The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-11
MARRIAGE OF COUSINS.
4 Deep Seated Prejudice Against the
Practice-Darwtn's Opinion

lntSe questions fci'tc 10 subject
about which we are often consulted. ana
very naturally. because. though mar.
RACES between first cousins are " fre.
quent occurrence. there is a general and
deep seated prejudice against them.
II. Il it proper from religious stand
point for first cousins 10 marry
80. Ia it not positive SIN 10 know.
ingly enter into such marriage
%. Is 1t not probable that the III.
spring of such parents will become In
sane. idiotic. or weak persons. both
mentally and physically
The marriage of first cousin, d. NOT
contrary to the Protestant canon av
that relationship NOT coming within the
prohibited degrees of consanguiuity as
defined by the Church of England. ana
as set forth in the table drawn up by
Archbishop Parker i'm 1868 I'm the
Roman Catholic church such marria-s
are as 4 rule forbidden. yet they ma, DE
permitted by special dispensation. Asa
Catholic writer expresses it. "m cases
where the alternative is marriage or mis-.
cry, the church, as thoughtful mother
grants her dispensation.
According to the Protestant theory.
therefore. the marriage Of first cousins -
proper from a religious standpoint. or
more correctly, religious point Of view,
and according to the Roman Catholic
rule it is permissible under certain cir
cumstances. and therefore cannot be de
scribed as a positive sin
If we turn to the Bible for our au.
thority we find that before the period of
Moses there was no prohibition AZ all
against marriage on the ground of con.
sanguinity, and the prejudice was rather
against marrying ont of the circle of
kinship. Adams SONS married thcrowu
sisters; Abraham his half sister. IBIS
brother Major his niece, and daughter NJ
another brother: Jacob married 40 tho
same time two sisters who were ha
cousins; Esaus wife was lis cousin. Am-
ram IS his aiAlt. and Judah his daughter.
in-lav. the widow of his own SON. Tho
aversion in those days was not to tho
marriage of relatives. no matter how
near. but to mtcrmarriage with foreign.
ers. or those far removed in blood.
But The Mosaic law forbade fifteen
marriages within specified degrees
though among them those of cousins
were not included In the New Tesla
ment we find few directions as to mar
riage, and those chiefly concerning mar
riages with unbeleyers; and Gregory tho
Great. in writing of marriages of own
cousins, put his objection to them on
physiological grounds, saying that I've
have learned from experience that from
such a marriage offspring cannot grow.
The physiological argument, the one
most commonly advanced. has been care
fully examined OF late years by men OF
science and more especially by Mi
George IL Darwin, son of the great
Darwin. and himself a distinguished bi-
ologist. He went through a very laborl-
Gus inquiry and statistical study on tho
subject, and found that the facts com
pletely upset Pope Gregory theory as to
the steriIitv of first cousin marriages, sta
tistics showing slight balance in favor
of the fertility OF the first cousins, as
with ordinary marriage. THIS
he suggests, may be ex-
planned by inference that marriages be
tween cousins are more likely To occur
where there is a large group Of persons
bearing that relationship to one another
and who therefore belong to families m
which fertility is hereditary. But be-
found "a shade Of evidence that the
death rate of offspring IS higher than
among the families of non-sangulneOu-
marriages
AZ to insanity and idiocy among tho
offspring Of first cousin marriages, Nh
Darwin's Investigations led HIM 10 tho
conclusion that the facts did not justify
the popular impression, he finding mat
1.-THE percentage of such offspring IN aSy-
lums is not greater than that IN the gen
erai population to such an extent as To
enable one 10 say positively that tho
marriage of first cousins has any effect
on the production OF insanity and
idiocy." With respect to deaf mntes he
discovered no difference.
As the result Of the whole inquiry, ho
came to the conclusion "that the evil
has been often much exaggerated, but
that there are, nevertheless, grounds for
asserting that various maladies take an
easy hold of the offspring Of consan-
guineous marriages lie IS also dis
posed to give some weight TO the popu-
lar prejudice against such marriages a.
probably grounded in actual experience,
little as the attainabIe facts seem 10 JUS
tify it, except to the slight extent he de-
scrbes. Yet there can be no doubt
about the danger Of the marriage Of a
man and q woman both Of whom m
herit from common pro9enitor de-
cided tendency To some serious constitu-
tional disease or weakness. New York
Sun.