256 ESSENTIALS OF ZOOLOGY 



Lorimer and Osborn found in their study of the school children of 

 selected eastern cities that children with the lowest intelligence scores 

 (I.Q. below 60) came from families that averaged nearly six chil- 

 dren; that those with medium scores (I.Q.'s 90 to 110) came from 

 families averaging less than four; and that the children of superior 

 intelligence (I.Q.'s 140 and over) came from families that averaged 

 less than two and a half children. 



The author's study of nearly a thousand improvident families of a 

 type well known to the social workers of southwestern cities revealed 

 that in this group the number of births occurring in completed fam- 

 ilies averaged 7.9 and the average number of children born to mothers 

 of all ages was 5.7. The average number of surviving children of the 

 two groups was 6.1 and 4.6 respectively. The significance of these 

 data in comparison with those concerned with the size of the families 

 from which college students come can be realized from the fact that 

 if the reproductive rates in these two groups continue for ten genera- 

 tions, the descendants of one hundred families of the dysgenic group 

 will number more than twenty-eight thousand, while in the same gen- 

 eration, one hundred families of the present-day college-student group 

 will be represented by eleven persons. 



What Can Be Done? 



It must be admitted that the present racial situation has been 

 brought about through the advance of humanitarianism and science. 

 The cure for the situation must come through the application of 

 greater humanitarian and scientific measures. The many corrective 

 panaceas that have been suggested must be tested carefully and ap- 

 plied cautiously. Some reforms can be applied at once and are being 

 applied today to some degree; others must wait until the time for 

 their application is more opportune. 



Some Eugenic Measures 



The step that would be most fruitful of racial betterment is general 

 education along eugenic lines. If a sufficient number of thoughtful 

 citizens were informed about racial trends, a eugenic consciousness 

 would be developed that would cause every proposed social or eco- 

 nomic change to be considered from the standpoint of its genetic 

 significance. 



The marriage and divorce laws of the various states should be uni- 

 fied and rewritten along eugenic lines. They should provide for ad- 



