New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-01-06
Literary Nese's ond Criticism


indeed, we continue to know precious'E
little beyond the fact that it's innumer-
able convergent ancestral influences are
likely to prove inhibitlve and neutraiiz-
ing in most cases. This chapter cannot
be too seriously recommended TO the at
tention Of the headlong lay advocates OF
sterilization and even more radi'ai
measures. There are here a signihcant
paragraph or two concerning Mendelsm
and some sober facts about the Jukes
family that are generally unknown TO
those who use these people as argu-
ments. Mr.. Smith reminds us that MT
Dugdale, the historian of the descend
ants Of Belle Juke. stated that
The tendency of heredity is to produce
an environment which perpetuates ot,, ma
heredity, or. TO put II plainly the uOuu.'
with this family was that every genel"
ton of little Jukes was taken care OF Wy
depraved Jukes. In the analysis OF tne
family occurred two significant facts . Ons
pair Of the luke family moved away II o,bl
the original home, and In the new neisi,i
borhood the children developed ialrlS W.;
One OF the women. who was both a harlo'
and criminal, died I'm the poorhousIc;;
leaving q daughter one year old; Inc S''i na
was adopted into normal FAMILY anu az
q result. lived normal life.
A case throwing far more searching
light on the subject is that given by
Danish scientist of forty-four related
families which in twenty years sent no
less than seventy-seven patients TO the
insane asylum, while the same group
produced sos serious homeopathic cases,
all Of these degenerates being traced 10
one homeopathic ancestress. But further
Investigation showed that this same
group produced at the same time an
unusual proportion OF gifted men ana
Women-two cabinet ministers one 2m-
ba ssador, three bishops, three generals
three admirals, nine university profess
sors and a large number of public Of
, ticials. and no less than forty-four poets
and artists, most of whom were known
| Throughout Denmark. In twenty-eiSht
of these families there we're seventy
! two individuals who secured very promi-
ment positions through special intel
ilectual ability. 1t is, comments Mr.
| Smith, "a problem in social mathematics
whether It would have been expedtent
I 10 kill off the first homeopathic person
even though by this means many per-
sons insane or markedly neuropathic
might be eliminated from the race to It's
! advantage. People Of superior talent,
! however. are not so numerous shat they
can easily be spared. On the other
! medical care Of the seventy-tWo insane
in their childhood, and a proper regula-
! ton of their lives, would have saved
1 them from the asylum" Children, Mr..
Smith asserts, are generally far better
| born than we have come to believe; IT Is
the environment in its widest sense that
/ chiefly makes or mars them. The ap-
parent increase Of pathological cases in
| civilized society is largely due, he adds,
| to Improvement in the methods of their
detection. treatment and care, as was
already pointed out when Max Nordau
published his sensational "Degenera-
ton" And he is decidedly skeptical or
the value of the criminology Of the Lom-
broso school, which he rather contempt
uously STYLES a new form Of phrenology,
rejected practically by all men at work
among the prisoners"
A constant felicity Of terse statement
marks this work and makes its reading
as easy as it is sOundly and systemati-
cally informing. For instance:
The insane person is not responsible for
! his delusiOns, though he may be TeSpon-
! sible for having become insane; the pauper
and the confirmed criminal are, from many
/ points Of view, no more responsible than
! the insane. but I'm the period before they
/ became social Outcasts some one was re-
spOnsible
| The ordinary studies in what Is known as
| degeneration commence too late. The point
! TO discover is where the departure from
| normal human life began, and what were
the malign influences.
| The law Of life seems TO he that the
lower the form of life the more complete
| the preparation for life before birth.
/ The ordinary criticism that the economic
| theory is naterialistic has no weight with
those who have already seen that the eco
/ nouoIc life when il becomes civilized dno
powerful is largely psychological
There is an excellent photography;
world statistics of population, birL.s'
marriages and divorce, paupcrism, in
sanity, crime, suicide. prison popula-
lions, savings banks deposits, etc, are
given in an appendix. and the index Is
most workmanlike.