The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-05-24
shUULD COUSINS. Wsn
Fhysieians Declare Inter-Mar.
rfsge to be Unwise

prominent Physicians Declare Ipter-w.r
riSge to be Unwisp.
The. widespread prejudice aqa;ns,
consanguineous unions is exceedingly
Stubborn but certain writer's of TO-DAY
including Haeckel, have endeavored ~
snow that it rests upon no well.an.
thentlcated facts. They claim that the
mlsshapen and imperfect offspring Of
such marriage is due not to the un;on
OF IKE blood. but of like physical and
mental tendencies. Consanouin;tv =
sell. they say, plays no particular role
In the union of individuals of the Same
stock, but it increases in the descend.
ants the tendencies common to the two
progenitors. If these tendencies he
gooo they will be intensified in the
cnllo' and hence the union will be ad-
vantageous. If they be bad a ra-en.
forcement of unfavorable tendencies
should be suppressed by the avoidance
OF such marriages.
Yet there are on record npmer,,,s
cases OF blindness. deafness and 40
lormlty In the children of nearly Pa.
iated parents. Sterility sometimes re-.
sui's' or II children are born they NAV
De puny. feeble and spiritless or with a
tendency to idiocy. A prominent pbv.
stefan has compiled statistics that show
mat out of 14,257 idiots nearly Is Der
cent, were children of cousins Tho
percentage OF deaf and dumb cbildrap
porn OF parents related by blood is only
trlfie less, and out of 1873 blind per.
sons he has found that s per cent Ga,
trace their defect to consanouinao,s
union. Insane mania is n,noh 49,
frequent resultant of such Unions &c
OUT OF nearly 1900 cases examined he
hnds less than 2 per cent. due TO that
cause. Among the inmates of a blind
asylum several years ago were five
children OF one marriage of copsins
all born sightless.
Epilepsy. tuberculosis and consun,n
ZION are effects not uncommon. and in
stances are on record of the propoga-
tlon OF almost every known form Of
disease through this medium. Nor is
II unusual for two Or more forms of
disease to be allieu in one child. Tn
late years a girl was admitted TO the
pennsylvania Institution for Deaf and
Dumb, who, in addition to beinp stone
deaf and speeches., was horribly do
formed. Inquiry elected the fact that
the father and mother were cousins.
A physician who had made a close
study OF the subject said that he had
often observed in the cases of offsprino
OF consangulneOus unions where act11al
olsease was absent tendency to awk
wardness and dullness. Children were
apt to be understood. with fat, stubby.
short-fingered hands and ill-developed
limbs. Though children with fine
forms and brilliant intellects often fol-
lowed these marriages he believed thew
were exceptional, and that the mar
rage OF cousins Was fraught with
great danger. Their offspring was la
BILE to be endowed with mental. phvs-
ical and moral deformity.
"Ihe best evidence of the evil effects
OF the intermarriage of kim" said
leading gynecologist, SIS to be had bv
glance at the royal families of Eu-
rope. One can not doubt that there is
a tendency to deterioration when he
considers the unfortunate house of
Hapsburg and remembers that the
King of Bavaria is in a mad house
that the present Emperor of Germany
is victim tC tuberculosis, and that his
fathers disease was due in part to the
poison of the intermiXed blood of the
Hohenzollerns. Sickly and imbecile
Princes have for centuries bore witness
to the danger that lies in the union of
cousins. A careful observer of animals
will note the same tendency to degen-
eracy. The lion and the lioness at
at the Zoo have repeatedly borne cleft
tongued cubs. Not one of their numer-
Gus progeny have been exempt from
this defect, and feel confident that the
parent lions are brother and sister, and
that in that fact lies the cause of the
invariably imperfect offspring"
Dr. Chaplin, superintendent of Kirk
brides Insane Asylum, believes that
actual insanity very rarely follows as
an effect of marriage of near kin.
Idiocy and imbecility, he says. fire.
quently result, and the patient may be
afflicted with maniacal paroxysms, but
he has never known a case of actual
that was dipectly traceable to
this cause.-Philadelphia Record.