The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1894-04-28
THE MARRIAGES OF FIRST COUSINS
Do These Unions Result In the Deteriora-
ton of the Human Camille

ioWeI house OI lne kentucky leg.
islature has declared against the mar.
rtage of cousins ON the ground that chill.
dren of such marriages are frequently
weakminded.
1t is true that the children of cousins
that have intermarried are sometimes
Weakm1nded, and it is also true that
they sometimes have certain c~ongenital
defects, such as extra toes, defective
senses, etc. 1t is also true that children
having similar defects are often born OF
parents not at 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 matters of this kind has always
been a mooted question. Generally it
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 celebrated are lawful everywhere
aids this evasion.
The notion that defective offspring is
a judgment of heaven upon marriages of
cousins is treated by the medical pro-
fession as a superstition. It admitted,
however, that the children of such mar
riages that are weakminded or of de-
fective physical developments are some
h 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
mlasmat1c district, or the unknown en-
demic causes Of cretinism. or persistent
intemperanco of any kind, or frequent
intermarriage in families, or II 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 soevcr,
mania, melancholia, moral insanity or
dementia, is but q stage III the de.
scent toward sterile idiocy, as may be
experimentally proved by the intermar-
rage OF mentally unsound persons for a
generation or two, and is sometimes dem,
onstrated by the disastrous consequences
of frequent intcrmarriage in foolish fam.
lilies"
The principle seems to be that when
there are hereditary defects in a family
these defects are intensified in the of.
spring by the marriage Of two members
OF the family having the same defects in
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 multiplies
the chances of feeble minded offspring.
No Legislative body, so far as We are
advised, has taken the responsibility of
prohibiting the marriage Of persons liv.
ing in a miasmatic district, or of those
who 1.-Two i'll the crowded tenements of
great cities, Or Of those who inherit a
predlspositiOn to consumption, insanity
or defective senses. Yet it can hardly
be disputed that the results Of such mar
riages are III the main moro injurious
than those between cousins not subject
to such disabilities. louisville Courier.
A Comfortable Living by Begging.
Charitable people it Lambeth have
The honor of maintaining d model
family OF beggars, and they bestow
their aims so ungrudgingly that the
father, mother and two children are
able to live not only i'll responsibility
out af1uence and regularly lay by
something for a rainy day. They
nave a very good house-far better
han an ordinary workingman's-
,apltally furnished, and the two chill
not only attend the board school
constantly, but each of them depos-
is a shilling per week in the saw
ngs bank connected Herewith. It
only after school hours that the
our sailed forth on mendicancv
business in a quarter where they
unknown, but in which they
a room for keeping the tattered
lnd ragged garments they always i
wore as beggars. The mar has been S
arrested and remanded by the maeis-
rate for inquiries. |
He admitted having collected about
sh1lllngsin two hours, and the aver {
'ge OF his earnings as a professional .
nendlcant averaged between f2 and 6
s3 per week. The children e told ,
be mum about their real calling
lmong their schoolmates and to saw :
hat their pa was a city man. Among |
neighbors he was supposed to be
messenger in a bank. He smoked -
cry good cigars, and when the night a
vas too cold for comfortable men y
icancy, or when he felt the ~necessitv t
f a holiday, he spent about an hour ,
I two in a public house at billiards. 1,
7hich he played verywell. The case y y
one more illustration of the utter =
oily of giving indiscriminate aims to "A
ny beggar even of the most woe, "
egone appearance.-London Letter. r.
Zola's New Religion. :;
The Paris students Oupht IN oo,c;5ou -