Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-21

M advice in the matter Of choosing wives
and husbands is soon to be available
in Vienna for people who wish to observe the
principles of eugencs, according to news
report recently received from that city.
Vienna has lately had occasion to become
alarmed at the large sums which the munich
pality has had to spend on treatment for
children born idiots; and DIR. Tandler, the
chief sanitary officer. has decided to intro
duce this pre-matrimoniaI service as a sort of
hopeful experiment.
"You cannot prevent people from having
children says DR.. Tandler, "by merely i'm
posing conditions of marriage any more than
you can make many people pay taxes II they
are really determined to eVade them. You
must cultivate a sense of responsibility in
the individual. I propose, therefore, merely
to give people an opportunity of consulting
a doctor gratis before they are married. In
the future there will be a municipal con-
sultant on wedlock who will be doctor with
good knowledge of human nature over and
above medical qualifications He will sim
ply tell the people the truth about them
selves and the prospects for their children
If they marry. The aim of the institution
Will be to educate the public to point where
it will be matter of common sense to con-
suit doctor before marriage"
The rendering of scientific opinions to
young couples contemplating marriage as to
the probable characteristics of their Off
spring, as we'll as the establishment of par
entage in cases of disputed legitimacy are
among the new practical uses of eugenicS.
We already have a well-knoWn Eugenics
Record office at Cold Spring Harbor in this
country, under the direction of DR.. Charles
+. Davenport leader of the eugenics move
ment over here, which supplies advice SINH
lar to that proposed for the citizens of Wen
ma. such advice is more in demand than
might be expected, and many romances have
oeen bllghted or aided by the colby scientif-
IL analyses OF eugenics experts connected
nrf lob
More Serious Views Certain
Eventually there will come widespread
realization of the Importance of heredity in
marriage" says DR.. Davenport. Young per-
sons to whom marriage is so serious mat
ter will be led to stop and consider when
they feel they are falling in love, and inquire
concerning consequences to offspring.
ALREADY there is being developed a we'll
defined conscience in the matter of cousin
marriages, for example, and of matings into
families with grossly defective members. This
is shown by the extensive correspondence
that the eugenics office has been obliged to
enter into with persons who are contemplate
ing marriage.
''They are quite willing to submit to an
extensive account of their family traits and
they write to learn what is known about the
inheritance of some family weakness or de-
feet. The people who make these inquiries
are often unusually intelligent and not at
all radical; some of them stand high in the
/
cit is a high idealism and q forward-Iook-
| ing one which leads them to seek the de-
sired knowledge, and one can only respond
| to these requests by telling what is known
or highly probable, in respect to the recur-
| renee of the family defects in offspring
| Whether the conclusions that one is able to
| give are always very valuable not at least
! the custom of considering children and their
| inheritance of family traits is one to be en-
couraged. Normal persons marry to beget
normal children. and it is natural for them
! 10 seek information concerning the inherit
| ing of particular traits
The only trouble with this thigh idealism"
| at present is that the science of eugenics is
i still in its Infancy, and eugenists show an
| alarming tendency to contradict each other
on various important points. There is the
| question of cousin marriages. for instance
Some authorities, including DR.. Davenport,
| believe that such marriages are always I'M
wise, but there is the case of the Darwins
| which would indicate that other eugenists
are in favor of them. Major Leonard OAR
! win. who is leader of the eugenics movement
| in England married a cousin. And so did
his father, the great Charles Darwin.
| Are Late Marriages Best?
| Another question which is still subject to
| much contradictory debate among the best
! eugenics authorities is that of delayed mar
| riages. Some believe that if the parents are
| not young, the children are apt to be in
| ferior. On the other hand, others cite evil
dence to show that when the father is over
so at the birth of child, the child has from