474 
Jukes. For the past 130 years they 
have increased from five sisters to a 
family which numbers 2,094 people, 
of whom 1,258 were living in 1915. 
One-half of the Jukes were and are 
feebleminded, mentally incapable of 
responding normally to the expecta- 
tions of society, brought up under 
faulty environmental conditions which 
they consider normal, satisfied with the 
fulfilment of natural passions and de- 
sires, and with no ambition or ideals in 
life. The other half, perhaps normal 
-mentally and emotionally, has become 
socially adequate or inadequate, de- 
pending on the chance of the individual 
reaching or failing to reach an environ- 
ment which would mold and stimulate 
his inherited social traits. 
“There have been cited just previous 
to this certain cases of good citizens 
among the Jukes. In these men and 
women the bad traits which have held 
down their brothers and sisters have 
become lost and they are the fountain 
heads of new families of socially good 
strain. Heredity, whether good or bad, 
has its complemental factor in environ- 
ment. The two determine the _ be- 
havior of the individual. The social 
reformer and the student of eugenics 
must see that, no matter what the degree 
of perfection to which we raise the stand- 
ard of the environment, the response of 
the individual will still depend on its 
constitution and the constitution must 
be adequate before we can attain the 
perfect individual, socially and 
eugenically. 
“This study demonstrates the fol- 
lowing: 
“1. Cousin-matings in defective germ- 
plasms are undesirable, since they 
produce defective offspring irrespective 
of the parents’ somatic make-up. 
“2. There is an hereditary factor in 
licentiousness, but there are those 
among the Jukes who are capable of 
meeting the requirements of the mores 
in sex matters if only great social 
pressure is brought to bear on them. 
‘3. Pauperism is an indication of 
weakness, physical or mental. 
The Journal of Heredity 
“4, All of the Juke criminals were 
feebleminded, and the eradication of 
crime in defective stocks depends upon 
the elimination of mental deficiency. 
“5. Removal of Jukes from their 
original habitat to new regions is 
beneficial to the stock 7tself, as better 
social pressure is brought to bear on 
them and there is a chance of mating 
into better families. 
“6. One in four of the Jukes is 
improved socially by care in Children’s 
Institutions. 
“7. Penal institutions have little 
beneficial influence upon persons of 
defective mentality. 
THE REMEDY 
“The natural question which arises 
in the reader’s mind is, ‘What can be 
done to prevent the breeding of these 
defectives?’ Two practical solutions of 
this problem are apparent. One of 
these is the permanent custodial care of 
the feebleminded men and all feeble- 
minded women of childbearing age. 
The other is the sterilization of those 
whose germ-plasm contains the defects 
which society wishes to eliminate. 
“The first is practicable, since there 
are now many custodial institutions 
for the feebleminded and epileptic and 
in some of these the patients are partly 
self-supporting. These institutions 
should be increased in number and 
capacity to receive all the defectives 
now at large and who must be cared for 
if the program of segregation is to be 
fully carried out. Out of approximately 
600 living feebleminded and epileptic 
Jukes, there are now only three in 
custodial care. It is estimated that at 
the end of fifty years the defective 
germ-plasm would be practically elimin- 
ated by the segregation of all of the 600. 
“Sterilization of those carrying epi- 
lepsy, feeblemindedness, etc., is entirely 
practicable. Public sentiment, how- 
ever, does not favor such a practice. 
Contrary to public belief, sterilization 
would interfere with the real liberty of 
the individual less than custodial care.”’ 
6 Dr. Estabrook and Dr. Davenport have both emphasized the extreme sexual license of the 
Jukes, and their infection with venereal disease. 
Life-long segregation for both men and women is the only remedy 
sterilization unthinkable. 
These facts seem to the reviewer to make 
which will adequately safeguard both society and the individual Jukes. 
