374 THE TREND OF THE RACE 
affect the disposition to suicide, so that it is not safe to ascribe the 
increasing suicide rate mainly to our deteriorating inheritance, 
although it is not improbable that the latter factor is one of 
importance. Many families have been described in which there 
has been a strong and apparently hereditary bent toward suicide. 
But from the nature of the case it is scarcely feasible to compare 
the relative strength of nature and nurture in leading people to 
end their lives. 
A number of writers who have discussed the possible degener- 
acy of the human species have derived much comfort from the 
decreasing death rate and the increasing average duration of life. 
W. Kruse, for instance, in a long article on this theme (Entartung, 
Zeit. soz. Wiss., 6, 359 and 411, 1903) comments on the decreasing 
death rate of Germany and upon the decreasing morbidity of the 
German army, after which he exclaims ‘‘ Wo bleibt da die Degen- 
eration?” This rather naive performance really contributes very 
little to the solution of the problem. Mortality and morbidity 
have been so profoundly affected by advances in hygiene that 
they would be bound to decrease, even in face of an extensive 
deterioration in native vigor. 
The problem of the alleged increase of degenerative diseases 
has elicited a good deal of discussion and opinion in the subject is 
still much divided. In a paper on The Increasing Mortality from 
Degenerative Maladies! by E. E. Rittenhouse of the Equitable 
Life Insurance Society of the United States it is claimed that the 
mortality from such diseases is becoming greater for all ages of 
life, although it is relatively higher for the advanced age periods. 
“In sixteen cities the mortality rate from heart, apoplexy and 
kidney affections alone has increased in thirty years from 17.94 
to 34.78, or 94 per cent; during ten years (1900-1910) it increased 
from 29.4 to 36.78, or 18 per cent. In New Jersey (1880-1910) it 
increased from 16.5 to 34.3, or 108 per cent.”’ It is shown that the 
death rate in advanced ages over 45-54 has increased in these 
same cities and also in Massachusetts and New Jersey, and 
probably in other cities and states with less adequate statistics. 
1 Pop, Sci. Mon. 82, pp. 376-380, 1913. 
