St. Mary's gazette., 1865-05-18
4 MARRIfGES OF COUSINS.

MARRIAGES OF COUSINS.
1t has long been the settled opinion Of,
the great majority of writer. upon physi
ology, tha: the marriages of near relatives
especially frs. cousins, are usually pr odue-
tive Of very unhappy results The mana
gers of asylumS for the li.tic ani insaoe.
very generally, if we are aot' mistaken.
hold to this view, and think thew find in
in statistics Of such in-,i;n,ions abundant
reasons for the belief And yet they are
rot wanting those Who subscribe to an op-
po>ite opinion. Among these is u French
stati>tician, the refults of whose investiga.
hons in one community VIC fad reported
as follows
He carried on his Investigations in
the town of Bate. in the French depart
ment of the Loire infericure. Having Sc
lected forfy-six cases Of marriages between
cousins. he examined the husband. wives.
and children, both in regard to their phvsi-
cal aud intellectual development and
made inquiries concerning the families
examined. and their ancestors. through,
The mayor. pastor and oldest inhabitants
combining the statistics thus collected hr
has found that these antermarriages do no,
bring sbcut disease. idiocy, or mslforma-
'ion. However. it is importan. 10 mark
ha; these results are attribute i bv fhr
writer - the favorable climate ~ rhc locality
aud to the general habits. hyq"ne. ~.
morafit. Of the inhabitants, sS to III" ~
scence Of al hereditary dis"a-... IL
town OF Ba'z is situated upon T. .ni:s.H,
bounded on one side by 'ho r"rks of H..
sca-shore, and on the other hy ,.,; mar
she's. The air is pure. and ,nc most &c.
quent winds are from the north. north
cast. and north west. The nnahcr o.
Inhabitants is about 3 900. They have
I little communication with other parts Of
The country. and their occupation is almos,
confined to the preparation of salt. They
are very intelligent. almost all the adults
being able to read. The morality is cf
high stamp. prostitution being unknown.
Theft ard murder have not oc cured within
the recollection Of tie oldest inhabitan.
Mothers nurse their children till they are
ifieen months old, and the general food
of the population is Of the vegetable class
There are at present in Bl'z for'y-six con
sanguiLeous pairs of cousins. FIVE unions
betweel second cousins. thirty one mar
risges Of third cousins, and ten. of cousins
in the fourth degree. From the five
unions Of second cousins there hav. been
twenty-Ihree children, none Of whom have
presented any congenital deformity.
Thiriyonc marriages Of third cousins have
produced one hundred and twenty chill
dren. all healthy; and the marriages 0:
fourth cousins have given rise to twenty
nine children. all Of whom with the exccp-
ton Of those who died with the sgue. were
strong and healthy at the period Of exam-
inatiop. The writer contends tha; such
facts as the foregoing prove that consan-
guiueous marriages by no means lead 20
the degeneration of rsee'
Fer cur own part We SD ould no, be sur
pri sd il the physiological law which has
been commo nj supposed to exist forbid
ding the marriage Of cousins. is in reality
4 law Of much wider charac,e, and of
more general application. Ifs.l men aud
women were perfectly and harmonieusly
constituted. it would be difficult to perceive
how any marriages. sanctioned by love.
could have unhappy results. But taking
men and women as they are. i. might
seem reasonable to suppose, shat where per-
'ons possessing sisiiar unhealthy tenden.
:ies should unite in marriage. the eftc,
night DE to produce an even greater un-
healthy tendency of the same cha rae,er in
be offspring, On the contrary, where
certain unbex.shy tendency in one psreot !
sas met, and eouuteracted MS it we're by :
. hesl.hy tendency iu that respect in the .
'ther, the children might reasonable ex-
oect TO lnherit, If not so healthy q coassi-
u'ion' in the respect alluded to as one "a
'ent. II healthier constitution ,h.n the
,,kos. 49,