196 Heredity and Child Culture 



grafting children who, although having a poor 

 social inheritance, may yet be the possessors 

 of a healthy organic inheritance. As a matter 

 of fact, our oldest and so-called best families 

 often cannot be safe in looking too closely into 

 their ancestry. Many of the proudest families 

 in Europe are descended from glorified cut- 

 throats whose only claim to distinction lay 

 in slaughtering the peasants of neighboring 

 countries. The best known families of our own 

 democracy have had forbears who engaged in 

 the useful though humble occupations of stage- 

 drivers, ferrymen, and fur traders. 



It is also a fact that individuals of the same 

 race are more nearly related than is generally 

 supposed. The following is a quotation from 

 Conklin : ' ' Davenport concludes that no people 

 of English descent are more distantly related 

 than thirtieth cousins, while most people are 

 much more closely related than that. ' ' If there 

 is a good organic heredity back of any child, 

 a favorable environment will do the rest. 



It is thus wise and safe to encourage the adop- 

 tion of abandoned children who are normal and 



