Jantjabt 7, 1887.1 



SCIENCE, 



a training and discipline preparatory to the sub- 

 sequent stages of a sentence of penal servitude." 

 At all events, the reform in the system of dealing 

 vrith crime and criminals has produced such 

 results that the directors find, that, instead 

 of an increasing amount of crime and a swelling 

 prison population, they are enabled, in spite of 

 the increasing population of the country, to dimin- 

 ish the number of convict establishments. 



At the last annual meeting of the British 

 medical association. Dr. Shuttleworth of Lancaster 

 read a paper on * The relationship of marriages of 

 consanguinity to mental unsoundness,' which has 

 since been published in the Journal of mental 

 science. Dr. Shuttleworth states, as evidence that 

 there exists in the public mind a misgiving as to 

 the propriety of such marriages, the fact that he 

 is frequently asked whether any risk attends the 

 marriage of cousins. Numerous contemporary 

 authorities of good repute can be cited on both 

 sides of the question. Dr. Shuttleworth shows 

 that in early times no evil results were feared 

 from the marriage of near kin, and quotes Jeremy 

 Taylor to the effect that " the elder the times were, 

 the more liberty there was of marrying kindred." 

 In studying the history of the lower animals, it is 

 found that " strict confinement to one breed, how- 

 ever valuable or perfect, produces gradual deterio- 

 ration." Here, then, is the special danger of con- 

 sanguineous marriages, especially as it seems to be 

 the case that cousin-marriages are more frequent 

 among neurotic than among perfectly healthy 

 stock. 



It seems that in 1871 Sir John Lubbock tried to 

 insert a question as to cousin-marriages in the 

 census schedules, but his proposal was rejected 

 amid the scornful laughter of the house of com- 

 mons as ' the idle curiosity of a speculative phi- 

 losopher.' In France some attempt has been made 

 to obtain information as to these marriages ; and 

 M. Boudin reckons that 0.9 per cent of all the 

 marriages in France are between relations, 0.88 

 being between first-cousins. Other investigators 

 present different returns, M. Dally contending 

 that in Paris first-'Cousin marriages amount to 1.4 

 per cent of all the marriages ; and M. Legoyt, 

 chief of the statistical staff, estimates that 

 throughout France first-cousin marriages form 

 from 2.5 to 3 per cent of all marriages. In 1875 

 Mr. George H. Darwin undertook an elaborate in- 



quiry into the subject in England, and, "by a 

 series of careful mathematical processes, he satis- 

 fied himself that in England the proportion of 

 such marriages averages from 1.25 per cent in 

 London to 2.25 per cent in the rural districts for 

 all classes of society, rising somewhat higher in 

 the higher social grades." From this basis, and 

 assuming that first-cousin marriages are not ap- 

 preciably inferior in fertility to non-consan- 

 guineous marriages, Mr. Darwin concluded, that, 

 unless we find in the idiot and lunatic asylums a 

 larger proportion than the above figures would 

 provide for, of children of first-cousins, then no 

 evils, at least so far as mental unsoundness is con- 

 cerned, can be attributed to first-cousin marriages. 

 In an inquiry based on 4,308 patients, it was found 

 that about 3.4 per cent of the inmates of asylums 

 (5.25 per cent in Scotland) were the children of 

 first-cousins. In Dr. Shuttleworth's own asylum 

 at Lancaster, the record of 100 cases shows 5.1 per 

 cent to be children of consanguineous marriages, 

 and (included in this) 2.8 per cent of first-cousin 

 marriages. The general conclusion seems to be 

 that the propriety of first-cousin marriages must 

 be decided for each case separately as it arises. 



Mr. Stuart C. Cumberland of mind-reading 

 fame gives a very frank and rational account of 

 his doings, in the December issue of the Nine- 

 teenth century. As a child, his perceptions were 

 unusually keen. But his career as a mind-reader 

 began only six years ago. His first attempt 

 was entirely impromptu, but was as successful 

 as any afterward. The gift was present ; and 

 future practice made it only quicker and more 

 delicate, but not more certain. At first Mr. Cum- 

 berland frankly confesses he was apt to imagine 

 himself supernaturally endowed, but soon con- 

 vinced himself that the whole thing is simply an 

 ingenious and skilled interpretation of the un- 

 conscious movements of the subject. ' Willing is 

 either dragging or pushing,' is the mind-reader's 

 formula. ' Distinct and intense apperception, 

 fixed attention is incipient motion,' is the psychol- 

 ogist's conclusion. 



The account of Mr. Cumberland's experiences 

 with the nobility and eminence of Europe is ex- 

 tremely readable ; but some notice of his general 

 conclusions will be of greater interest here. The best 

 subjects are among active brain-workers, states- 

 men, scientists, etc., where concentration is easy 

 and usual. Military men make excellent subjects ; 



