certain climbing feats, he has slowly\nworked up to, he is both cautious and sure; he rarely tumbles and never\nloses his confidence. Thus for the past two days he has achieved the\nfeat of climbing up and standing erect on a little box fourteen inches\nhigh, where he calls and shouts and roars to us his ecstacy over the\nmatter for ten minutes at a time. Today only he has found out how to get\ndown alone. Contrast is taken here with the frequent falls and wailings\nof children who are first persuaded into attempts of various sorts, but\nhave not worked out a real personal mastery of given acts for\nthemselves.\n\nHe has quite a vocabulary now of his own invention. The meanings of\nthese terms we have learned mostly, and use them to him. Of our\nvocabulary he understands the meanings of a large number of the words\nfor things in which he is interested, forty or fifty nouns, and a dozen\nverbs, perhaps. He sings to his mother, and now and then to me, rude\nimitations of the songs he has heard us sing, and his mother he roughly\naccompanies. His inflections of voice have developed to the point of\nentirely expressing many of his emotions; while his expressions of face\nare as much beyond these as the inflections are beyond his stock of\nEnglish--about seven words, and those requiring some exigency to bring\nout.\n\nAll this pleases us, because we truly want him to become rich in his own\nlife, to subsist and grow in his own home-made lines of feeling and\nthought; and not to learn words, parrot-like, before he has the thought\nformed, and searching, even struggling, for a means by which to convey\nitself. It is dearth of internal life, emotion and unaided thought that\nis in need of replenishment in the average young person, not lack of\nEnglish dictionary terms for things that can be _talked about_, but are\nevidently not intrinsic and personal.\n\n                                               C. W. LYMAN, M. D.\n\n_New Castle, Col._\n\n\n\n\n_NOTES._\n\n\n_War and Parentage._\n\nIn the interests of unborn children we should, so far as possible,\nremove from the world those causes which, acting on the mother, either\ndirectly or indirectly, may injure them by lowering the standard of\ntheir health, or by altering and debasing their moral and intellectual\nnatures. One of the most potent of the causes for harm is war. War has\ngenerally been regarded as one of the ennobling professions. If we look\nupon it in its most favorable light, all that we can say in its favor is\nthat among primitive and barbarous races it has perhaps resulted in the\npreservation and spread of the most capable ones, and that it has at the\nsame time welded them together into larger groups, and finally into\nnations, and habituated them to those restraints which are necessary to\nsocial existence; but we no longer require it for this purpose, and the\nindustrial pursuits and the evolution of civilization are so disturbed\nby them that they should cease, and especially should they cease in the\ninterest of our children, both born and unborn.\n\nHow can war injure children? We have already shown in the chapter on\nPrenatal Culture that when the mother is under the influence of any\npowerful mental emotion, such as fear, depression, anger and similar\npassions during the months in which the child is being developed in her\nwomb, there is very great danger of permanent injury to it. Only the\nstrongest mothers, those with the most robust health, or who have the\nmost stable nerves, those who are rarely thrown off their balance, are\ncapable of resisting the intense excitements to which they are subject\nduring some of the phases of war.\n\nAs I mentioned in my early work on Marriage and Parentage, Esquirol, a\nFrench historian, gives details of a considerable number of cases of\nchildren born soon after some of the sieges of the French Revolution,\nwhich were weakly, nervous and idiotic, on account of the terrible\nstrain to which their mothers had been subjected. In every war where a\ncity is besieged, even if its women and children are sent away, they\ncannot be altogether free from anxieties and mental strains of a most\nunwholesome nature, and if some of them are soon to become mothers, the\noffspring not yet born must suffer. No one can estimate the vast number\nof children injured under such conditions in the ages past. They have\nbeen only incidentally referred to in history. The fame and glory of\nconquerors must not be dimmed by the relation of such occurrences.\n\nJoseph A. Allen, in _The Christian Register_, gives the results of some\nof his observations which bear on this subject. He says:\n\n\"So much is being said about war and its effects, that I am prompted to\nsend you the result of my observations.\n\n\"I was in charge of the Massachusetts State Reform School for several\nyears, when every inmate (there were between three and four hundred) was\nborn before the Civil War--during the time of the great anti-slavery\nagitation, which did so much to educate the moral sense of the people.\n\n\"I was again in charge of the same institution _when every inmate was\nborn during, or soon after the war, when the mothers were reading,\ntalking and dreaming of battles, and of husbands, fathers or brothers\nwho had gone to the war_.\n\n\"_I found as great a difference in the character of those inmates born\nbefore and after the Civil War as exists between a civilized and a\nsavage nation._\n\n\"_Those under my care the second time were much more difficult to\ncontrol, more quarrelsome and defiant, less willing to work or study.\nThe crimes for which they were sentenced were as different as their\ncharacters._\n\n\"It was not uncommon for them to be sentenced for breaking and entering\nwith deadly weapons.\n\n\"This difference was not confined to inmates of reform schools, but it\nwas manifest throughout all classes.\n\n\"After the war crimes increased rapidly. In Boston garroting was common,\nand was only checked by Judge Russell sentencing all such subjects to\nthe full extent of the law.\n\n\"Before the close of the Civil War the State Prison at Charlestown,\nunder Mr. Gideon Haynes, was, according to Dr. D. C. Wines, D. D., the\nmodel prison of the United States. Since that time it has been almost\nimpossible to maintain proper discipline, owing, no doubt, to the more\ndesperate character of the inmates.\n\n\"Let us try to trace these effects back to their causes, and prove, if\npossible, that whatsoever a man (or nation) soweth, that shall it also\nreap.\"\n\nBut there are other ways in which war militates against the noblest\nmotherhood. Camp life is a school for vice and prostitution. In Camp\nChickamauga, which is a sample of them all, during the war with Spain on\naccount of Cuba, the amount and baseness of the prostitution by the\nsoldiers, with both black and white women, exceeded description. In a\nsingle day forty-one cases of specific disease applied to the physicians\nat the hospitals for treatment. These things were not reported in the\ndaily papers; they were too vile. The place was a hot-bed of vice,\nrather than a school of virtue and patriotism. In all European armies it\nis the same. In times of peace, soldiers from the highest to the lowest\nin rank, insist that facility shall be allowed them for the\ngratification of their passional natures. The officers, not being\npermitted to marry unless they or their wives have a certain income,\nkeep their mistresses, and not a female servant near a camp is safe. The\nimmoral influences here generated spread throughout society, lower the\nstandard of morals among both men and women in private life, and\njeopardize the interests of children born or unborn, morally and\nintellectually, as well as physically.\n\nBut there is another view. \"Great standing armies,\" says the Czar of\nRussia, in his note to the Powers, \"_are transforming the armed power of\nour day into a crushing burden which the people have more and more\ndifficulty in bearing_.\"\n\nThat is to say, the tax imposed upon the individuals of any nation to\nsupport its army pauperizes or keeps on the verge of poverty a large\nportion of the race. It is war, far more than any other cause, which has\ncreated the burden of taxation. In some European countries almost every\nman carries a soldier or sailor on his back, that is, he must labor not\nonly to support himself and family, but a soldier or sailor who devotes\nhis life to a murderous profession. Is this not a grievous burden which\ncripples or paralyzes his life and reacts on his offspring?