296 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 



pull themselves together. But strains with damnosa 

 hereditas had been " assisted out " from Europe, 

 and from such, foreordained to perdition, came 

 "the Jukes." Here are some of them: Max, the 

 hunter and fisher, the jolly, alcoholic ne'er-do-well; 

 Lem, the stealer of sheep; Lawrence, the licentious, 

 free with his "gun"; Margaret and Delia, the wan- 

 tons; and Bell, who had three children by various 

 negroes. Dr. Davenport continues : " Not only \vas 

 much of the original stock bad, but improvement 

 which might otherwise have occurred was prevented 

 by constant inbreeding. The nervous weaknesses, 

 the mental insufficiencies were thus brought together 

 from both sides, and mentally and morally defective 

 offspring w r ere rendered more certain. Some out- 

 breeding there was, and where it was with better 

 stock the progeny had better intelligence and 

 emotional control, and lines were founded that 

 were able to hold a good position in organized 

 society." 



The sequel deals with the now widely-scattered 1 

 descendants of five original Juke sisters, a total of 

 2094 people, of whom 1258 were living in 1915. 

 The most general fact about them is that one-half 

 were and are feeble-minded in a wide sense, " men- 

 tally incapable of responding normally to the 

 expectations of society, brought up under faulty 

 environmental conditions which they consider 

 normal, satisfied with the fulfilment of natural 

 passions and desires, and with no ambitions or 

 ideals in life." As to the other half of the Jukes, 



