46 THE RIGHT TO BE WELL BORN 



result. One of the cocks dying, I secured 

 another of different strain. This flock be- 

 gan at once to increase. In like manner, 

 in this country, a lot of the oldest and 

 best families have run out, become deca- 

 dent, or else have entirely disappeared 

 from lack of intelligent mating and breed- 

 ing of their members. 



Some years ago, I was invited to witness 

 the re-interment of the bodies, on the male 

 line, of a distinguished family that had 

 been buried in a New England cemetery, 

 back in 1637. They were all in the same 

 soil and all were buried about the same 

 depth. The bones of the oldest were as 

 hard as flint, and those most lately buried, 

 the softest. The older bones were solid 

 and heavy and indicated that their owners 

 were tall and possessed large frames; 

 while those of our times were smaller and 

 lighter and indicajted that (their owners 

 were shorter and stouter. 



If this does not tell the story of present 

 degeneracy in the human frame of our 

 American citizens, I do not know what 

 does. 