\n\nNow, the poverty caused by this burden is a serious obstacle to the\nproduction and training of the young, and especially is this the case in\nthe more populous countries--France, Spain and Italy are examples. These\nlands were once the most powerful in Europe; they are so no longer. They\ngloried in war, and spent immense sums of money upon their armies and\nburdened the people with taxes which should have been reserved for the\nuse of fathers and mothers in educating and providing for the needs of\ntheir offspring. War has crushed out the best life of these countries,\nand other nations which follow in the same path will in the end come to\na similar fate. They may hold out a long time, but not forever. \"The\nmills of Gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.\"\n\nIt is because war is an enemy to the highest motherhood that women\nshould array themselves against it. It is one of the greatest foes to\nthe development and welfare of the children they love so well. Women\nshould insist that all governments should settle their differences by\npeaceful rather than by warlike means. The industrial age may have its\ndifficulties, but they are not insurmountable. In it the fathers and\nmothers may have the time and the means to study and learn how to\nimprove the race through a wiser parentage. I believe that thoughtful\nwomen, when they come to see the evils of war in their true light, as\nthey have seen the evils of prostitution and intemperance, will be its\ngreatest foes.\n\n\n_Cases of Prenatal Influences._\n\nAlfred Russell Wallace gives in _Nature_ a few cases of prenatal\ninfluences sent him by his correspondents. The first experience is from\na mother residing in Australia. She writes:\n\n\"I can trace in the character of my first child, a girl now twenty-two\nyears of age, a special aptitude for sewing, economical contriving and\ncutting out, which came to me as a new experience when living in the\ncountry among new surroundings, and strict economy being necessary, I\nbegan to try to sew for the coming baby and myself. I also trace her\ngreat love of history to my study of Froude during that period. Her\nother tastes for art and literature are distinctly hereditary.\n\n\"In the case of my second child, also a daughter, I having interested\nmyself prior to her birth in literary pursuits, the result has been a\nmuch acuter form of intelligence, which at six years old enabled her to\nread and enjoy the ballads which Tennyson was then giving to the world,\nand which at the age of barely twenty years allowed her to take her\ndegree as B. A. of the Sydney University.\n\n\"Before the third child, a boy, was born, the current of our lives had\nchanged a little. Visits to my own family and a change of residence to a\ndistant colony, which involved a long journey, as well as the work\nincidental to such changes, together with the care of my two older\nchildren, absorbed all my time and thoughts, and left little or no\nleisure for studious pursuits. My occupations were more mechanical than\nat any other time previous. This boy does not inherit the studious\ntastes of his sisters at all. He is intelligent and possesses most of\nthe qualifications which will probably conduce to success in life, but\nhe prefers any kind of out-door work or handicraft to study. Had I been\nas alive then as I am now to the importance of these theories, I should\nhave endeavored to guard against this possibility; as it is, I always\nfeel that it is, perhaps, my fault that one of the greatest pleasures of\nlife has been debarred to him.\n\n\"But I must not weary you by so many personal details, and I trust you\nwill not suspect me of vanity in thus bringing my own children under\nyour notice. Suffice it to say that in every instance I can, and do,\nconstantly trace what others might term coincidences, but which appear\nto me nothing but cause and effect in their several developments.\"\n\nMr. Wallace then gives extracts from other correspondents as follows:\n\nMrs. B---- says: \"I can trace, nay, have traced (in secret amusement\noften), something in every child of mine. Before the birth of my eldest\ngirl I took to ornithology, for work and amusement, and did a great deal\nin taxidermy, too. At the age of three years I found this youngster\ntaking such insects and little animals as she could find, and puzzling\nme with hard questions as to what was inside of them. Later on she used\nto be seen with a small knife, working and dissecting cleverly and with\nmuch care and skill at their _insides_. One day she brought me the\ntiniest heart of the tiniest lizard you can imagine, so small that I had\nto examine it through a glass, though she saw it without any artificial\naid. By some means she got a young wallaby, and made an apron with a\npocket inside which she used to call her 'pouch.' This study of natural\nhistory is still of interest to her, though she lacks time and\nopportunities. Still, she always does a little dissecting if she gets a\nchance.\"\n\nANOTHER CASE.--\"I never noticed anything about P---- for some years.\nThree months before he was born a friend, whom I will call Smith, was\nbadly hurt, and was brought to my house to be nursed. I turned out the\nnursery and he lay there for three months. I nursed him until I could do\nso no longer, and then took lodgings in town for my confinement. Now\nafter all these years I have discovered how this surgical nursing has\nleft its mark. The boy is in his element when he can be of use in cases\nof accident, etc. He said to me quite lately: 'How I wish you had made a\nsurgeon of me!' Then all at once it flashed in upon me, but, alas! it\nwas too late to remedy the mistake.\n\n\"Before the birth of the third child I passed ten of the happiest months\nof my life. We had a nice house, one side of which was covered with\ncloth of gold roses and bougainvillea, a garden with plenty of flowers,\nand a vineyard. Here we lived an idyllic life, and did nothing but fish,\ncatch butterflies and paint them. At least my husband painted them after\nI had caught them and mixed his colors. At the end of this time L----\nwas born. This child excels in artistic talent of many kinds; nothing\ncomes amiss to her, and she draws remarkably well. She is of a bright\ngay disposition, finding much happiness in life, even though not always\nplaced in the most fortunate surroundings.\n\n\"Before the birth of my next child, N----, a daughter, I had a bad time.\nMy husband fell ill of fever, and I had to nurse him without help or\nassistance of any kind. We had also losses by floods. I don't know how I\ngot through that year, but I had no time for reading. N---- is the most\nprudent, economical girl I know. She is a splendid housekeeper and a\ngood cook, and will work till she drops; has no taste for reading, but\nseems to gain knowledge by suction.\" Such cases are so numerous that\nthey should be collected and scientifically studied.\n\n\n_Luxury and Parentage._\n\nIn all ages of luxury, fine ladies try to avoid maternity. They detest\nit in theory only, for women are controlled by the instinct of the race.\nIn the circles of which we are speaking, the instincts of the race for\nchildren have vanished. Life has lost its serious meaning.\nResponsibility of any kind is a mere nuisance, and the idea of bringing\nup a new life, with all its bonds and its charm, is as repellant as the\nidea of a new bonnet is enticing. For such women the world has no use.\nBeautiful, in the great sense, they are not. Incapable, in any great\nway, of either loving or being loved, they are at best the painted\nbubbles on the stream of life. Such women will always be far inferior as\nmothers, and less capable of bringing into the world noble offspring\nthan those women in the humble walks of life who live naturally, who\nlove the family ties and are fond of the young.\n\nGreat mothers must have a certain sort of hardihood which comes from a\nwise physical culture, not necessarily an artificial one,--a life in the\nopen air, and the avoidance of all social dissipation.\n\n\n_Degeneracy of the Breasts and Motherhood._\n\nA sign of degeneracy is pointed out by Hegar, who appeals to young men\non behalf of posterity to choose for wives women with well-developed\nbreasts; he quotes statistics to prove inability to nurse a child a sign\nof degeneracy which produces degeneracy in the offspring. Among other\nfacts he points out that in a district of his knowledge, which supplies\na large number of wet nurses to the city, the percentage of men\nincapable of military service amounts to 30 per cent., while in the\nneighboring districts, where the mothers remain at home with their\nfamilies, it is only 18 per cent. He remarks upon the surprising number\nof deformed nipples encountered in the hospitals. Fehling mentions\n\"hollow nipples\" as occurring in 6.7 of his obstetric cases. He warns\nmothers not to allow the clothing to constrict the growing breasts of\ntheir daughters, and urges general hygiene as the best method to develop\nthem.