184 HEREDITY IN RELATION TO EUGENICS 



ago have descended vice presidents, cabinet officers, ad- 

 mirals, generals, governors, senators and congressmen in 

 great nxmibers. In these cases the good was not '^ interred 

 with their bones." 



2. Consanguinity in Marriage 



The customs of civilized nations oppose certain limits 

 to marriage, almost universally bar the marriage of nearest 

 kin, and have given to the word incest a connotation so 

 loathsome and so emphatic that it is appreciated by prac- 

 tically every normal civilized person. It will be interesting 

 to consider for a moment how wide-spread is this taboo. 



First of all it must be said that the union of brother and 

 sister or of parent and child as recognized spouses is not un- 

 known. Various reputable observers report that among 

 the Weddas of Ceylon, probably on account of the sparsity 

 of the population and the isolation of famihes, the marriage 

 of brother and younger sister is permitted by local custom 

 (Virchow, 1881). In ancient times the marriage of parent 

 and child was not opposed by custom in Persia (Heath, 1887, 

 p. 65) and perhaps in other Eastern countries. 



Such customs are to-day, however, highly exceptional 

 and against social ideals. But the Une between permissible 

 and non-permissible unions is variously drawn. Thus we 

 are told (Nelson, 1899) that the Eskimos of Behring Strait 

 favor the union of first cousins or even closer relatives on 

 the general ground that in time of stress and hunger the 

 blood tie will be found stronger than the marriage tie to, 

 hold the family together. Among other natives of North 

 America a paternal uncle and niece might marry but not a 

 maternal aunt and nephew. However, the North American 

 Indian, on the whole, has strong sentiments against close 

 intermarriage. Also among Africans and the South Sea 

 Islanders cousin marriages are, in general, taboo; and among 



