The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-06-18
THE HUMAN RACE,
HOW AEREDITY WILL BE GLANCED
NOT TO BE Il BUGBEAR.
az. Lambert Says Heredity Has Been Much
MisunderstOOd-An Amazing New York
Child Born in the NIiGst of Plots.

since man learned that like breeds like has
peen heredity. For generations the Biblical
passage that the sins of the fathers shall
be visited upon the children of the third and
fourth generation has been looked upon
as the death warrant of a large number of
people whose ancestors have developed ten
uencles toward crime or disease. The pre-
cept has been so literally believed that fam
HES predisposed toward consumption or
other organic disease have been regarded
not with apprehension as possible victims
of the complaint, but with. despair, as those
foredoomed to destruction. Yet, notwith-
standing this, imperfect men and women
have gone on marrying and giving in mar
rage, and the human race still lives. If the
rule of penalties infallble many
suppose, man would have become extinct
and vanished from the face of the earth.
In making wise remarks about the certainty
OIL hereditary succession to feShly ills, the
wise men have forgotten that our very eX-
istence refutes their argument Man in
creaSeS by more than geometrical ratio
and if hereditary bequest of disease and
death We're invariable would all long
ago have fallen victims.''
This statement, made by a physician of
wide note, does not mean that he does not
agree to the theory of heredity. He believes
in the transmission Of disease from parent
to child as thoroughly as he believes in the
transmission of facial resemblance along
the family line, and any person who can
See recognizes the latter phenomenon an
occurrence as common almost as that of the
birth of children. He does not, however,
look upon hereditary influence as invariable
or unconquerable. He believes that the time
has come when are beginning to learn
that heredity has its good side as well as its
bad side, and that we are beginning to learn
how to stimulate the good and overcome the
bad. In other words, he believes that III
the future-when, as limited at two weeks
wonder n Influence
have been made clear and taken advantage
of; when, by right living and right breeding,
the average of human life shall have real
lied the possibilities indicated last Sunday,
and the matter of the best surroundings for
youth shall have been studied and improved
shall understand these mysterious laws
of nature and shall be able to use them to
our own good. He went on:
Marry More Wisely.
1.-THE croakers claim that there has been
no improvement in ways of marrying
and that there is little hope of any. This
theory is not borne out by facts. Unques
tionably, the Improvement of the human
race rests largely with the wisdom of its
mating, and unquestonably the wisdom OF
marriages is too often forgotten in thoughts
Of financial advantage and in the fascina-
tons of propinquity. Put a young man and
young woman in close association, under
favorable circumstances, and they will
probably marry or think of marrying. If it
were not for this inclination there would
be no marrying at ALL and the race would
become extinct But the natural laws of
physical fitness are not always disregarded,
and in many cases. where they are neither
understood nor thought of, chance steps in
and sees to it that the parties to the con-
tract not entirely untitled for each
other. The no less natural laws of mental
congenality have a much greater influence,
perhaps, but they do not always lead the
II fh,t
Love is blind loses it's weight with us when
we think of the many instances we know of
when love has not been blind to mercenary
advantages. If love has already learned to
see money through the bandage on his eyes,
il is reasonable to suppose that he will al
ways be unable to see that which is i'm
mensely more Valuable-health and happi-
ness? We all know the worth of money,
but not all of us have yet learned the value
OF common sense-that is all. L am sure
that the time Will come when the one will
be as thoroughly understood the other.
When that time does come then heredity
will cease to be bugbear. Its laws will be
looked upon the beautiful channel through
which shall advance nearer to perfec-
ton, instead Of the horrid way in which to
travel to destruction"
The Laws of Hcredity.
The laws of heredity are, in substance,
simple. Their basic foundation is the
ceptance of the theory of Darwin, Gall,
greatest scientists, that man is simply a
highly developed animal, and that physi-
cally and to an extent mentally he is
amenable to all the laws that govern ami
mails There are those who do not accept
this, but they are constantly growing less
in number. The success of live stock
breeders in obtaining almost any results for
which they man inteliSently strive demon
strates the accuracy of the action of the
laws of heredity with animals. In fact
live stock breeding is nothing more nor
less than Il careful regard for the laws of
heredity. If we believe that the parentage
of a colt affects its speed, or the parentage
of dog affects its intelligence, then il IS
only logical to admit that the parentage
of child Will affect both its physical and
fits moral strength. Thus the combination
of a strong man and a strong woman is
reasonably certain to produce a child of
endurance and muscle, and the union 90
men and women OF intellectual power
should logically result in children OF ex-
traordinary brain ability. When these
suits do not occur il is safe to say that
a good reason for the failure may be found
fail as far as physical effects go, but it is
an often noted fact that the children of
great men and women are often common
place or worse. This was explained not
long ago by Il famous physician, who an
nounced it's cause TO be the fact that the
children of men of great mental activity
We're likely to be the result Of creative
power stimulated by some artificial in
fluence such as alcoholic drink and that
such stimulant could scarcely fail to have
its bad effect on the offspring; or else that
men of great mental raI'&clty were
through
likely to waste their vitality in oVerWOrk.
thus giving a heritage of weakness to their
children All other things being equal, he
declared, the child of the great man or
woman stands much better chance of
being great himself than does the child Of
the unimpOrtaEt person. He called atten-
ton to the fact that almost all cases of
extraordinary longevity could be traced 20
hereditary influence, and that most men Of
great physical strength were of famllleS
noted in long ines for that characteristic.
Cation the famous writer on heredlty,
made mos exhaustive studies OF the an
tecedents of notable English athletes, and
found that in almost every case the great
strength or the great agility was family
and not an individual characteristic, al
1honght of course, the extraordinary de-
velopment of it generally individual.
The same physician who called my atten-
tion to these facts gave me an lntroduc-
tfon to DR.. Edward w. Lambert. OF New
York City, who. he said. had made more
careful study of neredity and hereditary IN
huences than any other American or Whom
he knew DR.. Lambert is the chief medical
man of one of the greatest insurance com,
Oanies in the world, and his study must
necessarily. therefore, have been bofh eXc
naustire and practical. ON his Opinions or
hereditary influence are based the rules OF
this great company in assuming lie risks
and from them, 10 some extent, nave come
the ideas of hereditary Influence row gov
modern lie insurance. Heredlty