\n\nIn this connection the question may be asked, Is it possible for women\nwith defective breasts to become mothers of a virile race of men and\nstrong women. In most cases it is not. A defect in this part of their\nnature is evidence of a weakened constitution. It may be said, that the\nbreasts do not always develop before marriage and parentage. This is\ntrue, and if the health is robust, and the constitution and ancestry\ngood, the mother will, in most cases, be able to nurse her child. If it\nis known in advance that such cannot be the case, and it may generally\nbe known, then the responsibilities of motherhood should be undertaken\nwith the greater precaution. In modern times we have far better means of\nbringing up children by hand than formerly. Still, a mother able to\nnurse her own children should always be preferred.\n\n\n_Location of Birth._\n\nIn Manchester, England, in 1892, 37,674 boys out of every 100,000 died\nbefore they reached their fifth year. In healthy districts only 17,314\nout of 100,000 died. About the same condition prevails in other places.\nThe lesson it teaches us is, that we should choose a healthy region in\nwhich to live if we would rear the healthiest offspring.\n\n\n_Evolution._\n\nThis word means progress and progress implies improvement, without which\nthere could be no evolution; but improvement of the human race will not\nbe further possible unless the marriage relation is regarded from a\nhigher stand-point than that of sexual indulgence.\n\nThe practical superiority of man over animals consists in his knowledge\nof the _aim_ of his conduct. Animals exercise the reproductive function\ninstinctively at particular seasons, but man knowingly always; and thus,\nunless the latter subordinates his passion to reason he is worse than a\nbrute, as he knows himself to be such.\n\nThe difference between the chaste marriage of affection and the unchaste\nmarriage of passion, is analogous to that between education and\ninstruction, as explained by Elder Evans of the Shaker Community.\nInstruction imparts knowledge, such as is associated in Eastern lore\nwith the sexual passion, but education embraces the whole disposition,\nwhich is rendered more beautiful and spiritual through a marriage of\nchastity, and as thus affected is transmitted to the offspring, who\nexhibit the disposition of their parents at the time of conception.\nSexual excess not only tends to produce offspring of a weakly\nconstitution, but it interferes with the organic growth of the parents.\nIt is as wasteful as burning a candle at both ends at the same time.\n\nParents should bear in mind that the mental plan on which their children\nshall begin life, depends on the desire by which they are governed when\nthey beget their offspring; and as desire depends on disposition, they\nshould aim at requiring harmony of character and conduct.\n\nIf we think less of ourselves and more of the race to which we belong,\nwe shall have a better chance of improving both ourselves and the race\nas represented in our offspring.\n\nWe are all members of a great organism, which is constituted by the\nwhole of human kind, past, present and future, and it is our duty to act\nin such a manner that the whole shall be benefited by our conduct; which\nit cannot be if we are careless as to our own disposition or as to the\ncharacter of our offspring.\n\nOur Aryan ancestors were conscious of their duty towards the race, and\nprobably to this fact was largely due the high physical development the\nwhite race attained. Only by acting in their spirit can we hope to\nmaintain the race at its high level or prevent its deterioration and\ndecay.\n\nThe important influence which the gratification of the sexual impulse\nhas had over the development of the aesthetic side of Nature has been\noften insisted on; and there is no reason why its gratification should\nnot be attended also with the development of the highest mental\nqualities, if these are made use of in the formation and exercise of the\nmarriage relations between the sexes.--C. STANILAND WAKE.\n\n\n_Too Little Fatherhood._\n\nThe modern child is threatened not with too much mother but with too\nlittle father, and this danger is heightened by the sudden release of\nwomanhood from the ban of conventionality and of the domineering power\nof physical force. Let her not too readily accept as complimentary to\nherself the church's adoration of Mary. Woman is made of no purer stuff\nthan man, her companion, man her father. She cannot transmit from her\nown veins or her companion's veins any purer life stuff, any finer\nimpulse to her daughter than she does to her son. We need more fathers\nin the home, more men teachers in our public schools; and if our homes\nand schools are not organized so as to evoke and direct this masculine\ninvestment, then let them be reorganized. It is not true that mothers\nare peculiarly the divinely appointed teachers of children, that to them\nis especially entrusted the intellectual or spiritual destinies of the\nyoung. That argument is based upon the analogies of the past; it is a\nreversion to primitive conditions, an illustration of the law of\natavism, like the return to six fingers and toes in some people, or the\nrestoration in others of the muscle that can move the ear. The highest\nreaches of evolution point to a double responsibility and a double\npotency. In the interest of the child, then, let us lift him out of a\nmother rule into a father and mother rule. Let the home be girdled with\nmasculine order and justice as well as with feminine love and\ntenderness. Let there be strength as well as tenderness. Let there be in\nit mind as well as heart, vigor as well as sympathy. All these are\nspiritual children which cannot be born except in the bi-sexual\nrealm.--REV. JENKIN LLOYD JONES.\n\n\n_The Flat-Head Indians and Heredity._\n\nAmongst the round-head tribes woman holds a higher position, whereas\namongst the flat-heads she is a mere drudge. In by-gone days it was\ncommon to see a tired-looking woman walking behind her husband carrying\na heavy load, while he walked on before with nothing.\n\nAgain, the round-heads have a remarkable mythology, while the others\nhave a poor affair.\n\nMr. Dean has informed me that the flat-head, which would be an acquired\ncharacter, is never transmitted to offspring--another argument against\nthe Lamarchian theory, that acquired characters are transmitted.\n\nThat whatever injures the physical or intellectual health of parents\ntends to degrade their offspring has long been evident. I think we have\na good race illustration of this in the effects of flattening and\ndeforming the skulls of children among the Flat-Head Indians, who for\ncenturies followed this precedent. Information has been furnished me by\nspecial request by Mr. James Dean, of Victoria, B. C., bearing on this\npoint. He writes:\n\n\"Among the children the mortality seems to be greater with the tribes\nwhich flatten the heads of their children than in those who do not. I\nhave long noticed that there is a very marked intellectual difference\nbetween them.\"\n\nThe Hidery tribes of Northern British Columbia and Southern Alaska, who\nnever flattened their heads, have long been famous for their works of\nart, such as elaborate carvings in wood and stone.\n\n\n_Suggestion as an Aid in the Training of Children._\n\nWithin a few years an old subject, that of hypnotism, formerly called\nmesmerism, has received new attention under the name of suggestion, or,\nin medical language, \"suggestive therapeutics.\" It was used in a rude\nway by Mesmer in the cure of disease. Later it was employed much more\neffectively by Braid and others for the same purpose, and especially for\nthe prevention of pain in surgical operations. Want of space forbids our\ngoing into any extended historical detail as to its application for\nthese purposes, but a few points will be considered, which bear on the\nsubject.\n\nIt was found that when a person had contracted a bad habit, as, for\ninstance, smoking or drinking, it could often be broken up by placing\nhim in the mesmeric sleep, and telling him he would no longer desire to\ncontinue the habit, but would even loathe them. The habit of sucking the\nthumb, a bad temper, lying, stealing, dullness and lack of ambition,\netc., were amenable to this treatment. To illustrate: A boy fifteen\nyears old, always at the foot of his class, was put into the hypnotic\nsleep, and told that he would be able to study harder and learn his\nlessons better, so as to go to the head. This was continued daily for\nseveral weeks, and, sure enough, he accepted the suggestion, and\noutstripped every scholar in his class, and kept at the head so long as\nthese means were used; but, unfortunately, when they were discontinued\nhe relapsed into his first state. The suggestions had not been\nsufficiently thorough to take deep root, and become a part of his\nnature, as might have been the case with a better knowledge as to how to\nuse them. So long ago as in 1892 Dr. Berillon, Editor of _The Revue de\nl' Hypnotism_, read a paper before the Second International Congress of\nExperimental Psychology, in which he stated that he had observed the\nbeneficial effects of hypnotism in education in some 250 cases,\nincluding nervous insomnia, night terror, sleepwalking, kleptomania,\nstammering, idleness, filthy habits, cowardice and moral delinquency. He\nalso stated that other observers had similar experience. My friend, Dr.