PRINCIPLES 
OF 
E UGENIC S 
BLANCHE EAMES PRINCIPLES OF EUGENICS PRINCIPLES OF 
EUGENICS 
A Practical Treatise 
BY 
BLANCHE EAMES 
NEW YORK 
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 
1914 Copyright 1914, by 
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 
New York 
All Rights Reserved ®0 
MARY E. TEATS 
A pioneer worker in Eugenics and one to 
whom young people throughout the country 
are indebted for instruction and inspiration on 
the subject of Intelligent Parenthood. PREFACE 
While it is true that “ Of making many books there is 
no end,” yet if a person believes that by adding to the 
number, knowledge on some important subject will be more 
widely disseminated, no other reason need be given for 
writing a book and sending it out to the public. 
The exigencies of the times demand that the sex prob- 
lem be no longer withheld from general discussion. The 
Social Evil and the White Slave Traffic have brought the 
question to the front; and since it is here, why should it 
not be considered from a sacred and scientific standpoint, 
and in the same spirit of fairness and frankness with 
which other subjects are discussed? 
Various organizations in this country and other lands 
are taking up Eugenic work. A few progressive States and 
a large number of prominent cities of the United States 
have formed Societies of Social Hygiene, the main pur- 
pose being to disseminate knowledge which will enable 
young people to safeguard themselves against the tempta- 
tions to which they are exposed. A number of Normal 
Schools, Colleges and Universities are giving instruction 
along this line; also many Parent-Teacher Clubs, through 
lectures in Public Schools, are receiving knowledge that 
assists them in properly teaching the children under their 
care. 
Also there is an increasing sentiment in favor of safe- 
7 Preface 
guarding future generations, and much discussion is being 
carried on as to what can best be done to prevent the 
birth of so many degenerates. The Eugenics Education 
Society, of London, England, through its official organ, 
The Eugenics Review, and in other ways, is seeking to 
enlighten the public concerning the ill results of improper 
marriages. The Eugenic Section of the American Genetic 
Association is making a systematic investigation to ascer- 
tain what physical and mental traits are transmissible. 
And the Correspondence School of Gospel and Scientific 
Eugenics is educating young people concerning some of the 
vital laws regarding life and procreation, in order that 
they may become intelligent parents of superior offspring. 
Coming in contact daily with people whose ideas con- 
cerning parenthood are no different from those of their 
grandparents decades ago—whose opinions, however, on 
other subjects have kept pace with the progress of the 
times—the author has felt impelled to state briefly, and 
prove as clearly as possible, some of the principles relating 
to development in the human race. Many a reader will 
question the statements contained herein, perhaps saying 
that they are wholly without foundation and visionary. 
However, in his search after truth, if he will bring to the 
subject an unprejudiced mind; if he will make a thorough 
study from the best scientific authorities (many of whom 
are quoted herein) of the laws of procreation, of the in- 
heritance of innate and acquired characteristics, and of 
gestative influence; if he will do some original and inde- 
pendent thinking, making careful and extended observa- 
tions as to how the laws apply in actual life; if he will do 
8 Preface 
these things, we will not fear what the results will be, for 
the principles of Eugenics not only can stand the test 
of the criticism of the fair-minded, intelligent inquirer, but 
are best revealed by such careful and patient investigation. 
Therefore, if this book brings forth criticism, but with the 
criticism, honest inquiry and search after truth, it will have 
fulfilled its mission, and the author will feel that some- 
what of good has been accomplished. 
