Redfield: Results of Early Marriage 



317 



one hundred dollars to the treasury of 

 the American Genetic Association if a 

 single one of them can be found in this 

 three-generations-to-the-century class. 

 Cyclopedias, biographies and biograph- 

 ical dictionaries give ample data for 

 investigating more than a hundred of 

 these cases. 



The time limit on both of these offers 

 will be December 31, 1914. 



While I have investigated from many 

 angles the question of the effect of age of 

 parents on the offspring, I have never 

 done the specific work called for by this 

 offer. I am satisfied, from my general 

 investigations on the subject, that no 

 great man could have been produced 

 under such conditions; but the person 

 who hunts for the individuals desig- 

 nated will do something a little different 

 from anything I have ever done. If 

 the men are found, I will not regret the 

 $200. I make the offer because I con- 

 sider the problem involved to be of the 

 highest importance, not only in eugen- 



ics, but in breeding any kind of animals. 

 For the purpose of general informa- 

 tion and comparison, I append a table 

 showing the distribution of births for 

 two generations in the male line. It 

 shows the ag€s of 2,564 grandfathers 

 when grandsons were born, and the 

 numbers of grandsons born at different 

 ages of grandfathers. The figures were 

 compiled from printed genealogies of 

 New England families: and it will be 

 admitted that the generations there are 

 longer than they are in many parts of 

 the world. Even there, it is evident 

 that the general average of generations is 

 more than three to a century. We should 

 expect, on the laws of chance, that the 

 illustrious men would fall in this class, 

 in many cases at least. If they do not, 

 there must be something wrong with 

 such views as those expressed by Pro- 

 fessor Johnson. If they do, someone 

 can secure a contribution of $200 to the 

 American Genetic Association by 

 bringing forward the necessary data. 



167330 



Average for 2 generations = 65.26 years. 



2564 



The Eugenic Ideal 



The Founder of the Christian rehgion said, "I am come that ye might have 

 life, and that ye might have it more abundantly." It is higher and more abundant 

 life that is the eugenic ideal. Progress I define as the emergence and increasing 

 dominance of the mind. Of progress, thus conceived, man is the highest fruit 

 hitherto. He is also its appointed agent, and eugenics is his instruiment. — C. W. 

 Saleeby: Parenthood and Race Culture (1909). 



