The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-16
SHOULD Co6sINyWE6.
prominent Physicians Declare Intern Mar.
riAge to be Unwise.

ny sicsHns DeoI0ro Inter- Mar
riage to be Unwise.
The widespread prejudice agains
consanguineous unions is exceedingl,
stubborn, but certain writer's of TO-DAY
including Haeckel, have endeavored t,
show that it rests upon no well-au
thenticated facts. They claim that the
misshapen and imperfect offspring o.
such marriage is due not to the uuior
OF like blood, but of like physical and
mental tendencies. Consequently it
self, 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 be
good they will be intensified in the
CHILD and hence the union will be ad-
vantageous If they be bad a re-eu.
forcement OF unfavorable tendencies
should be suppressed by the avoidance
OF such marriages.
Yet there are on record numerous
cases of blindness, deafness and de.
formity in the children of nearly re.
lated parents. Sterility sometimes re.
SUITS or II children are born they NAV
be puny. feeble and spiritless or with q
tendency to idiocy. A prominent phy.
slclan has compiled statistics that show
that out of l4,257 idiots nearly Is Der
cent, were children of cousins. The
percentage of deaf and dumb children
born OF parents related by blood is only
trifie less, and out of 1878 blind per-
sons he has found that per cent can
trace their defect to a consanguineous
union. Insane mania is a much less
frequent resultant of such unions. as
out OF nearly $4,000 cases examined he
finds 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 cousins.
all born sightless.
Epilepsy. tuberculosis and consump-
ton are effects not uncommon. and in.
Stances are on record of the propoga-
ton OF almost every known form OF
disease through this medium. Nor is
1t unusual for two or more forms of
disease to be allied In one child. In
late years girl was admitted to the
pennsylvania Institution for Deaf and
Dumb, who, in addition to being stone
deaf and speeches., was horribly de.
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 offspring
OF consanguineous unions where actual
disease was absent a 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 liza
bic to be endowed with mental. phvs-
ical and moral deformity
''The best evidence of the evil effects
OF the intermarriage of kim said a
leading gynecologist, els to be had by
a 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
kInr nf onio &c.
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
DIR. 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 case of actual
insanity that was directly traceable to
this cause.-Philadelphia Record.