9 EUGENICS 
CONTENTS 
CHAPTER PAGE 
I. REPRODUCTION. The Question, “ What is 
Life?”—God Its Author—LifefromLife— 
Like Tends to Beget Like—Attributes of 
Life—Reproduction in Simplest Forms of 
Life—Universal Law of Reproduction— 
Beneficent Effects of Law 13 
II. HEREDITY. Nature Selecting Parents—Arti- 
ficial Selection—Work at the Illinois Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station—Luther Bur- 
bank’s Improvements and Creations among 
Plants—Evolution in Animals—Heredity in 
the Human Race—The Edwards Family— 
The “ Hill Folk ”—Increase of Degeneracy 
—Necessity for Action 21 
III. RACE POISONS. Search for Happiness in 
Self-Indulgence—Experiments on Animals 
with Alcohol—Dr. MacNicholl’s Investi- 
gations—Intemperance Frequent Cause of 
Insanity—Relation to Crime and Prostitu- 
tion—Kaiser Wilhelm a Total Abstainer— 
No Justification for Liquor Traffic—Social 
Diseases and Their Effect on Posterity—The 
Dwarfed, Epileptic, Imbecile—Blindness, 
Sterility, Deaths of Infants 33 
IV. INSTRUCTION IN SEX TRUTHS. Curi- 
osity in the Child and How Usually An- 
swered—Prudery of Parents—Information 
Given by Playmates—Consequences in 
Childhood and Later Life—Agencies at 
Work to Instruct Young People—How the 
Parent Can Teach the Child—Proper Play- 
mates—Interesting Occupation for the 
Child 44 
V. TOBACCO AND DRUGS. Nicotine a Poison 
—Causes Abnormal Thirst, Impaired Mem- 
ory, Inability to Concentration of Mind— 
Produces Eye Difficulties—Effect of To- 
bacco Dust on Workers in Tobacco Fac- 
tories—Probable Cause of Many Foetal 
Deaths—Experiments That Might Be Per- 
11 Contents 
CHAPTER PAGE 
formed—Effect of Drugs on Posterity— 
Probable Cause of Feeble-Mindedness and 
Epilepsy — Bayer’s Investigations — Foeti- 
cide—Who is Responsible? 51 
VI. PRENATAL NUTRITION AND ENVI- 
RONMENT. Teach the Child’s Grandsire 
—Transmission of Acquired Character- 
istics—Germ Plasm Nourished by Blood of 
Individual — Experiment on Silkworms 
—Effects of Non-use of Organs— 
Thoughts Build the Psychic—Blood and 
Life Forces Go to Exercised Brain Cells 
—Prof. Gates’s Experiments on Guinea Pigs 
—Statements of Spencer, Dr. David Starr 
Jordan, Ribot, Burbank — Characteristics 
in Brothers and Sisters—Variation Due to 
Different Thought—Life of Parents—How 
Non-transmission of Mutilations May Be 
Explained—Influence of Emotions on 
Blood, Hence on Germ Cells 63 
VII. PRENATAL NUTRITION AND ENVI- 
RONMENT, Continued. Power of Mater- 
nal Impressions Practically Demonstrated— 
“ Science is Human Experience Tested and 
Set in Order ”—Instances in Animal Life 
—“Wireless Telegraphy of Ante-natal 
Life ”—Rapid Growth Before Birth—Evil 
Emotions Poison Mother’s Blood—“ Mark- 
ing ” the Child—Why Not Believed in and 
Upheld—How the Mother Can Affect the 
Mentality and Character of the Unborn 
Child—The Father’s Influence at This 
Time 73 
VIII. CONTINENCE. Human Race “ Larne, Halt, 
and Blind ”—Animals Strong and Vigorous 
—Conserve Life Forces—Most Prolific 
Animals Short-lived—Wasting of Life 
Forces All Down the Ages—Privilege to 
Rise Above Perverted Instincts—State- 
ments of Burbank, Dr. Morrow, Dr. 
Hodge, Dr. G. Stanley Hall, Havelock 
Ellis—“ What One is, Why May Not Mil- 
lions Be ? ” 83 
12 Principles of Eugenics 
CHAPTER I 
REPRODUCTION 
“ My heart is awed within me when I think 
Of the great miracle that still goes on 
In silence round me—the perpetual work 
Of Thy creation, finished yet renewed forever.” 
—W. C. Bryant. 
The study of life is a fascinating one. The child, 
the old man, the fool, the sage, all alike ask the 
question, “ What is life ? ” They seek an answer 
from the grass, the trees, the flowers, exclaiming 
with the poet: 
“ Flower of the crannied wall, 
I pluck you out of the crannies, 
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower—but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is.” 
—T ennyson. 
They try to wrest the secret from the amoeba, the 
grasshopper, the bird. But the wise little creatures 
keep their own counsel in the matter, for, although 
they tell many things about life, they will not reveal 
what it really is. 