\nB. Osgood Mason, of New York, working on the same lines, has had similar\nexperiences. I will quote a few illustrative cases furnished by him. The\nfirst is of a school-girl fifteen years of age, a pupil in one of the\ngrammar-schools of New York--intelligent in many ways; a good reader of\nsuch books as interested her--history, biography, and the better class\nof novels; but for the routine of school studies she had no aptitude,\nand she was constantly being left behind in her classes. She could not\nconcentrate her mind upon details which did not specially interest her.\nIf she succeeded in learning a lesson she could not remember it, or if\nshe remembered it until she arrived at the classroom, when she arose to\nrecite, it was instantly gone; her mind became a perfect blank; she had\nnot a word to say, and was obliged to sit down in disgrace. She could\nwrite a good composition, but could never stand up and read it before\nthe class. Teachers had been engaged to give her special lessons, so as\nto enable her to pass her preliminary examination, which would allow her\nto come up for entrance to the Normal College. After months of effort\nthey reported to the mother that it was utterly useless to go on; it was\nimpossible for her to pass her preliminary examination, and they did not\nthink it right to take her money without any such expectation. She was\nthen brought to me to inquire if anything could be done to help her. I\nproposed hypnotic suggestion. It was then March 30; the first\nexamination was in May. I commenced treatment at once. The patient went\ninto a quiet, subjective condition, with closed eyes, but did not lose\nconsciousness. I suggested that she would be able to concentrate her\nmind upon her studies; that her memory would be improved; that she would\nlose her excessive self-consciousness and timidity, and in their place\nshe would have full confidence in herself and be able to stand up\nbefore the class and recite. She was kept in the hypnotic condition\none-half hour at each treatment, and the same or similar suggestions\nwere quietly but very positively made and repeated at intervals during\nthat time. She at once reported improvement in her ability both to study\nand recite. She had six treatments, and on May 25 she reported that,\ngreatly to the surprise of her teachers, she had passed her preliminary\nexamination with a percentage of 79, which entitled her to come up for\nthe college examination. In June she passed her examination for entrance\nto the Normal College with a percentage of 88; entered the College and\nis at present doing well, though the suggestions have not been repeated\nsince May.\n\nAnother case from the same author was that of a boy \"so bad as to be\nperfectly unmanageable, and his temper so outrageous, that his mother\nbegged me to come to the house and see if I could do anything with him.\n\n\"Having secured _carte blanche_ for whatever course I chose to pursue, I\nwent. He was in the back room, his grandmother urging him forward, he\nkicking and resisting. Without speaking, I went directly to him, seized\nhim firmly by one wrist, and brought him topsy turvy through two\nintervening rooms, gave him a thorough shaking, and set him down\nviolently in a chair. He smoothed down his bang, whimpered a little, and\ngruffly remarked that I had rumpled his hair. I told him I had not\nintended to disturb his hair, but that as he had never obeyed anybody I\nhad come to the house for the express purpose of making him obey me, and\nI should most certainly do it. After a few moments I said, quietly, 'Now\ngo and lie down on the bed in the next room.' He started, walking toward\nthe bed, but when near it he set off on a full run past it and into the\nback room. I brought him back and again ordered him to lie down on the\nbed. He went toward it as if to obey, but suddenly sprang under it, and\nclung to the slats underneath with hands and feet, and hung there like a\nmonkey. I dislodged him, pulled him out, gave him a spanking, and\nsurprised him by tossing him vigorously upon the bed, with the command\nto lie there quietly until I gave him permission to move. He obeyed.\nPresently I ordered him to go into the front room and sit down again in\nthe chair he had before occupied. Again he quietly obeyed, I said: 'All\nright; now you understand you will obey me. I don't want to hurt you. I\nwant to be a good friend to you, only you must obey me.'\n\n\"I then in a pleasant way gave him a short lesson, picturing to him very\nplainly the course of a boy such as he was, and where it would be likely\nto end; and also showing what he might be if he would change his course.\nI told him I should be at the house again in a day or two, and I should\nexpect him to meet me pleasantly, shake hands with me, and do whatever I\ndirected him.\n\n\"Next day there came a telephone message begging me to come up; M. was\noutrageous again. I went. He was backward in greeting me, but at length\ncame and shook hands. I afterward learned that there had not been the\nslightest improvement in his behavior; and the cause of his mother's\nsending for me was his outrageous conduct at the table, when, in a fit\nof anger, he had thrown a plate at his grandmother. I talked to him\npleasantly a moment, and then said very quietly, 'Now go and lie down on\nthe bed.' He did so at once. I sat down beside him, and taking his two\nthumbs firmly in my hands, I said: 'Now, M., I want you to look steadily\nat that little stud in my shirt-front; keep your eyes very steadily\nfixed upon it.' He did so, and I never secured better or more\nconcentrated attention from any patient.\n\n\"In five or six minutes his eyelids quivered and soon dropped. I closed\nthem, suggesting sleep; and directly he was in the sound hypnotic sleep.\nI then presented the two pictures again--the bad and the good\ncourse--and suggested that they would always be present, distinct in in\nhis mind, that he would dislike the _wrong_ course and desire to avoid\nit, and choose the _good_ one. I suggested definitely that he would be\nkind and considerate to his mother, and obey her as well as me. I\nrepeated these suggestions very positively, let him sleep ten minutes,\nand repeated them again, and then awoke him by counting.\n\n\"The effect of this treatment was very marked; his whole manner at home\nwas changed, and he became comparatively docile and manageable.\n\n\"He came to my office for his next treatment, which was perfectly\nsuccessful. I have given him in all six treatments, and the improvement\nhas been maintained and increased. He is not yet by any means perfect,\nbut his general behavior is changed, and I am suggesting such definite\nimprovements in his conduct, and impressing such pictures upon his mind,\nas I think will help to develop his better nature and qualities. He is a\nlover of flowers, and on two occasions has brought some of his own\nchoosing to me. He has lost none of his boyishness; he is full of life;\nis mischievous, playing tricks even upon his mother; but he is\naffectionate and generally obedient. His will is not broken, but he has\nself-control, and he is far more considerate of others than formerly. In\nshort, he is a fair example of one of the educational uses of hypnotism\nand suggestion.\"\n\nThe only other case I will quote is one of night terrors.\n\n\"A little girl, five years of age, went soundly to sleep when first put\nto bed, but after two or three hours she awoke screaming and trembling\nwith terror, on account of the hideous black man whom she saw in her\ndream. The impression of the dream was vivid and persistent, and her\nscreams kept the household aroused and alarmed for hours every night,\nand this state of things had already continued for months. One day, when\nshe was perfectly bright and happy, I placed her in her high chair in\nfront of me; put my hands gently upon her shoulders, and asked her to\nlook steadily at a trinket easily in her view, and quieted her with\npasses and soothing touches until her drooping eyelids denoted the\nsubjective condition. I then commenced in a gentle, sing-song manner to\nsuggest that she would go easily to sleep as usual at night, but that\nshe would have no frightful dreams; that she would see the dreadful\nblack man no more, but would sleep quietly on the whole night through.