THE INFLUENCES OF NURTURE 115 



varied greatly — as our own does — according to the 

 social nurture. Let us take a few particulars. In 

 1915 there were 43 male Jukes, between the ages of 

 15 and 18, anti-social and doing poorly, 2 criminal, 

 1 so obviously mentally defective as to be noticeable 

 to the general community, 19 industrious. In 1915 the 

 number of males over 19 and of females over 15 was 

 705 ; of these 305, 43 per cent., were described as inimical 

 to the general welfare of the community, including 

 41 criminal, 103 mentally deficient, 83 intemperate. 

 But 152 were industrious and 65 were classed as good 

 citizens. Of these good citizens, we are told that " the 

 bad traits which have held down their brothers and 

 sisters have become lost, and they are fountain-heads 

 of new families of socially-good strain." It will be an 

 interesting exercise to think out what is meant biologi- 

 cally by a peculiarity being " lost." 



Some of Dr. Estabrook's general conclusions are 

 interesting : — in radically defective stock cousin-mating 

 results in defective offspring ; there is a clear hereditary 

 factor in licentiousness ; all the criminals in the lineage 

 were also weak-minded ; one in four Jukes is improved 

 socially by Children's Institutions ; the ne'er-do-well 

 in new surroundings often finds another like himself, 

 but improved social environment counts for much in 

 the individual's development, success in life, and chance 

 of marrying into a better family. But this only applies 

 to those who are hereditarily able to respond to the 

 improved nurture, who are not beyond the pale of the 

 desirable. 



