HUMAN LIFE 



knowledge of heredity adds materially to 

 the possibility of making eugenics a sub- 

 ject entirely worth serious and active con- 

 sideration. The more we know of the 

 mechanism, the order and the results of 

 biological inheritance, the more we can 

 develop and make use of a social inheri- 

 tance which shall help to make individuals 

 and peoples better born. 



Guyer in his excellent little book, en- 

 titled "Being Well-Born," gives a striking 

 example of what bad and good inheritance 

 can mean by giving the facts in the case 

 of two lines of descent; one, which we 

 may call Line A, came from a normal 

 father mated to a feeble-minded mother 

 and the other, Line B, from the same 

 normal father mated to a normal mother. 

 In five generations of Line A, 480 direct 

 descendants included 143 known to be 

 feeble-minded, 291 of unknown or doubt- 

 ful mentality, 36 illegitimate, 33 sexually 

 immoral, 24 confirmed alcoholics, 3 epi- 

 leptics, 3 criminals, 8 keepers of dis- 

 reputable houses, 82 dead as infants, 

 86 



