200 HEREDITY IN RELATION TO EUGENICS 



riages and the closer the relationship of the couple the 

 greater the chance of sterile marriage. 



In this category may be placed the barrier of Hfe in an 

 institution. A pubUc institution brings together men and 

 women so intimately that marriage frequently occurs after 

 leaving the institution. Thus two persons with the same 

 trait become parents. This is not, strictly, consanguineous 

 marriage but it has much of the essential element of such 

 marriage — viz., the marriage of persons with the same de- 

 fects. Certainly almshouses in which segregation of the 

 sexes is imperfect jdeld numerous depauperate and imbecile 

 offspring and there is reason for suspecting that sanatoria 

 and hospitals for the "curable" insane do likewise. That 

 institutions for the deaf mutes lead to intermarriage of per- 

 sons of this class is notorious. Thus Bell (1884, p. 4) says: 

 "I desire to direct attention to the fact that in this country 

 deaf mutes marry deaf ynutes. An examination of the records 

 of some of our institutions for the deaf and dumb reveals 

 the fact that such marriages are not the exception but the 

 rule," and later (p. 46) he cites as a cause for this preference 

 "segregation for the purposes of education." 



c. The Barrier of Language is extremely important in pro- 

 moting consanguineous marriages or the matings of persons 

 with the same defect. Thus with regard to deaf mutes Bell 

 (1884,p. 44) says: "The practice of the sign language hinders 

 the acquisition of the EngHsh language ; it makes deaf mutes 

 associate together in adult life, and avoid the society of 

 hearing people; it thus causes the intermarriage of deaf 

 mutes and the propagation of their physical defect." The 

 importance of this barrier is seen among recent immigrants. 

 These tend to herd together largely because of desire to be 

 with people who speak the same language. Thus immigra- 

 tion instead of directly tending to promote matings of dis- 

 similar and unrelated blood, under modern conditions at 



