86 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



descendants of these lines have been paupers, vagabonds, thieves, 

 drunkards and prostitutes. Mental defect was very common, 

 especially in certain strains, and a considerable amount of syphi- 

 lis was recorded, and much more probably occurred. 



From the standpoint of heredity, such families as the Jukes, 

 Ishmaelites, Zeroes, etc., constitute a complex problem. That 

 bad environment and the evil influences of family traditions are 

 potent factors in determining the degradation of these unfortu- 

 nate people, there can be no doubt. But there can be little doubt 

 that heredity is a factor of great potency as well. Criminality 

 may be due, not so much to the transmission of vicious propensi- 

 ties (although there is evidence that vicious traits are trans- 

 mitted), as to the inheritance of mental defect and general lack of 

 stamina. 



People with good stuff in them very often rise out of their 

 vicious environment, while others under the best of conditions 

 seem to take instinctively to evil pursuits. We should bear in 

 mind in studying degenerate families and their unfavorable 

 surroundings, that bad environment tends to be created by a bad 

 heredity. Given stocks with an inheritance of low mentality, 

 feeble inhibitions, and more or less mental disorder, in a few 

 generations such stocks would gradually sink into the ranks of 

 dependent or outcast humanity, and would soon develop tradi- 

 tions of vice and immorality which would make it especially hard 

 for an individual to rise in the social scale. When we consider a 

 single individual born amid such unfavorable surroundings, we 

 might be prone to attribute his shortcomings to his poor oppor- 

 tunities. We might be able to point to many cases in which 

 members of degenerate strains have become worthy citizens when 

 given better chances for obtaining success. Such cases, in fact, 

 are not infrequent. But this fact would in no wise controvert 

 the assertion that heredity is primarily responsible for the condi- 

 tion of these degenerate famihes. Under the conditions that 

 prevail in our civilized society, there is a general tendency for 

 families of good inheritance to rise into higher ranks, whatever 

 misfortunes may have been responsible for their inferior position 



