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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1400 



with misgivings, and felt a lack of sufficient 

 knowledge to direct our action. The present 

 policy of selecting immigrants is a reasonable 

 one, certainly; and every one who recognizes 

 the effect of quality of the germ-plasm on 

 national life, hopes it will be continued and 

 extended until we know something of the 

 family, as well as individual performance, of 

 each applicant for entry into the United 

 States. The best, as well as the most recent 

 study of the effect of a mixture of races 

 upon a country is Mr. Charles W. Gould's 

 ' ' America : A Family Matter," and his con- 

 clusions are not encouraging. But the student 

 of human genetics hopes to put this marvel- 

 lous mixture of races to account in his study 

 of human inheritance. The greatest oppor- 

 tunity in the world is offered for the study, 

 since nearly all the races of mankind can be 

 found in New York City alone, in consider- 

 able numbers, talking the one language and 

 making mixed marriages, which are often 

 strikingly diverse. This is a field that is ex- 

 tremely alluring and which has been little 

 worked. 



But I fear I tire you with this prolonged 

 discussion of the results and the future of 

 eugenical research. No doubt there are many 

 who are inquiring " But where does environ- 

 ment come in ? " And there are others who 

 would urge that the great problem for investi- 

 gation is that of the relative importance of 

 heredity and environment. It seems to me 

 that we should not formulate the problem 

 in this manner. There is no heredity with- 

 out environment and few environmental effects 

 which are not dependent also upon hered- 

 ity. Schooling is good for those who are not 

 feeble-minded; moral training yields excellent 

 results in the case of such as have normal in- 

 hibitions; musical education is valuable if the 

 elements of musical capacity are present; 

 painting lessons are fine if the pupil be not 

 color blind. Certainly every child deserves the 

 greatest possible opportunities; but the same 

 conditions will be an opportunity to him who 

 is able to take advantage of them, and no 

 opportunity to him whose hereditary limita- 

 tions do not enable him to use them. 



And finally, what are some of the practical 

 applications that we may expect to be made of 

 eugenical research ? One, certainly, is a higher 

 estimation of the importance of hereditary 

 capacities in human behavior. This may save 

 us from disregard of innate differences — 

 capacities which lead us on the one hand to 

 adjudge all men equally capable of acting in 

 accordance with the mores; and, on the other, 

 to explain all offences as due to poor environ- 

 ment. Both false views neglect the fact of dif- 

 ferences in inborn capacities. 



Again, there will come a realization of the 

 importance of heredity in marriage matings. 

 Young persons to whom marriage is so seri- 

 ous a matter, will be led to stop and consider, 

 when they feel they are falling in love, and 

 inquire concerning consequences to offspring. 

 Already there is being developed a well-de- 

 fined conscience in the matters of cousin mar- 

 riages, and of matings into families with 

 grossly defective members. This is shown by 

 the extensive correspondence that the Eugenics 

 Record Office has been obliged to enter into 

 with persons who are contemplating marriage. 

 They are quite willing to submit an extensive 

 account of their family traits; and they write 

 to learn what is known about the inheritance 

 of some family weakness or defect. The peo- 

 ple who make these inquiries are often un- 

 usually intelligent and not at all radical ; some 

 of them stand high in the social world. It is 

 a high idealism and a forward looking one 

 which leads them to seek the desired knowl- 

 edge and one can only respond to these re- 

 quests, telling what is known, or highly prob- 

 able, in respect to the recurrence of the family 

 defects in the offspring. Whether the conclu- 

 sions that one is able to give are always very 

 valuable or not, at least the custom of consid- 

 ering children and their inheritance of familial 

 traits is one to be encouraged. Normal per- 

 sons marry to beget normal children and it is 

 natural for them to seek information concern- 

 ing heredity of particular traits. 



And again, it may be hoped that the study 

 of racial characters will lead men to a broader 

 vision of the human race and the fact that its 

 fate is controllable. We may hope that reason- 