\nIt was repeated over and over in the same gentle manner.\n\n\"That was a year ago; she has not seen the black man since, and her\nsleep and health have been perfect. There was no repetition of the\ntreatment.\"\n\nFrom these few cases, and many not quoted, it appears evident that we\nhave in hypnotism, or suggestion, an agent which, when fully understood,\nwill be of great usefulness to parents in the early training of\nchildren. That it should be used wisely no one will deny.\n\nThe question will naturally arise, How is it that a suggestion to a\nchild while passive or in the hypnotic sleep is more effective than when\nawake. The answer is not so easy to give; but it is possible that in\nthis state the subliminal self, the higher self, or, perhaps, the\nspiritual nature is appealed to; and as the active, every-day nature,\nthe conscious self, is now dormant, it receives this appeal more\nseriously. Perhaps a quotation from Prof. Frederic W. H. Myer, who has\ngiven the subject profound attention, will help to make the subject\nclearer. He says: \"In waking consciousness I am like the proprietor of a\nfactory whose machinery I do not understand. My foreman, my subliminal\nself, weaves for me so many yards of broadcloth per diem (my ordinary\nvital processes), as a matter of course. If I want any pattern more\ncomplex, I have to shout my orders in the din of the factory, where only\ntwo or three inferior workmen hear me, and they shift their looms in a\nsmall and scattered way. Such are the confined and capricious results of\nthe first, the more familiar stages of hypnotic suggestion.\n\n\"At certain intervals, indeed, the foreman stops most of the looms, and\nuses the freed power to stoke the engine and oil the machinery. This, in\nmy metaphor, is sleep; and it will be effective hypnotic trance if I can\nget the foreman to stop still more of the looms, come out of his private\nroom, and attend to my orders--my-self suggestions--for their repair and\nre-arrangment.\"\n\nTo make this a little plainer. The subliminal self, the foreman, is the\none who manages the machinery of the nervous system, and turns out this\nor that sort of conduct or behavior in the child, or the man or woman,\nas he is told to turn out by the conscious self. But in the hypnotic\ntrance this subliminal self can take orders, or suggestions, for other\nkinds of conduct or behavior; alter the action of the brain, so as to\nmake another sort of creature; for he is not so occupied then but that\nhe can receive these orders. As in the kaleidescope, the pictures\npresented depend entirely on the arrangement of the pieces of glass. So\nin daily conduct, character depends on the combination and activity of\nthe brain cells. By suggestion in the hypnotic state we are able, to\nsome extent at least, to alter this combination so that new conduct is\npresented.\n\nThe question now arises, How can the parent make use of this agent in\naltering the nature of a child from one that is not desirable to one\nthat is? Probably the best way to proceed would be to take it while\nsleeping, and make the suggestion then; for ordinary sleep is not\ndifferent from hypnotic sleep, except in degree. As the child is in the\nact of going to sleep, let the mother, or whoever is to make the\nsuggestion, sit by its side, take it by the hand and gently soothe it\nwith pleasant words or music, in a firm but agreeable voice. Let her say\nslowly: Now you are going to sleep, sleep, sleep. You will soon be\nsleeping sweetly. How nice it is to sleep and rest our bodies so that we\ncan feel well and strong on the coming day. This sleep is going to do\nyou a great deal of good. You will not have bad dreams. You will not see\nugly faces or wake up with a fright. Tomorrow you will wake up\ngood-natured, full of life, and will be good boy (or girl, as the case\nmay be), and do your best to make mother happy and proud of you. You\nwill want to play and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine; relish your\nfood; not eat too much, etc., etc., according to the needs of the child.\nIf it is timid and fearful of thunder, or dogs, or horses, or other\nharmless things, you can say to it, Now, you will not be afraid any more\nof thunder but like to hear it. This, like all other suggestions, must\nbe repeated several times, so as to make an impression. If afraid of\nstrangers, say, now, you will not fear men, or persons you don't know;\nrepeating it slowly over and over again. If the child uses bad language,\nsay, Now you will not want to use bad words any more, and will be\ncareful how you speak. If it has a cold, put the hand over the chest and\nsay, Now your cold will get well quickly, and not grow worse. If it has\nthe unfortunate habit of wetting the bed at night, even this can be\nbroken up, often by one suggestion, and surely by several repeated so as\nto take deep root in the mind. This latter is necessary to produce any\neffect. In case of disease, even serious disease, when a physician is\nnecessary, suggestion may be used by the nurse or parents, or the\nphysician, if he has learned the art, to advantage; but if the parents\nare anxious or weary, they had better leave it for those who are not\nweary or anxious; otherwise they may transfer their own condition\ninstead of one of health. The state of mind and body of the operator\nshould be a stable, equable and wholesome one.\n\nThe age at which suggestion may be of use is hardly yet known. Certainly\nso soon as the understanding has become developed it may be employed,\nthough the language should be simplified for the childish understanding.\nBefore this it is of doubtful utility; but some experiments which have\nbeen made intimate that good health may sometimes be transmitted from a\nhealthy person to a very young sick child by thought transference.\n\nThought transference is the transference from one to another person of\nsome feeling, sensation or idea. The person from whom the thought is\ntransferred is the _active_ agent, and the one who receives it is the\n_passive_ one. Often this phenomenon takes place spontaneously, as when\none is in trouble, or at the point of dying, a knowledge of it may\nsometimes be transferred to an intimate friend who is in sympathy. In\nthe hypnotic state, thought transference can sometimes be induced\nartificially; and the point here to be considered is the transference\nto the child of healthy normal sensations to replace the abnormal ones\nwhich may have taken possession of consciousness and caused trouble.\n\nThe important thing always to have in mind in using psychic forces on\nchildren is to instil natural, or normal, conditions, not unnatural or\nabnormal ones. To this end to produce the best results, the active agent\nshould be a normally healthy person, having good common sense, and\nliving a normal, natural life. Those with sickly, sentimental or\nfanciful notions, if they try to use suggestion may transfer these\nstates to the child, which would do harm rather than good.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\n  Acquired characters, inheritance of, 71, 73, 77 _et seq._, 79, 90,\n      109, 111, _et seq._\n\n  Acquired characters not transmitted, 213\n\n  Adaptation to environment necessary for health, 149\n\n  Aesthetic sense displayed by animals, 28\n\n  Aesthetic surroundings during gestation, 95\n\n  Air, regarded as food, 174\n\n  Alcohol, as a poison, 91\n\n  Alcohol, effect of, on offspring, 171\n\n  Allen, Joseph A., observations of, as to effects of war on children,\n      200\n\n  _Allen, Grant_, 34, 48, 51, 180\n\n  Amphimixis, theory of, 76\n\n  Ancestral _ids_, 75\n\n  Ancestral tendencies, correction of, 126\n\n  Animals, practical superiority of man over, what?, 210\n\n  Animal flesh, supposed effect of eating, 63\n\n  Atavism in relation to disease, 83\n\n\n  Baby, a theoretical, 185 _et seq._\n\n  Bad habits, broken up by suggestion during mesmeric sleep, 214\n\n  Bad temper cured by hypnotic suggestion, 217 _et seq._\n\n  Beauty, reference of sexual selection to, 28\n\n  Bees, instincts of, 122\n\n  Berillon, Dr., on beneficial effect of hypnotism over bad habits,\n      etc., 215\n\n  Birthmarks, 59, 68, 94\n\n  Blood, healthy, purifying influence of, 92\n\n  Blood, study of the, 140, 151\n\n  Bones, modification of certain, through sitting, 116\n\n  Boys, mortality among larger than with girls, 136\n\n  Breasts, best methods of developing, 209\n\n  Breasts, defective, women having, incapable of becoming mothers of a\n      virile race, 