L'lS THE XKHVOrS SYSTEM AND ITS < n\SKKVATION 



have scarcely affected the capacities of the -lock. But 

 my indulgences have exhiltited its inherent weaknesses and 

 my self-restraint has shown its strength. My failures 

 are ominous and my victories rea>suring, for the like are 

 to be expected in the life of my son." The "rave and final 

 question is whether the stock ought, on the whole, to be 

 perpetuated. This is complicated by the consideration 

 that the son will owe half his inheritance to the mother. 

 "He is his father's half-brother by a different mother." 

 While it is fair to give due weight to this fact, it is likely 

 that many men have trusted too freely to the maternal 

 stock to neutralize their shortcomings. 1 



The data of eugenics are easily subjected to ridicule, 

 while, at the other extreme, too much may be expected 

 from the new science. \Ye can already see that at least 

 one valuable service may be rendered by it. The workers 

 in this field are showing that hereditary defects are of two 

 classes, those due to lack and those due to positive feature-; 

 of the germ plasm. A lack can be made good by proper 

 mating; a positive property will taint the offspring what- 

 ever partner may have been secured, and so can never be 

 neutralized. It is agreeable to find that the majority of 

 abnormalities are deficiencies, and theoretically can be 

 bred out of the race instead of being allowed to die out. 

 Practically, however, the strong and efficient can hardly 

 be expected to forego mating with their equals to redeem 

 the weaker 1 stocks. 



Since reference has been made above to tin 1 damage 

 done by alcohol, we may pursue the subject further and 

 say something of its individual as well as its hereditary 

 results. Two opposing views of the general problem are 

 maintained. Most writers assume that alcohol is a chief 

 cause of degeneracy. ( )n the other hand, it is ingeniously 

 maintained that the indulgence is as much a sign as a 

 cause of the conditions with which it is associated. Accord- 

 ing to this conception, a drunkard is a man who would 



1 .Ionian, "The Hcivo-ity of Uirlianl Hoc," The American Uni- 

 tarian A--on;ition, Boston, 1U11. 