13 Principles of Eugenics 
Finally the questioner turns to the pages of Holy 
Writ. Even there he does not find a complete solu- 
tion of the problem, although he knows that what 
is contained therein is truth, and that the Word is 
authority from which there is no appeal. Science 
and the Scriptures, rightly interpreted, never con- 
flict; they can not, because they are both the work 
of God; one His expression in Nature, the other in 
His written word. He learns that God created 
every living thing that moveth, after his kind; that 
He “ created man in His own image ”; that He 
“ breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and 
man became a living soul.” 
God, therefore, was the author of all life at its 
beginning, and ever since that time life has been 
springing from life. Not many centuries ago nat- 
uralists thought that some animals were spontane- 
ously generated; for instance, that from decaying 
meat, maggots sprang forth which developed into 
flesh flies. It was formerly believed that animal- 
cules arose by abiogenesis (spontaneous generation) 
in stagnant water or organic liquids. To ascertain 
whether or not this was true, experiments were per- 
formed in sterilizing liquids so as to kill all living 
organisms contained therein, then putting the liquid 
into a sterilized glass, and keeping it free from ex- 
posure to the air. Under these conditions no ap- 
pearances of life were seen, and the scientists there- 
fore concluded that the animalcules were developed 
from spores which enter the water or organic liquid 
14 Reproduction 
from the air. There is no known instance of spon- 
taneous generation, and it is generally conceded that 
life comes only from life. 
As we “ think God’s thoughts after Him ” in the 
study of science, we more and more come to believe 
that His law regarding life and its procreation is a 
most effective one for the perpetuation and develop- 
ment of the species. And the principle which pre- 
vails throughout the plant and animal world, God 
also instituted for the generation of the human race, 
the crowning glory of His creation. Men and 
women, however, have failed utterly to understand 
the sacred import of the law, and as a consequence 
they can not see the sacredness of bringing a human 
soul into existence. This is the reason why many 
parents can not instruct their boys and girls con- 
cerning the origin of life. It is no wonder that 
children obtain the current distorted ideas of sex, 
that they regard their bodies with shame, and fall 
into evil practices which ruin them physically, 
mentally and morally. 
Does it not seem that the wise thing to do is to 
cast aside the veil of prudery, and encourage people 
to gain a clear, comprehensive view concerning the 
law of the reproduction of mankind, and the relation 
it bears to the perfection and development of the 
race? Nothing can be gained through ignorance, 
but very much lost, as is being proven these days. 
With scientific knowledge regarding the law will 
come reverence for it; and with knowledge and 
15 Principles of Eugenics 
reverence as a beginning, more consecrated conduct 
will follow. We are told, “Ye shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall make you free.” It is 
knowledge of truth, reverence for truth, and the 
living of truth—these three alone—that will liberate 
the race from the bondage of sensuality and degen- 
eracy in which it is held, and bring it onto the high 
plane where the Creator intended it should exist. 
Therefore every effort to enlighten the people con- 
cerning sex principles is a step toward race better- 
ment. 
Another truth regarding life is that “ Like tends 
to beget like.” This law of heredity is just as 
forcible to-day as when God established it. Its 
manifestations are seen everywhere in nature. The 
rose comes from the rose; the oak from the oak. 
The eagle begets the eagle; the lion, the lion. 
Without this law the universe would be in a most 
chaotic state; but because of it the different plant 
and animal species continue their types from gen- 
eration to generation. 
Although in their investigations scientists have 
not been able to ascertain what life really is, they 
all relate some facts concerning it. They affirm 
that every living organism must perform certain 
functions; there are attributes possessed by it in 
common with every other living organism. There 
is organization, or the presence of organs to carry 
on the work of the individual; there is the power of 
growth; of reproduction; of assimilation; and of 
16 Reproduction 
irritability, or susceptibility to influences or stimu- 
lation from outside, as of light, heat, electricity. 
To make up the complete organism, whether plant 
or animal, these qualities must all exist in normal 
vigor. 
Also the scientists tell us that wherever there is 
life, there is protoplasm, called by Huxley “ the 
physical basis of life.” It is a very complex sub- 
stance, semi-liquid in character, consisting of car- 
bon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur, as 
essentials; and in its more complicated forms also 
containing phosphorus, sodium and other elements. 