209\n\n  Breasts, development of, after marriage and parentage, 209\n\n  Breasts, degeneracy of the, and motherhood, 208\n\n  Breeding in and in, Noyes' first principle for race improvement, 38\n\n\n  Camp life, evils of, 202\n\n  Cases of prenatal influences, 204 _et seq._\n\n  Cells, sexual, 110, 162\n\n  _Chandler, Jennie_, 97\n\n  Character, dependence of, on arrangement of nerve cells, 222\n\n  Character, improvement by suggestion, method to be employed by parents\n      for, 223\n\n  Character of children affected by war, 201\n\n  Characteristics, origin of, through sexual selection, 134\n\n  _Charles, Havelock_, 116\n\n  Chickamauga Camp, prostitution at, 202\n\n  Children acquire special aptitudes from mothers, 205\n\n  Child bearing, best age for, 170\n\n  Children, breeding of, in Plato's Republic, 11, 12\n\n  Children considered as belonging to the State, 10 _et seq._, 22\n\n  Children, deaths of, in New York city, 139\n\n  Children, healthy, essentials for having, 168\n\n  Children, interests of unborn, 199\n\n  Children, characteristics of, in the Oneida Community, 39\n\n  Children in the Oneida Community, care of, 38\n\n  Children, mortality among, 136\n\n  Children, obstacle of war to production and training of, 203\n\n  Child training aided by suggestion, 214 _et seq._\n\n  Children, training of, 16 _et seq._, 52\n\n  Civil War and how it affected the character of children, 201\n\n  Co-adaptation of parts as evidence of transmission of acquired\n      characters, 116\n\n  Coalescence of sperm and germ cells, 166\n\n  Concentrative power, want of, cured by hypnotic suggestion, 216\n\n  Conduct, knowledge of its object, not possessed by animals, 210\n\n  Congenital characters, transmission of, 177\n\n  Congenital deformities, 80\n\n  Consanguineous marriages among the Greeks, 23\n\n  Consanguineous marriages, regulations as to, among uncultured peoples,\n      21, 42\n\n  Consanguineous marriages, effect on offspring, 42\n\n  Constitution, bodily, improvement of the, 150\n\n  Consumption, causes of, 176\n\n  Consumption, tendency to, whether a bar to marriage, 176\n\n  Contentment, value of, 95\n\n  Continuity of germ-plasm, 107, 118\n\n  Co-operation, hygienic value of, 156 _et seq._\n\n  _Cope, Prof. E. D._, 59, 69\n\n  Cousins, marriage between, 43\n\n  Couvade, custom of the, 63 _et seq._\n\n  Crimes, increase of, caused by war, 201\n\n\n  _Darwin, Charles_, 28, 30 _et seq._, 73, 75, 85, 100, 105, 106, 109,\n      141, 179, 184\n\n  Death, causes of, 150\n\n  Deformities, congenital, 80\n\n  Degeneracy of the breasts and motherhood, 208\n\n  Degeneracy in offspring due to maternal degeneracy evidenced by\n      inability to nurse a child, 208\n\n  Degeneration, evidence of, 140\n\n  Development of breasts after marriage and parentage, 209\n\n  Diseases, influence of hygiene over, 159\n\n  Diseases, inheritance of, 80\n\n  Diseases which affect offspring, 175\n\n  Disposition spiritualized through marriage of chastity, 210\n\n  Disproportion between accidental causes and effects, 68, 90\n\n  Diversity between offspring and parents, causes of, 58\n\n  Domestication of animals, 9\n\n  _Doutrebente, Prof._, 92\n\n  Drink, influence of, over offspring, 16\n\n  _Duncan, J. C. Mathews_, 170\n\n\n  Education, beneficial effects of hypnotism in, 215\n\n  Education and heredity, 111 _et seq._\n\n  Education and non-transmission of acquired characters, 124\n\n  Education of Spartan children, 15\n\n  Education, Plutarch on, 17\n\n  Education, study of laws of evolution, as part of, 125\n\n  Educational uses of hypnotism and suggestion, 220\n\n  Egg. See _Ovum_.\n\n  _Eimer, Dr. G. H._, 71, 79 _et seq._, 90\n\n  Embryo, how parental properties communicated to, 69\n\n  Embryology, importance of, 103\n\n  Energy, bodily, use and abuse of, 153\n\n  Environment, adaptation to, necessary for health, 149\n\n  Epigenesis, theory of, 104\n\n  Esquirol on the effects of the French Revolution over children, 200\n\n  Ethics of the body, hygiene as the, 160\n\n  Evolution, a superior race produced by, 130 _et seq._\n\n  Evolution, meaning of the term, 210\n\n  Evolution of the horse, 102\n\n  Evolution, study of laws of, as part of education, 125\n\n  Evolutionary theories, conflict of, with humane sentiments, 145 _et\n      seq._\n\n  Example, influence of, over children, 18\n\n  Exercise, transmission of effects of, 111\n\n  Experiment in race improvement by Noyes, 37 _et seq._\n\n  Explanation of the action of hypnotic suggestion, 221\n\n\n  Family life, abolition of, in Plato's Republic, 10\n\n  Father rule should be combined with mother rule, 213\n\n  Fatherhood, too little importance assigned to, 212\n\n  Feeble constitutions prevent numerous offspring, 147\n\n  Fertilization essential to true germ plasm, 165\n\n  Fertilization, nature of, 166\n\n  _Fison, Lorimer_, 42\n\n  Fitness for survival, characteristics of, 140\n\n  Flat head Indians and heredity, 213\n\n  Flat head and round head tribes, comparison between, 213\n\n  Flat head not transmitted to offspring, 213\n\n  Flattening the skull, injurious effect of on health, 214\n\n  _Flint, Dr. Austin_, 88\n\n  Food, how it affects germ plasm, 173\n\n  Food (certain) injurious influence of, 94\n\n  Foot, compression of, by Chinese ladies, 20\n\n  Fosterage, 96\n\n  French Revolution, evil effects of over children, 200\n\n\n  _Galton, Francis_, 46, 50, 73, 106, 135, 170\n\n  Gemmules, essential to pangenesis, 105, 106\n\n  Generation, influences over, at time of conception, 57, 58\n\n  Generation, influences over, subsequent to conception, 58\n\n  Generative powers, debilitation of the, 84\n\n  Germ plasm and heredity, 107, 162\n\n  Germ plasm, continuity of the, 73, 74 _et seq._, 107, 118\n\n  Germ plasm, how affected by food, 173\n\n  Germ plasm, modification of the, 76, 80\n\n  Germ variations, causes of, 81\n\n  Gestation (period of) importance of pleasant surroundings during, 93\n\n  Gestation, maternal influence during, 96\n\n  Gestation, strong emotion during, effect of, 63, 94\n\n  Gestation, uterine disturbances during, 93\n\n  Girls, physical training of, among Spartans, 14\n\n  Girls, mortality among, smaller than with boys, 136\n\n  Great mothers, how constituted, 208\n\n  Group marriage of Australian natives, 21\n\n\n  _Haeckel, Ernst_, 109\n\n  _Harvey_, 103\n\n  _Haycraft, John Berry_, 143\n\n  Head flattening, 20\n\n  Health, action of nature in relation to, 130\n\n  Health, transmission of, by thought transference, to young sick child,\n      224\n\n  Healthy localities enable the healthiest offspring to be reared, 210\n\n  Health, adaptation to environment necessary for, 149\n\n  Health, ideal of, 148\n\n  Health, importance of, in relation to marriage, 135, 168, 171\n\n  _Hearn, Professor_, 67\n\n  Hedonism, New, 48\n\n  Hereditary tastes of children, 204 _et seq._\n\n  Heredities, antagonistic, of two parents, 58\n\n  Heredity among Flat-head Indians, 213\n\n  Heredity, definition of, 100\n\n  Heredity and education, 111 _et seq._\n\n  Heredity, evils arising from, may be cured, 35\n\n  Heredity, exceptions to law of, 58\n\n  Heredity and germ plasm, 107\n\n  Heredity, importance of knowledge of, by teachers, 125\n\n  Heredity, modification of law of, 99\n\n  Heredity, preponderating influence of, 69, 89\n\n  Heredity, rational view of, 109\n\n  Heredity, spectre of, 127 _et seq._\n\n  Heredity, theories of, 73 _et seq._\n\n  Heredity, transformation of, 83\n\n  _Hering, Richard_, 70\n\n  Hidery tribes of British Columbia, 214\n\n  High-pressure, effects of living at, 152\n\n  Hypnotic sleep, differs from ordinary sleep only in degree, 223\n\n  Hypnotic suggestion, value of, as aid to education, 216\n\n  Hypnotism as suggestive therapeutics, 214\n\n  Horse, evolution of the, 102\n\n  Human selection, plans for, 135 _et seq._\n\n  Human kind, regarded as a whole, should be benefited by our conduct,\n      211\n\n  Human race, further improvement of impossible, if marriage relation be\n      regarded only from standpoint of sexual indulgence, 210\n\n  Humane sentiments, conflict of, with theories of evolution, 145 _et\n      seq._\n\n  Husband and wife, tendency to resemble each other, 89\n\n  _Huth, A. H._, 42\n\n  Hygiene, modern, as opposed to natural selection, 142 _et seq._\n\n  Hygiene, as the ethics of the body, 160\n\n  Hygiene, promises of, 158 _et seq._\n\n  Hygienic laws, punishment for infraction of, 161\n\n  Hygienic surroundings, importance of, 139\n\n  Hygienic training, value of, 151\n\n\n  Ideal of Health, 148\n\n  Idiots, education of, 25\n\n  Illustrative cases of prenatal influence, 60 _et seq._\n\n  Imagination, effect of, on unborn offspring, 55 _et seq._\n\n  Improvement of race. See _race improvement_.