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 families. 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 
