THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 413 



Hopetown has been in a great measure, if not entirely, brought about by too 

 close intermarrying of the inhabitants. In the case of lower animals, to be 

 sure, it has been found that interbreeding is not productive of disastrous results 

 if the original stock is good, and all abnormalities are excluded. Although 

 many authorities hold that this law applies as well to the human species as to 

 the lower animals, I cannot conclude that close and continued intermarriage 

 among human beings is unattended with evil results, for we can never be 

 certain that the same conditions are followed in the reproduction of the human 

 species as are enforced in the breeding of animals. The organization of the 

 human being is so complex, and the nervous system so delicately balanced, that 

 it is difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to establish a human type, and to 

 agree as to what constitutes good human stock. Nothing is more difficult than 

 to find a perfectly normal man or woman, and if we cannot agree as to what 

 constitutes a normal type, how are we to decide as to what constitutes an 

 abnormality ? In a sense, a genius is as abnormal on the one hand as an idiot 

 on the other, and it is impossible to draw a line between a being with normal 

 mental capacity, and one which is slightly below the standard. 



One cannot conduct artificial experiments on the human race similar to 

 those carried on with lower animals. Except within very narrow limits, 

 marriages are not regulated by law, and therefore abnormalities, if they 

 occur, cannot well be eliminated. The volition of the interested parties is 

 practically the only check on the propagation of abnormal types. As the 

 selection of a companion is not based on scientific but on sentimental grounds, 

 and the field of the observation of most men is small, the great majority 

 select their life partners from a comparatively limited acquaintance. The 

 smaller and more isolated the community, the more restricted will be the 

 horizon of the individuals who compose it, and the closer will be the inter- 

 marrying. If the laws governing the descent of lower animals are identical 

 with those governing the descent of the human race, the conditions under which 

 they act are far different. In restricted communities, then, an abnormality or 

 a disease will tend to be perpetuated, exaggerated and concentrated. 



In Hopetown we have an ideal illustration of what a small and restricted 

 community of human beings will do. Here is an experiment conducted by 

 Nature, as it were, to show what will result from close intermarrying, where 

 the volition of the interested parties is the only check on marriage. Mar- 

 riages here are largely determined by propinquity, with the result that close 

 intermarrying without the elimination of abnormalities has been productive of 



