INHERITANCE OF MENTAL DEFECTS AND DISEASE 31 



the best families in their state, the descendants of colonial gover- 

 nors, signers of the Declaration of Independence, soldiers and 

 even the founders of a great university. Indeed, in this family 

 and its collateral branches, we find nothing but good representa- 

 tive citizenship. There are doctors, lawyers, judges, educators, 

 traders, landholders, in short, respectable citizens, men and 

 women prominent in every phase of social life. They have 

 scattered over the United States and are prominent in their 

 communities wherever they have gone. Half a dozen towns in 

 New Jersey are named from the families into which Martin's 

 descendants have married. There have been no feeble-minded 

 among them; no illegitimate children; no immoral women; only 

 one man was sexually loose." 



In sharp contrast to this branch of the family stand the descend- 

 ants of the feeble-minded girl. Of these 480 have been traced. 

 "One hundred and forty-three of these," says Goddard, "we have 

 conclusive proof were or are feeble-minded, while only forty-six 

 have been found normal. The rest are unknown or doubtful. 

 Of these descendants there have been 36 illegitimate, 33 sexually 

 immoral, mostly prostitutes, 24 confirmed alcoholics, 3 epileptics, 

 82 died in infancy, 3 criminals, 8 kept houses of ill fame. The 

 Kallikaks married into other families, usually of their own type, 

 producing 1,146 individuals. "Of this large group," says God- 

 dard, "we have discovered that two hundred and sixty-two 

 were feeble-minded, while one hundred and ninety-seven are con- 

 sidered normal, the remaining five hundred and eighty-one being 

 still undetennined." 



The history of this family is a long tale of feeble-mindedness, 

 alcoholism, poverty and prostitution. Children were numerous, 

 but although infant mortality was high, the family increased 

 rapidly in successive generations. Wherever the Kallikaks 

 wandered, whether in the backwoods or in the slums of cities they 

 retained the same characteristics. 



There are several Kallikak families, several of which, such as 

 the Nams, Pineys, Hill Folk, Tribe of Ishmael, Zeroes, etc., 

 show little but a monotonous repetition of the same history 