\n\n  Incas of Peru, consanguineous marriages among the, 23\n\n  Income, bodily, importance of living within, 152\n\n  Individual, the, as the beginning and end of the race, 50\n\n  Individuality, development of the, 126\n\n  Infanticide among Spartans, 15\n\n  Infanticide, former general prevalence of, 19\n\n  Infanticide in Plato's Republic, 11\n\n  Infanticide not morally permissible, 24\n\n  Inheritance of acquired characters, question as to the, 71, 73, 77,\n      79, 90, 109, 111 _et seq._\n\n  Inheritance, organic, wonders of, 101\n\n  Injuries during life, transmission of, 79 _et seq._\n\n  Injury to health through flattening the skull, 214\n\n  Instinct, explanations of origin of, 121\n\n  Instincts of the race for children, loss of, 208\n\n  Instruction and education, difference between, 210\n\n  Intelligence affected by head flattening, 214\n\n\n  Jacob, rods of, 56\n\n  _Jeune, Lady Mary_, 47\n\n  _Jowett, Professor B._, 25 _et seq._, 34\n\n\n  _Krafft, D. Von Ebing_, 82, 84, 91\n\n\n  _Lamarck_, 111\n\n  Lamarchian theory of transmission, 213\n\n  Language, not transmitted to offspring, 119\n\n  _Leeuwenhock_, 103\n\n  Limitation of offspring, 179 _et seq._\n\n  Locust, egg-laying instinct of, 123\n\n  Luxury and parentage, 208\n\n  _Lycurgus_, marriage regulations of, 13 _et seq._, 22, 27\n\n  _Lyman, Dr. C. W._, on treatment of a baby, 185 _et seq._\n\n\n  Man, variations undergone by, 138\n\n  Man, practical superiority of, over animals, what, 210\n\n  Manufacturing life, unhealthiness of, 152\n\n  Manufacturing mills, deterioration caused by, 158\n\n  Marriage, consanguineous, ideas as to, 21, 42\n\n  Marriage customs among Spartans, 18, 19\n\n  Marriage, early, disadvantages of, 137\n\n  Marriage, importance of health in relation to, 135\n\n  Marriage, regulations as to, in Plato's Republic, 22, 25\n\n  Marriage of weak and worthless, 137\n\n  Marriage, a sacred state, 52\n\n  Marriage of chastity, disposition spiritualized by, 210\n\n  Marriages of affection and passion, difference between, analogous to\n      that between education and instruction, 210\n\n  _Mason, Dr. R. Osgood_, on beneficial effect of hypnotism in\n      education, 215\n\n  Maternity, avoidance of, 208\n\n  _McGee, Dr. Anita Newcomb_, 37\n\n  Memory, endowment of reproductive cells with, 70\n\n  Memory, improvement of, by hypnotic suggestion, 210\n\n  Mental dullness, curable by suggestion during hypnotic sleep, 215\n\n  Mental emotion of mother, injury to unborn child through, 200\n\n  Mesmeric sleep, effect of suggestion during, 214\n\n  Mesmerism, now known as hypnotism, 214\n\n  Method to be employed by parents for using suggestion in child\n      training, 223\n\n  Microbes, selective action of, 143\n\n  Mind of operator, state of, necessary to successful suggestion, 224-5\n\n  Modification of certain bones through sitting, 116\n\n  Modification of the organism during descent from first ancestors, 71\n\n  Modification of sense of touch, 114\n\n  Modification of toes, 112\n\n  Modification of the whale, 115\n\n  Molecular structure of sexual cells, 110\n\n  Monogamy, return to, by the Oneida Community, 40, 41, 53\n\n  Moral nature, growth of the, 146\n\n  Mosaic regulations as to unclean animals, 63\n\n  Motherhood, highest, war an enemy to, 204\n\n  Motherhood and degeneracy of the breasts, 208\n\n  Mothers, not peculiarily the divinely appointed teachers of children,\n      212\n\n  Musical talent, not transmitted to offspring, 120\n\n  Mutilations, not transmissible, 119\n\n  _Meyer, Prof. Frederic W. H._, on hypnotic suggestion, 221\n\n\n  Natural selection, 9, 115, 138, 142\n\n  Natural selection, always operative, 147\n\n  Nature, action of, in relation to health, 130\n\n  Nerve cells, constitution of, alterable by hypnotic suggestion, 222\n\n  Nervous system, debilitation of the, 84\n\n  Night terrors cured by hypnotic suggestion, 220\n\n  Nipples, deformed, common occurrence of, 209\n\n  _Nisbet, J. F._, 90, 92\n\n  Non-nursing of children a sign of degeneracy, 208\n\n  Normal conditions only should be transferred by hypnotic suggestion,\n      225\n\n  Nose molding, 20\n\n  Notes, 199 _et seq._\n\n  _Noyes, John Humphrey_, 37 _et seq._\n\n  Nucleus of cell, essential to reproduction, 167\n\n  Nutrition, action of, on germ cells, 151\n\n  Nutrition (arrested) organic effect of, 77\n\n\n  Obedience the basis of education among the Spartans, 15\n\n  Offspring, effect of alcohol on, 171\n\n  Offspring, effect of consanguineous marriage on, 42\n\n  Offspring, influence of locality on health of, 210\n\n  Offspring, injuriously affected by sexual excess of parents, 211\n\n  Offspring, inception of, the starting point of stirpiculture, 52\n\n  Offspring, limitation of, 179 _et seq._\n\n  Oneida Community, 37 _et seq._\n\n  Ovum, 163 _et seq._\n\n  Ovum, the beginning of animal life, 101, 163\n\n  Ovum, developmental tendency of the, 110\n\n  Ovum, effect of gestation on the, 102\n\n  Ovum of different animals, apparent similarity of the, 163\n\n\n  _Paget, Sir James_, 148\n\n  Pain, prevention of, in surgical operations, 214\n\n  Pangenesis, experiments in, 106\n\n  Pangenesis, theory of, 75, 105, 109\n\n  Panmixia, theory of, 78\n\n  Paper mill (New England), 154\n\n  Parentage and luxury, 208\n\n  Parentage and war, 199\n\n  Parentage, responsibility in, 49, 181\n\n  Parentage, Plato's restrictions on, 11\n\n  Parentage, sacredness of, 93\n\n  Parents, how to make use of suggestion in the training of children,\n      222\n\n  Parents, organic growth of, injuriously affected by sexual excess, 211\n\n  Parental life, influence of, over offspring, 95\n\n  Perfectionists of the Oneida Community, 37 _et seq._\n\n  _Phillips, Wendell_, 128\n\n  Physical culture, 160\n\n  Physical training of girls among Spartans, 14\n\n  Physical weakness may be associated with mental greatness, 34\n\n  Plato, Republic of, 10 _et seq._, 25\n\n  Plutarch, 13, 16 _et seq._\n\n  Poisons, actions of, on the sexual cells, 91\n\n  Poverty, obstacle of, to production and training of the young, 203\n\n  Preference, as exhibited among animals, 131\n\n  Preference, as exhibited among men, 133\n\n  Preference, first principle of sexual selection, 131\n\n  Prenatal culture, 55 _et seq._\n\n  Prenatal culture, illustrative cases of, 60 _et seq._\n\n  Prenatal influence, 112\n\n  Prenatal influence in telegony, 85\n\n  Prenatal influences, cases of, 204 _et seq._\n\n  Principles on which sexual selection is based, 38, 131\n\n  Progress in organic life, 9\n\n  Promiscuity regulated in Oneida Community, 37\n\n  Promiscuity regulated in Plato's Republic, 11\n\n  Prostitution, camp life a school for, 202\n\n  Psychical diseases, heredity of, 82 _et seq._\n\n  Psychological laws, uncertain effect of, 68\n\n  Psychological research, laboratories for, 160\n\n\n  _Quatrefages, M. de_, 59\n\n\n  Race (human) deterioration of the, through hygienic action, 143 _et\n      seq._\n\n  Race, improvement of the, aim of, 36\n\n  Race, improvement of the, based on spiritual sympathy, 58\n\n  Race improvement, experiment in, of the Oneida Community, 37 _et seq._\n\n  Race improvement, failure of compulsory attempts at, 27\n\n  Race improvement, Grecian methods for, 10 _et seq._\n\n  Race improvement, Grecian methods not suited for modern times, 24\n\n  Race improvement, natural factors in, 1\n\n  Race improvement, State aid to, 37, 53\n\n  Race should be thought of before ourselves, 211\n\n  Reproductive function, difference in exercise of, by animals and man,\n      210\n\n  Responsibility in parentage, 49, 181\n\n  _Ribot, Th._, 57, 68, 83\n\n  _Romanes, G. J._, 28, 73, 85, 87\n\n  Ruin of countries by the burdens of war, 203\n\n\n  Sacredness of parentage, 93\n\n  _Saint-Hilaire, Geoffroy_, 68\n\n  Sampson, mother of, 172\n\n  Science of true living, hygiene as the, 160\n\n  Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society's manufacturing mill, 156 _et\n      seq._\n\n  Selection, artificial, by man, 9\n\n  Selection, individual, by Noyes, 38\n\n  Selection, natural, _see_ \"Natural selection.\"\n\n  Selection, sexual, _see_ \"Sexual selection.\"\n\n  Selective action of female animals, 28 _et seq._\n\n  Selective action of woman in marriage, 43 _et seq._\n\n  Self-control, importance of, 96\n\n  Self-consciousness, excessive, cured by hypnotic suggestion, 216\n\n  Self-development, 48\n\n  Sense of touch, modification of, through use, 114\n\n  Sex-instinct, 51\n\n  Sexual cells, 162\n\n  Sexual cells, acquired powers of, 110\n\n  Sexual excess injuriously affects both parents and offspring, 211\n\n  Sexual impulse, gratification of the, consistent with the development\n     of the highest mental qualities, 212\n\n  Sexual selection, 27 _et seq._, 131 _et seq._\n\n  Sexual selection, action of, among primeval men, 179\n\n  Sexual selection applicable primarily to male characteristics, 30\n\n  Sexual selection by women, effect of, 44 _et seq._\n\n  Sexual selection, influence of, 31, 33\n\n  Sick child, transmission of health to, by thought transference, 224\n\n  Sire, previous, influence of, on subsequent progeny, 86 _et seq._\n\n  Sleep, ordinary, differs from hypnotic sleep only in degree, 223\n\n  _Smith, Sidney_, 121\n\n  Sobriety, importance of, in relation to offspring, 91 _See_ \"Alcohol.