200 THE TREND OF THE RACE 
gent ancestry. The relatively high death rate among the infants 
of this class is a secondary result of the mental inferiority of their 
parents. Natural selection tends to eliminate this class of indi- 
viduals not so much through taking a greater toll from the adults 
but through the high death rate of their offspring. We have 
already remarked upon the high infant mortality of such stocks as 
the Jukes and Kallikaks. Ashby remarks in his volume on Infant 
Mortality, in speaking of efforts to reduce the infant death rate in 
New York, ‘‘The unanimous verdict of the doctors, who have 
made the observations, are that neither the surroundings of the 
infant, nor the exact character of the milk obtained, were as 
important factors in the health of the infant as the intelligent 
character of the mother. . . . Ignorance and lack of intelligence 
are thus two of the great evils which we have to contend against, 
and mothers do not generally appreciate the extent upon which 
infant life depends on the adoption of simple hygienic precau- 
tions.”” Those who are slum dwellers through low intelligence 
and natural shiftlessness have a high infant mortality. In so far 
as unfavorable conditions for infant welfare are the result of the 
inborn inferiority of parents,—and no one can deny that they are 
frequently so to a considerable degree,—to that extent natural 
selection tends to eliminate the stock. 
In this connection it would be of interest to consider the selec- 
tive effect of alcohol. Alcoholism in the parents is associated with 
infant mortality. Dr. Sullivan has compiled the following data: 
No.of children| Percentage of 
died in 2 yrs. \dead children 
Drunken Mothers, 21..... 125 69 55-2 
Sober Mothers, 28........ 138 33 23.9 
No. of children 
Much more data could be adduced to the same effect, but we 
shall refer the reader to other sources for fuller information. It is 
generally recognized that the victims of alcoholism are to a large 
extent individuals of neuropathic inheritance. Alcohol picks out 
