Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-10-08

Is Incest Crime Against Nature
The ByrOn.Leigh story PbysiO.
logically Considered.
From the New York world.l
The filthy Byron story which Mrs.
Stowe has set sfost not only has excited
considerable interest as we'll as strong,
and ia some cases angry partisan discus.
sion, but has given rise in certain quar-.
ters to curious physiological and ethical
speculations concerning the alleged Of
| fense of Lord Byron. The question is
raised how far the "crime" OF incest as
an ofense against the moral Law which is
unalterably existing in the very consti-
tuition of man, and how far it is an Of
tense simply against social regulations
arbitrarily established by &c ciety for it's
own ends. Under some governments the
marriage of man with the sister of his
deceased wife comes under precisely the
same category as marriage with his own
sister, while in other countr les it is not
only allowable under the la W, but is con-
sidered perfectly proper in all respects.
In our own country, the nm ion of uncles
with nieces, and of nephew with aunts,
is in some of the States forbidden by
penal statute, and in oths RS recognized
as legal as it always has be en- among the
Jews, while the msrrias OF cousins,
though the subject of cons derable objec-
ton on supposed hygien Il, grounds, has
never been prohibited b,T law.
A country paper, cor si,lering the mat
ter of marriage a., effec, ed by conssa-
gulnity, arrives at some conclusions
whioh will ctr;ka -oak .oaJ Jars m o,ita
new, and shows from a purely material
standpoint--ths Byron's alleged crime
is no greater nor even less-than those
committed da' .ly under the sanction OF
society and with the blessing of the
church.
The following is the argum ent Of the
writer:
We start with the principle th. vt child
has half the, blood of its father and half
the blood of its mother. Shall we call
this the first degree, meaning that it is
the nearest possible relationship We
may do 30, If we refer to the relation be-
tween the child and both its parents con.
sidered as one for the whole of its blood
is the same as theirs combined. But if
the question refers (as it always dees) to
the relation between the child and on
OF its parents, we answer, No; there is
nearer relation. The son has but half
the blood Of mis- father; but two brothers
have absolutely the same blood. The son
has but half the blood of his father; but
two brothers have absolutely the same
blood. To state the cases accurately,
half the blood of man is the same as I
the whole blood of his father but the
whole blood of man is the same as the,
whole blood of his brother. When
Blackstone asks why Titus and his
brother are related, and answers, "Be-
cause they are both derived from the
same father" he tells but half the truth.
They are related because they are both
derived from the same father and the "
same mother. The addition dou-
bles the relation, and brings them
nearer to each other than they
are to either OF their parents. II we say
that man has 80 per cent. of the blood
of his father, we must say that he has
100 per cent of the blood of his brother;
for they both have so per cent. of the
blood of their father and so per cent Of
the blood of their mother, making in each
100 per cent of the same combination.
We dwell on this point perhaps repeti.
tiously, because it is the starting point Of \
our systematic beginning Of our scale
of degrees. And herein we agree with 4
the scientific breeders mentioned by Dsr-
win, who consider the fraternsl relation
the nearest Of all. and generally avoid
brother and sister, though
they freely match father and daughter
for several generations The relation of
brother and sister being thus that of
identity or 100 per cent, the question
may properly arise, what will be the rela-
resulting from their interbreed-
ingS Evidently, continued identity of
blood. The whole blood of the children
Of brother and sister will be the same
as the whole blood of each as we'll as both
Of the parents, and so of all generations
that keep within the stock thus begun.
Hence if Eve were taken out of Adam,
as we are taught, so that they had one
blood, and their children bred with each.
other or with their parents, and so on
exclusively, il must be literally true that
" God hath made of one blood all ma
tions that dwell on the face of the earth"
The only possible method of introducing
new blood would be by crossing with
distinct species. What is the next decree
Of relationship Probably it is best to
call the ordinary relation of parent and ,
child, in which there is 100 per cent on I
one side and so per cent on the other, Of I
The same blood, the second degree, as ,
there can be none nearer Except the fra I
ternal) without closer interbreediug
thsn the law generally allows to man !
kind. In the case Of lower ami I,
mails, we have seen in our extracts from 3
Darwin that q male, by matching sue G
sessively with daughter, Granddaughter, 4
sic., produces offspring having 10, S73, 4
,33 per cent. Of bis blood, aud so on, ap- j
indefinitely to identity of B
blood or 100 per cent But these degrees 3
IRE 30 unusual that we may leave them
,ut as exceptional Bot now observe an
important consequence Of our first posi-. u
ion, that brothers have absolutely the q
Isme blood. The uncle having the same f
Hood with the father. has the same rela- p
ion to his nephew or niece as the father 4
las Let us state the matter in the most b
,xact manner, Half the bleod Of the Il