EUGENICS 



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tions in it amongst groups, have given some students the impression that 

 intellect, at least, is, by natural necessity, inversely correlated with 

 fecundity. 



It is hard to find the facts by which to either verify or refute the 

 notion, current in superficial discussions of human nature and insti- 

 tutions, that such is the case. Sad testimony to man's neglect of the 

 question which of all questions perhaps concerns him most — the simple 

 question of which men and women produce the men and women of the 

 future — is given by the fact that almost no clear and reliable evidence 

 is available concerning the relations of fecundity to intellect, morality, 

 energy, or balance. The most significant evidence is that collected by 

 Woods in the case of royal families. Woods gives the number of chil- 

 dren living till 21 in the case of each individual of the royal families 

 which he studied. From them I have made the summaries noted on 

 Charts 7 and 8. Each of these sets of facts is of course the 



4 — 



I — 



Chaet 7. 



I and z 3 and 4- sonde 7 and 8 9 and 10 

 morality of ITlothep. 

 The Relation of Morality of Mothee to Numbeb of Children. 



result of the constitutional fecundity of the women in question plus 

 certain very intricate cooperating circumstances; and neither can be 

 taken at its face-value. What the birth rate would have been had the 

 constitutional capacity of each woman worked under equal conditions, 

 can only be dubiously inferred. My own inference from relevant facts 

 concerning the studies of differentiated birth rates with which I am 

 acquainted is that morality, mental health, energy, and intellect per- 

 petuate a family, and that wherever the really better, or saner, or 

 stronger, or more gifted, classes fail to equal the really worse, ill- 

 balanced, feeble or stupid classes, it is a consequence of unfortunate 

 circumstances and customs which are avoidable and which it is the 

 business of human policy to avoid. Society may choose to breed from 

 the bottom, but it does not have to. 



No great ingenuity or care then seems necessary to make fairly rapid 