Protoplasm always exists in the form of a cell or 
collection of cells; each one consisting of a nucleus, 
the small, inside, dense portion; and the cytoplasm, 
a larger, less dense portion, surrounding the nucleus. 
There are various one-celled plants and animals per- 
forming all the work of the organism through the 
single cell. They reproduce by fission or division, 
the nucleus gradually elongating and dividing into 
two nuclei, the cytoplasm also elongating and divid- 
ing into two equal portions, carrying a nucleus with 
it. Thus two distinct individuals are formed. Then 
these two divide into four, the four into eight, the 
eight into sixteen, and so on indefinitely. 
But reproduction can not always take place in 
this manner. The individuals of the species expend 
much energy during their existence; hence in time 
the race as a whole weakens. The individuals then 
instinctively join in pairs, the cytoplasm and the 
17 Principles of Eugenics 
nuclei of two cells gradually fusing, until one cell 
takes the place of two. Then division takes place 
as before until the species again becomes enfeebled, 
when conjugation once more occurs. Thus in many 
of the one-celled plants and animals there are the 
two recurring phases of reproduction. The true 
purpose of conjugation has been demonstrated by 
experiments upon the Paramoecium. When indi- 
viduals in a weakened condition were prevented 
from uniting, they gradually ceased to divide, and 
finally died. Therefore we may conclude that the 
union of cells in reproduction is designed for the 
continuation of the species. 
In the very simplest forms of life there seems to 
be no difference between the conjugating cells. 
However, when we come to the Volvox, which is 
probably the simplest of the multicellular animals, 
we find two kinds of procreative cells. There is the 
egg, large, round and inactive; and the sperm, which 
is small, elongated and active; the union of these 
produces offspring. The Volvox exemplifies repro- 
duction as it almost universally takes place in the 
plant and animal world. 
In the plant the medium of generation is the 
flower, the pollen from the stamen fecundating the 
ovules, whereby they may develop into seeds. The 
milt of the fish fertilizes the spawn of the female 
fish; the sperm cells of the bird impregnate the eggs 
of the female. However, there are some exceptions 
to this general rule in reproduction. We have 
18 Reproduction 
learned that the lowest orders of life generate by 
division; and some higher plants and animals re- 
produce in the same manner. For examples of the 
latter, the hydra can be cut into pieces, each piece 
having the power of developing into a new, com- 
plete hydra. Also the starfish may have a severed 
arm, but it is capable of growing all the other arms 
and the disk, so as to form the whole body. The 
potato will spring from buds, or eyes, planted in the 
ground; the strawberry and blackberry from run- 
ners ; the geranium and fuchsia from cuttings; and 
the dahlia, tuberose and hyacinth from bulbs. Yet, 
while all these can reproduce from one parent, they 
propagate also by means of united sex cells; and so 
common is the fact in nature that to produce off- 
spring there must be an intermingling of body sub- 
stance from two distinct individuals, that it may be 
regarded as the Universal Law of Reproduction. 
It is in this manner that the different types of 
plants and animals are prevented from becoming 
extinct, as was learned from the experiments on 
the Paramoecium. Not only is this method of gen- 
eration a guaranty of the perpetuation of the species, 
but also it insures their variety and improvement. 
Since the beginning of the organism is composed of 
parts of two individual bodies, the difference be- 
tween ancestor and descendants is certain. The off- 
spring will receive the traits of both parents instead 
of being copies of either. Then, too, good qualities 
existing in common in the parents will be strength- 
19 Principles of Eugenics 
ened in the offspring; and a desirable trait in one 
will tend to offset an undesirable trait in the other, 
so that it is possible for the offspring to be superior 
to either parent. 
REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES 
Bible, Genesis 1120-25, 27. 2 7. 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “ Evolution and Animal Life,” pp. 
212-213. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 
Bible, St. John 8:32. 
Jordan, Kellogg & Heath’s “ Animal Studies,” pp. 3-4. 
D. Appleton & Co., New York. 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “ Evolution and Animal Life,” pp. 
26, 27, 30. 
