The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1922-04-15

a child, the child has from five to ten
times the chance of being distin-
guished that another child would
have whose father was 40 or under.
Casper L. Redfeld, In studying
the breeding Of horses. cows and
hens" say one prominent eugenist.
has come to the conclusion that the
race-winning colts are the progeny
of mature horses that have by long
practice attained high speed before
the colts were borr. Fishers statist-
les of human belIa seem to show
that, other things berg equal, the
children of older parents 'exemplify
in a striking way the inheritance OF
acquired characters He claims that
the probability of being eminent,
when born from a father over so. Is
five to ten times that when born from
a father of 40 or less"
Even the hitherto accepted theory
that acquired characteristics cannot
be inherited is now challenged by sew
eral modern biologists, who quote
recent remarkable experiments which
seem to prove unquestionably that
acquired characteristics can be trans
mitted to offspring.
WRONG VIEW OF EUGENICS
All agree, however. upon the hope
lessness of attempting to regulate
human mating by legislation, and de-
plore the popular misconception of
eugenics which credits that science
with a design to abolish romance and
to introduce cattle-breeding princi-
Piles into the domestic affairs of hui
man families" On the contrary. love
marriages r highly favored by the
eugenists. Marriages for money and
other advantages they denounce, as
tending toward the deterioration of
the race, but love marriages are ar
ranged by Nature, and Nature Is q
irst-rate eugenist herself.
Mature has provided men with
| some Unborn attractions or repulsions,
sympathies antipathies, which oper-
ate for the biological welfare Of the
race" explains one eugenist. at is
well-known, for instance, that red
headed persons dislike one another
and seldom marry persons of their
own complexion. 1t Is also notice.
able that tall men frequently choose
short mates, and stout men prefer
slender ones"
In spite of some disagreement
among the authorities, the knowledge
Of the inheritance of physical traits
is now sufficiently precise, accord
ing to DR.. Davenport, that 1t may b,
applied practically to cases of doubt
full parentage. Already" he says
"the eugenics record Office has beer
asked to answer certain questions
about the inheritance of traits in {
case of a claimant who maintained
that he vas the son of a wealthy mar
who died without heirs. AS lawyers
get more used to the idea of utilizing
the advances of knowledge for evi
dence, 1t is probable that eugenica.
knowledge will be more and more
called upon.
THE transmission of special char
acteristics which develop into talent
and genius" DIR. Davenport further
explained. lis now being studied BY
200 field workers connected with the
eugenics laboratory at Cold Spring
Harbor. This laboratory, by the way
is connected with the Carnegie in.
stitution at Washington. Much in.
teresting light is being shed by thii
research on the manner In which
musical. literary or artistic talent II
handed down from generation to gen
Grafton"
You cannot make any eugenist be.
lieve, of course, that a genius or any
great man could spring from poor
ancestry-not even Abraham Lincoln
Recent investigation of his lineage
indeed. they assert. tends to show
that, in spite Of the shiftlessness OF
his W father, he really came of 9
splendid line.