HEREDITY IN RELATION TO EUGENICS 



size of the space betw^n the pelvic bones through which 

 the child must pass. (^Even a selection on the ground of 

 social position and wealth has a rough eugenic value since 

 success means the presence of certain effective traits in the 

 stock. The general idea of marrving health, wealth, and 

 wisdom is a rough eugenic ideal.) A curious antipathy is 

 that of red haired persons of opposite sex for each other. 

 Among thousands of matings that I have considered I have 

 found only two cases where both husband and wife are 

 red headed, and I am assured by red haired persons that 

 the antipathy exists. If, as is sometimes alleged, red hair 

 is frequently associated with a condition of nervous irri- 

 tability this is an eugenic antipathy. 



In so far as young men and women are left free to select 

 their own marriage mates the widest possible acquaintance 

 with different sorts of people, to increase the amplitude of 

 selection, is evidently desirable. This is the great argument 

 for coeducation of the sexes both at school and college, 

 that they may increase the range of their experience with 

 people and gain more discrimination in selection. The 

 custom that prevails in America and England of free selec- 

 tion of mates makes the more necessary the proper in- 

 struction of young people in the principles of eugenical 

 matings. 



The theory of independent unit characters has an im- 

 portant bearing upon our classifications of human beings 

 and shows how essentially vague and even false in con- 

 ception these classifications are. A large part of the time 

 and expense of maintaining the courts is due to this anti- 

 quated classification with its tacit assumption that each 

 class stands as a type of men. Note the extended discus- 

 sions in courts as to whether A belongs to the white race 

 or to the black race, or whether B is feeble-minded or not. 

 Usually they avoid, as if by intention, the fundamental 