\"\n\n  Soldiers demand gratification of their passional natures, 202\n\n  Spartans, marriage relations among, 13 _et seq._\n\n  Special aptitudes of child determined by prenatal influences, 204\n\n  Spectre of heredity, 127 _et seq._\n\n  _Spencer, Herbert_, 4, 77, 78, 85, 87, 112, 115, 149, 169, 181\n\n  Spermatozoon, 162\n\n  Spiritual nature, appeal to, in hypnotic suggestion, 221\n\n  Spontaneous thought transference, 224\n\n  Standing armies, crushing burden of, 203\n\n  State, aid of the, to race improvement, 53\n\n  State, children regarded as belonging to the, 10 _et seq._, 22\n\n  Stirpiculture. _See_ \"Race, improvement of the.\"\n\n  Stirpiculture, meaning of, 10\n\n  Stirpiculture, good air and water as factors in, 175\n\n  Stirpiculture, Noyes' experiment in, 37 _et seq._\n\n  Stirpiculture, starting point of, 52\n\n  Strength as necessary as tenderness to bringing up of children, 213\n\n  Struggle, sexual selection through, 132\n\n  Studious habits transmitted to children, 205\n\n  Subliminal self, orders conveyed to, by hypnotic suggestion, 222\n\n  Suggestion as an aid to child training, 214, 221\n\n  Suggestion by parents to children for educational purposes, 223\n\n  Suggestion during mesmeric sleep, bad habits cured by, 214\n\n  Suggestion during mesmeric sleep, beneficial effect of, over mental\n      dullness, 215\n\n  Suggestion, hypnotic, influence of, in developing self-control, 219\n\n  Suggestion, hypnotic, method of, employed by Dr. R. Osgood Mason for\n      educational purposes, 215 _et seq._\n\n  Suggestive therapeutics, 214\n\n  Superiority of offspring, where limited, 184\n\n  Surgical operations, prevention of pain in, by mesmerism, 214\n\n  Survival of the fittest, 9\n\n  Survival, what constitutes fitness for, 141\n\n  Sympathy, spiritual, as the basis of race improvement, 53\n\n\n  Taxation, burden of, created by war, 203\n\n  Telegony, 85 _et seq._\n\n  Temper, bad, cured by hypnotic suggestion, 217\n\n  Tenderness to be combined with strength in bringing up children, 213\n\n  Theoretical baby, 185 _et seq._\n\n  Thought transference induced artificially in hypnotic state, 224\n\n  Thought transference, nature of, 224\n\n  Thought transference, transmission of health by, to a young sick\n      child, 224\n\n  Timidity cured by hypnotic suggestion, 216\n\n  Toes, modification of the, in man, 112\n\n  Touch, modification of the sense of, 114\n\n  Training of children aided by hypnotic suggestion, 221\n\n  Training of children, Plutarch on the, 16 _et seq._\n\n  Transformation of heredity, 83\n\n  Transitory states of parents, effect of on offspring, 59\n\n  Transmission by mother to child of aptitude for hard work, 207\n\n  Transmission by mother to child of artistic and literary tastes, 204\n      _et seq._, 207\n\n  Transmission by mother to child of taste for study of natural history,\n      206\n\n  Transmission by mother to child of taste for surgical nursing, 207\n\n  Transmission of acquired characters. _See_ \"Acquired characters.\"\n\n  Transmission of effects of exercise, 111\n\n  _Tylor, E. B._, 64, 67\n\n  Twins, resemblance of, 90\n\n\n  Unborn children injured by war, 199\n\n  Unborn children, interests of, 199\n\n  Unfit, elimination of the, 139\n\n  Unicellular organisms, 109\n\n  Uterine existence, disturbances of, 58, 68\n\n\n  Vaccination as a preserver of weak constitutions, 143\n\n  Vitality, surplus, production of offspring depends on, 169\n\n\n  _Wake, C. Staniland_, 21, 42, 66\n\n  _Wallace, A. R._, 44, 136\n\n  Wallace, Alfred Russell, on prenatal influences, 204\n\n  War and parentage, 199\n\n  War, effects of, on civilization, 199\n\n  War, effects of, on unborn children, 199 _et seq._\n\n  War, enemy to the highest motherhood, 204\n\n  _Weber, Professor_, 114\n\n  _Weismann, Professor_, 72, 74 _et seq._, 78, 107, 118\n\n  Wet nurses, use of, accompanied by physical weakness, 208\n\n  Whale, modification of structure of the, 115\n\n  White race, superiority of the, due to consciousness of duty towards\n      the race, 211\n\n  _Wolf, Caspar Frederick_, 104\n\n  Woman, condition of, among Flat head Indians, 213\n\n  Woman, first duty of, 47\n\n  Woman not superior to man, 212\n\n  Woman, selective action of, in marriage, 32, 43 _et seq._\n\n  Women incapable of love inferior as mothers, 208\n\n  Women more numerous than men, 136\n\n  Women, preference for certain characteristics in men, 133\n\n\n  _Xenophon_, 15\n\n\n  _Zeigler, Professor_, 81, 91\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:\n\n\nThe word \"diarrhoea\" uses an oe ligature in the original.\n\nThe following corrections have been made to the text:\n\n     Page 19: visited her \"with great caution and\n     apprehension\"[quotation mark missing in original]\n\n     Page 25: \"that the difference between men and the animals is\n     forgotten in them.\"[quotation mark missing in original]\n\n     Page 62: _The Philosophical[original has Philosphical] Journal_\n     for October 5, 1895\n\n     Page 66: come to console him [original has extraneous quotation\n     mark]for the pain\n\n     Page 82: distinguished psychiatrist, D. Von\n     Krafft-Ebings[original has Kraft-Ebings]\n\n     Page 84: inconsistency in desires, sudden and variable\n     will.\"[quotation mark missing in original]\n\n     Page 104: develop[original has devolop] other organs than those\n     like the ones in which it was formed\n\n     Page 109: theories of heredity--Haeckel's[original has\n     Heckel's], for instance\n\n     Page 112: without the transmission[original has transmision] of\n     the effects of the use\n\n     Page 141: to give continuous[original has continous] food,\n     warmth and protection\n\n     Page 164: the ape, the dog, the cat or other animal.\"[quotation\n     mark missing in original]\n\n     Page 164: clear, round germinal vesicle[original has vescicle]\n\n     Page 167: they completely[original has competely] efface\n     themselves\n\n     Page 176: often of an unusually[original has unsually] cheerful\n     and hopeful disposition\n\n     Page 180: quoted Grant Allen as favoring abstinence[original\n     has abstainence]\n\n     Page 182: must bring decay and ultimate extinction.[original\n     has comma]\n\n     Page 199: children, both born and unborn.[period missing in\n     original]\n\n     Page 200: capable of resisting the intense excitements[original\n     has excitments]\n\n     Page 200: dimmed by the relation of such occurrences[original\n     has occurrencies]\n\n     Page 203: Is this not a grievous[original has grevious] burden\n\n     Page 206: [original has extraneous quotation mark]Mrs. B----\n     says: \"I can trace\n\n     Page 207: cloth of gold roses and bougainvillea[original has\n     bougianvillea]\n\n     Page 210: only 17,314 out of 100,000 died.[original has comma]\n\n     Page 213: mind as well as heart,[comma missing in original]\n     vigor as well as sympathy\n\n     Page 217: gruffly[original has grufly] remarked that I had\n     rumpled his hair\n\n     Page 217: suggestions have not been repeated since\n     May.\"[original has extraneous quotation mark]\n\n     Page 226: number \"200\" is below the entry for \"Air\" in the\n     original, but it belongs to the entry for \"Allen, Joseph A.\",\n     and has been moved accordingly\n\n     Page 228: page numbers for the entry on Darwin have been put in\n     numerical order\n\n     Page 228: Eimer,[original has period] Dr. G. H., 71, 79 _et\n     seq._, 90\n\n     Page 230: Haeckel[original has Haeckel], Ernst, 109\n\n     Page 232: Inheritance of acquired characters, question as to\n     the, 71, 73, 77,[comma missing in original] 79\n\n     Page 232: Krafft[original has Kraft], D. Von Ebing, 82, 84, 91\n\n     Page 232: Leeuwenhock[original has Leeukwenhock], 103\n\n     Page 233: Jowett[original has Jewett], Professor B., 25 _et\n     seq._,[comma missing in original] 34\n\n     Page 233: Mason, Dr. R. Osgood, on beneficial effect of\n     hypnotism[original has hynotism]\n\n     Page 235: Quatrefages[original has Quartrefages], M. de, 59\n\n     Page 235: Saint-Hilaire, Geoffroy[original has Geoffory], 68\n\n     Page 238: Transmission[original has Tranmission] of acquired\n     characters","title":"Homo-Culture; Or, The Improvement of Offspring Through Wiser Generation","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":55605}