Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-03-28
The Marriage OF First Cousins.

The lower House of the Kentucky
Legislature has declared against the
marriage of cousins on the ground that
children ofsuch marriages are frequent.
" weak minded.
1t is true that the children of cousins
that have intermarried are sometimes
weak minded, and it is also true that
they sometimes have certain congenital
defects such as extra toes, defective
senses, Sc. 1t is also true that child
rcn having similar defects are often
born of parents not at all related, The
majority of marriages of persons relat-
ed, however, do not result in such de-
fective offspring.
To what extent the law should inter-
vene in matters of this kind has always
been mooted question. Generally, 1t
has been content to prohibit marriages
within the Levitical degrees, that is,
marriages between persons nearer akin
than first cousins. \ number Of States
have gone further than this, and have
forbidden first cousins to marry. These
laws are largely evaded by going be-
vond the borders of the States to con-
tract marriages not lawful at home.
The general principle of law that mar
riages lawful where celebrated are law
ful everywhere, aids this evasion.
The notion that defective offspring is
q Judgment of heaven upon marriages
of cousins is treated by the medical
profession as superstition. 1t is ad-
nitted, however, that the children Of
such marriages that are weakmindcd or
of defective physical developments are
somewhat more numerous than in the
case of marriages between persons not
related. But the physicians tell US that
the same thing is true Of other classes
of marriages An extract from Maud
slev, who is considered high authority
on such questions, throws some light
upon the subject
"When some of the evil influences
which notably give rise to disease
whether the poisoned atmosphere Of a
miaSmatic district, or the unknown en-
demic causes of cretinism, or persistent
intempererce Of any kind, or frequent
intcrmarriage in families, or any other
Of the sources of human degeneracy,
have engendered a morbid variety, the
evil will, unless counteracted by better
influences brought to bear, in
crease through generations, until
degeneration has gone so far that the
continuance ofthe species is impossible.
Indeed, insanity of whatever form So
ever, mania, melancholia, moral insan-
ity or dementia, is but n stage i'll the
descent toward sterile idiocy, as may
be experimentally proved by the inter-
marriage of mentally unsound persons
for q generation or two, and is some
times demonstrated by the disastrous
consequences Of frequent intermarriage
in foolish families -
The principle seems to be that when
there are hereditary defects in family
these defects are intensified in the Off
spring by the marriage of two members
OF the family having the same defects
in the blood. Precisely the same re-
suit follows the intermarriage of two
persons not related who have inherited
similar defects of predisposition to the
same defect or disease. The marriage
oftwo mutcs increases the probability
that the children will be mute; the
marriage Of two persons of feeble minds
multiplies the chauces Of feebleminded
offspring.
No legislative body, so far as we aye
advised, has taken the reposibility OF
prohibiting the marriage Of persons
living in a miasmatic district, or OF
those who live in the crowded tene-
ments of great cities, or of those who
inherit predisposition to consumption,
insanity, or defective senses. Yet it
can hardly be disputed that the results
of such marriages are, in the main,
more injurious than those between
cousins not subject to such disabilities.
1t has never been shown that the en-
actment of laws to prohibit the mar
riage of cousins has resulted in the
diminution of the number of weak
minded or physically defective child
ren. Logically such result ought to
follow if the law could be enforced: ::
but, as already noted, so long as there
are States where such laws do not pre-
vail, there strict enforcement is impos-
sible.
1t is doubtful policy to select one
of the least fruitful causes of defective
offspring for prohibition while leaving
all the others untouched. At the same
time, to attempt to carry such legisla-
ton to its logical consequences would
be task of such stupendous difficulty
as to be practically impossible.-Louis-
riVe Courier-J0urwGl.
HAVE been a sufferer from catarrh for