Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-14
DEFECT|VEPARENTS;
NORMAL CHILDREN
Explanation of a Battling Fact
Observed in the Science
of Eugenics.
From Current Oriuion.


Nothing in the brief history of that
newest of the sciences. eugenics. has been
SO battling as the existence Of the intel
ligent children Of feebleminded parents.
There are on record instances of boys
and girls springing from degenerate an
cestry going back some generations. Yet
those boys and girls are sometimes very
creditable specimens of humanity. The
facts in their cases are not less puzzling
than the splendid children resulting from
the union OF alcoholic parents who were
studied at length by DR.. Karl Pearson a
few years ago.
Instances Of this kind prompt DR.. Chas.
B. Davenport OF the Carnegie Institution
to PROFOUND theory on the transmission
London Nature. very different from that
suggested by himself and DR.. Weeks
two years or 80 ago. According to Prof.
Davenport.s earlier view. feeble minded
ness and epilepsy are both due to the alb
sence of "gametic" or hereditary fac
for normal development They are thus
transmitted as simple -"recessive" or
latent character which might appear IN
either or both Of these forms.
Results quite Incompatible with this
view, according, to London Nature, how
ever. are yielded by material just col
lected by Prof. Davenport for the eu-
genie records Office on Long Island. in
New York. Another and more complex
theory Is suggested. Thus. when two
the same type are mated. all their chill
dren will reproduce 1t. Where. on the
other hand. the type of mental defect OF
one parent Is different from that Of an
others, none Of their children needs neces-
sarily be feeble-minded at all. In the
language j
Florence HI. Danielson and DR.. Charles
B. Davenport. after their careful inves-
LEGATIONS: ts.t
I'VE may find one case OF feeble-mind-
edness wherein the individual Is cruel and
keen In the pursuit OF mischief. but un-
! able to- learn, and another case in which
he Is kind and learns quite readily, but
Is shiftless and devoid Of Judgment and
the ability to apply his knowledge. Such
instances seem to indicate that these
different traits which characterize the
types of feeble-mindedness may furnish
truer basis for a theory OF inheritance.
One combination of certain traits pre-
sents one sort Of feeble-mindelness and
another combination another sort Work
ing on this hypothesis, the possibility OF
obtaining from two parents whose de-
fects are due to different traits Cor the
, lack of therp) child who may be su-
perior to either parent as member OF
society is to be expected
For. instance. ii such traits follow the
Mendelian principle. man who is In
dustrious but apathetic and unable to
connect cause and effect q. e., lacks
good judgmentJ so that he cannot com
pete In business. married to a shiftless
woman who is keen and shrewd, even
to a vice, may have offspring in which
the fathers industry and the mothers
mental ability are combined so that they
may be superior to either parent For
II the feeble mindedness of the fathers
type are gametically independent and
each recessive to the normal condition
they may produce normal children.
THE analysis of the data, then, gives
statistical support to the conclusion abun-
dainty justified from numerous other
considerations. that feeble-mindedness il
no elementary trait, but is a legal OF
sociological, rather than biological
term Feeble-mindedness Is due to the
absence now of one set Of traits. now
of quite different set. Only when both
parents lack one or more Of the same