GENEALOGY AND EUGENICS 



Study of Human Lineage Can Be Greatly Increased in Value if Illuminated by 

 Genetics Methods To Be Followed — Results To Be Expected. ^ 



The Editor 



SCIENTIFIC plant breeders today 

 have learned that their success 

 often depends on the care with 

 which they study the genealogy 

 of their plants. 



Live-stock breeders admit that their 

 profession is on a sure scientific basis 

 only to the extent that the genealogy of 

 the animals used is known. 



Human genealogy is one of the oldest 

 manifestations of man's intellectual 

 activity, but until recently it has been 

 subservient to sentimental purposes, or 

 pursued from historical or legal motives. 

 Biology has had no place in it. 



Genealogy, however, has not alto- 

 gether escaped the re-examination which 

 all sciences received after the Dar- 

 winian movement revolutionized modern 

 thought. Ntunerous ways have been 

 pointed out in which the science — for 

 genealogy is certainly a science — could 

 be brought into line with the new way 

 of looking at Man and his world. The 

 field of genealogy has already been 

 invaded at many ])oints by biologists, 

 seeking the furtherance of their own 

 aims. 



I ]jropose to discuss briefly the 

 relations between the conventional 

 genealogy and the modern a])plication 

 of biological i)rinciples to everyday life 

 which, as it is here viewed, may be 

 broadly described by the name Eugenics, 

 "good breeding." It may be that 

 genealogy could become an even more 

 valuable branch of human knowledge 

 than it now is, if it were more closely 

 aligned with biology. In order to throw 

 light on this possibility, we must 

 inquire : 



(1) What is genealogy ? 



(2) What does it now attempt to do ? 



(3) What faults appear, from the 

 eugenist's standpoint, to exist in its 

 present methods ' 



(4) What additions should be made 

 to its present methods? 



(5) What can be expected of it, after 

 it is revised in accordance with the 

 ideas of the eugenist ? 



The answer to the first question, 

 "What is genealogy?" need not detain 

 me long, for you are already more 

 familiar with it than I am. Genealogy 

 may be envisaged from several points. 

 It serves history. It has a legal func- 

 tion, which is probably of more conse- 

 quence abroad than in America. It ha? 

 social significance, in bolstering family 

 pride and creating a feeling of family 

 solidarity — this is perhaps its chief 

 office in the United States. It has, or 

 can have, biological significance, and 

 this in two ways : either in relation to the 

 pure science or the applied science. In 

 connection with pure science, its func- 

 tion is to furnish us means for getting 

 a knowledge of the laws of heredity. In 

 application, its function is to ftu-nish a 

 knowledge of the inherited characters 

 of any given individual, in order to 

 make it possible for the individual to 

 find his place in the world and, in 

 particular, to marry wisely. It is 

 obvious that the use of genealogy in 

 the applied science of eugenics is depen- 

 dent on the preceding use of it in the 

 pure branch of the science ; for marriage 

 matings which take account of heredity 

 can not be made unless the laws 

 of heredity have previously been 

 di.scovered. 



The historical, social, legal and other 

 aspects of genealogy do not concern 

 the present paper. I shall discuss only 



' Address before the International Congress of Genealogy, San Francisco, Calif., July 26 -.n, 

 1915. 



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