Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-07-05
&Eg!I9EltRi45 !
rAe MARRIAGES on flasr COUSINS.
DO These Unicns Result IN the Deteriors-
tion ~ the ffuwsn Family

DO These Unions Result IN the Deteriors-
tion % the aumsn fssniiy7
The lower house Of the Kentucky leg
islature has declared against the mar
rage Of cousins on the ground that chill.
dron Of such marriages are frequently
weakmiuded.
Tt IL true that the children Of cousins
that have intermarried are sometimes
wealIninded, and II ia also true that
they sometimes have certain congenital
defects. such as extra toes, defective
senses. etc. 10 is also true that children
having similar defects are often born OF
parents not Mt all related The majority
of marriages of persons related, however,
do not result in such defective offspring.
To what extent the law should inter-
vene in matiers0f 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. A number OF states
have gone further than this and have for
hidden FIRST cousins to marry. These laws
are largely evaded by going beyond the
borders of the state to contract mar
riages not lawful at home. The general
principle of law that marriages lawful
where celebrc ted are lawful everywhere
aids this evasion.
The notion that defective offspring is
Judgment of heaven upon marriages of
cousins is treated by the medical pro-
fession as a superstition. tits admitted,
however, that the children of such mar
riages that are vsalrminded v or of de-
fective physical developments are some
what 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 Maudsley, who is con-
sidered 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
intemperance of any kind, or frequent
! intermarriage 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, increase
through generations until degeneration
has gone so far that the continuance
Of the species is impossible. Indeed
| insanity of whatever form soever,
mania, melancholia, moral insanity OF
dementia, is but a stage in the de-
scent toward sterile idiocy, as may be
experimentally proved by the intermar'
riage of mentally unsound persons for O
generation or two, and is sometimes dem.
onstrated by the disastrous consequences
of frequent intermarriage in foolish fam
lilies"
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 member:
of the family having the same defects il
the blood. Precisely the same result fol
lows the intermarriage of two persons
not related who have inherited similar
defects of predisposition to the same de
feet or disease. The marriage of two
mutes increases the probability that the
children will be mute. The marriage OF
two persons of feeble minds multipliet
the chances of feeble minded offspring.
No legislative body, SO far as we are
advised, has taken the responsibility ol
prohibiting the marriage Of persons liv'
ing in miasmatic district, or of those
who live in the crowded tenements Of
great cities, or of those who inherit O
predisposition to consumption, insanity
or defective senses. Yet it can hardly
be disputed that the results of such mar
riages are in the main more injurious
than those between cousins not subject
to such sabilities.-LouisYille Courier
Journal.