THE JEWS: RACE AND ENVIRONMENT 445 



sanguineous marriages was among the Jews 23.3, and among protest- 

 ants only 6.1, per 1,000 marriages. 



It is doubtful whether this inbreeding is the cause of most of the 

 diabetes, insanity, idiocy, deaf-mutism, etc., encountered among the 

 Jews. It is at present the consensus of opinion that consanguineous 

 marriages contracted by healthy individuals are not at all detrimental 

 to the offspring. But when contracted by defectives, the physical or 

 mental defect is likely to appear in a more accentuated form in the 

 progeny. It must in this connection be mentioned that consanguineous 

 marriage among the European population rarely exceeds one per cent, 

 of all marriages and is more frequent, as a rule, in the country than 

 in the city. The Jews, as city dwellers, ought to have a still smaller 

 proportion of marriages of near kin. 



Mixed Marriages. 



The prevailing opinion that Jews have always refrained from in- 

 termarriage with non-Jews is erroneous. Biblical tradition shows 

 clearly that the ancient "Hebrews intermarried freely with their Gentile 

 neighbors. Some of the most important patriarchs (Abraham, Joseph, 

 Moses) and kings (Solomon) had gentile wives. The prophets, Ezra 

 and jSTehemia, both arraigned the Hebrews for their carelessness in this 

 respect and appealed to them to maintain the purity of the race of 

 Israel. A study of their history shows that the Jews have always more 

 or less intermarried with the races and peoples among whom they lived. 

 This was particularly the case during the Hellenic period, and in 

 Spain for some time before their expulsion. Only during medieval 

 oppression and persecution, rigid confinement in the Ghettos and strict 

 isolation have the Jews married exclusively among themselves. 



In recent times the Jews again began to marry with christians in 

 Europe and in America. In some countries this intermarriage has 

 assumed such proportions as to threaten the integrity of Judaism. 

 A survey of the census statistics published in various European coun- 

 tries reveals that wherever the Jews are subject to special adverse legis- 

 lation, segregated in Ghettos and deprived of friendly social inter- 

 course with their non-Jewish neighbors, very little or no intermarriage 

 occurs. This is particularly the case in oriental countries, like Turkey, 

 Persia, Morocco, etc., and also in semi-oriental countries, like Russia. 

 There intermarriage is prohibited by law; unless the Jew first accepts 

 Christianity or mohammedanism, he may not marry a gentile. On the 

 other hand, in western Europe, where he enjoys all the privileges of a 

 free citizen, mixed marriages are of frequent occurrence. In fact, in 

 some countries even more frequent than intermarriage between cath- 

 olics and protestants. 



