Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-07-14

! and sisters all living? What did youI
brother and two sisters die Of? You
look up sharply and say TO the life in
surancc physician: Doctor, ! am moi
/ here TO get my family or my dead an
/ ccstors insured. | want to get my owr
life insured. Why are you asking me
/ all these questionsY The physician
will answer: at is very important fOl
me to ask these questions. | want tC
find the family weaknesses. If l FIND
that your blood is tainted with the
consumption micrObe or that your par
cnts died very young on account of
some nervous complaint or If | find
too many cancers among your ances
tors, | shall not recommend your pro
p0sal. You must not only submit to q
rigid physical examination Of your OWL
/ lungs. but you must also testify con
cerning the lungs Of your father and
grandfathers' Why will we not be as
rigid in dealing with our own physica
/ health and in recognizing our OWL
/ physical limitations as are the life in
surance companies when we come tC
them for insurance?
When we examine the records OF
your family we find that several rela
| tlves have died of consumption. The
mother had it before you were born
For years you have had a weak throat
/ and have been kept in the house every
winter for months on account Of Il
cough Now, what is the use of trying
to live in New England or in Chicago
or Minneapolis? What is the use of
your taking a clerkship in dark store
I out of the sunlight, where you have to
/ be housed day in and day out? Why
| not go to Texas or Florida or Colorado
or California, where you can work and
| live ont of doors all the time? Or per
/ haps your ancestral weakness is found
| in the digestion. You inherited weak
/ stomach from your father. What are
you doing for it? Are you dieting
! yourself? Do you take care that you
! have the proper kind Of food to eat and
| that you masticate 1t very slOwlyT Or
perhaps your ancestral weakness is a
weak nervous system. DO you see that
you cease to work at the right time
and 20 off regularly and Systematically
to rest2 We can pO0hpOoh all we like
at our ancestors, but some of their
bodies, with all their physical strength
and weaknesses, are reproduced in our
| own. Whose son art thou, thou young
manY Were you well born physical
ly? If you were not well born, are
you guarding against the physical
weaknesses you inherited from your
father and grandfather and great-great-
grandfather?
Another Kind of Inheritance.
But take a step further in my sub
iect and assert that we inherit our an
cestors' mental acumen as well as their
strength OF lungs and stomach and
heart and liver. We inherit the gray
matter in our brain as well as our
depth Of chest and clearness of vision
We inherit the ability of our minds to
think and to reason as well as the CON
formation of our cranlums, within the
dome of which that brain is protected
and thinks and plans and studies the
problems of lifG We recognize the in
heritable.quallties Of the mind inwhicf
the lower ordecs of animals are pro
duced. Why should we not be willing
to grant that man inherits his mental
acumen also?
You can take one Of the most ordina
ry animals. If you will, away from his
parents when he is very young and
never let him associate with his kind
and vet that animal will develop The
mental characteristics OF his family
not one member of which, perhaps, he
has ever seen since he was few
weeks old. Some years ago a friend
was talking to a professor Of one Of tho
New England colleges He said, Il dc
not believe all this stuff told about
beavers being able to build dams" The
professor said nothing at the time. \
few weeks later he sent his skeptica
friend a little baby beaver, which he
had bought from a hunter. This bea
yer became a tame pet in the family
The beaver. If rightly dOmesricated, be
comes as lovable as a little dog. AL
went quietly for a time. The little baby
beaver did not seem to have any desire
TO build dam. But one day leaky
pail was put in the back kitchen. NJ
sooner did the little animal see 1t thar
he ran out in the yard and brought
back a chip in his mouth and began t
build n dam. The skeptical friend OF
the professor came in and saw tho
creature at work. He ordered the pal
to be left Just where it was and KEEP
full of water As the water continued
to leak out of the pail the little beaver
continued to work at his dam. And
saws the Lewiston Journal, from whicl
the account was taken, within foul
weeks that little beaver, who had new
er seen another beaver building, con
structed a solid dam all around tha
leaking pail.
| The Theory OF Mentai inheri'""ce'
SO it is with the inherited abilities OF
the human mind. 4 child may be takcr
from his parents when young, yet tha
child's mind will to Il certain eXtcn
be a reproduction of some ancestor
! mind. whom he may never have seer
or heard Of. This fact can be demon
strated in many ways. l was never
more impressed with this theory OF
mental Inheritance than when, some
years ago, I was studying the statis
tics and the records of some of oul
insanity experts. Or. Hammond tells
us of one family record which he in
vestigated. A man had three children
One night while taking a warm batl
the father committed suicide by cutting
not inherited by the three children anC
by the gsandchild? Dr. Strahan, il
that wonderful book entitled "Suicidi
and Insanity" gives Illustration afte
Illustration of parents afflicted witt
suicidal mania whose children an(