Marshall’s “ Physiology of Reproduction,” p. 212. 
Longmans, Green & Co., New York. 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “ Evolution and Animal Life,” pp. 
286, 283. 
20 CHAPTER II 
HEREDITY 
“ Every truth we know is a candle given us to work by.” 
—Ruskin. 
While it is true that, as a rule, humanity comes 
to earth unplanned, and civilization is served by 
sluggish brains and clumsy hands, yet domestic 
plants and animals are brought into existence by 
design, and more and more scientists are aiding 
them to attain to those points of excellence that 
mankind plans for them. Even the wild plants and 
animals are in a state of constant improvement, for 
Nature does not allow the indiscriminate genera- 
tion of the species, but exercises “ natural selection,” 
destroying the weakest individuals and permitting 
only the best qualified to grow up for parenthood. 
Horticulturists and stockmen supplement Nature’s 
work also by cutting off from propagation the most 
unfit of their flocks and herds; and the scientific 
breeders carry on a still higher degree of artificial 
selection; having an ideal for the plants and animals 
which they desire, they select as progenitors only 
those which measure up to that standard. 
The experiment of the Illinois Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station, begun in 1896 and completed in 
21 Principles of Eugenics 
1908, for the purpose of securing high and low per- 
centages of protein and oil in corn, is only one of 
many similar experiments carried on in this country 
and other lands. In the protein test, one variety 
was produced containing more than half again as 
much protein as the other; and in the test for low 
and high percentage of oil, a strain was produced 
three times as rich in oil as the other. These re- 
sults prove that man can obtain almost everything 
he wishes in the plant world if he but put forth wise, 
scientific efforts in his labors. 
Luther Burbank generally is conceded to be one 
of the greatest plant breeders. He has most won- 
derfully improved many varieties of vegetation, and 
in some instances has created new species. He has 
obtained these results by means of artificial selec- 
tion, always choosing the best specimens of plant 
life for breeding purposes; and by pollination, sift- 
ing the pollen of one flower onto the stigma of an- 
other, instead of allowing the wind, bees or insects 
to be the instrument of fertilization. He has origi- 
nated and introduced twenty different varieties of 
prunes and plums which are the best known and 
most successful grown. He has had marvellous 
success in his work with flowers. The beautiful 
white Shasta daisy is one of his creations. It is a 
cross between the little field daisy of our own coun- 
try, chosen for its hardiness; the daisy of Japan, 
noted for its exquisite whiteness; and that of Eng- 
land, selected for its superior size. The blossoms 
22 Heredity 
are from five to seven inches in diameter, and when 
cut will remain fresh in water from three to six 
weeks. It is said that the Burbank potato has en- 
riched the world by twenty million dollars, and an- 
other production of his which promises to be of 
equal, if not greater value, is the thornless, edible 
cactus. Its value is now being tested near Indio, 
California, and in Victoria, Australia. It will grow 
in the most arid region, is deprived of thorns and 
spicules, and is palatable and nutritious for both 
man and beast. If it remains true to its type it will 
reclaim the deserts from barrenness and waste. Re- 
garding the possibilities of work in plant breeding, 
Burbank says that there is no barrier to obtaining 
fruits of any size, form or flavor desired, all that is 
needed being a knowledge to guide one’s efforts in 
the right direction. 
Wonderful results also are produced in the ani- 
mal world. Comparison between a wolf and a dog 
shows their striking likeness to each other. It is 
not difficult to understand that the latter was evolved 
by man’s constant choosing for many generations 
the least ferocious wolves for propagation. Scien- 
tists tell us that our gentle, fireside-loving puss has 
been evolved from the wild cat, and the fat, grunt- 
ing hog of the average farmyard from the wild 
boar. All of the fine thoroughbred strains of 
horses, dogs, cattle, swine and sheep, of which 
stock breeders are so proud, are the result of 
careful selection and breeding. As an instance: 
23 Principles of Eugenics 
in establishing his stock farm at Palo Alto, 
Leland Stanford planned to strengthen the 
trotting horse by crossing it with a larger running 
horse. He thereby obtained a large, strong, supple 
horse, intelligent, very clean of limb and sleek of 
coat. For some years this breed of horses held the 
world’s records for speed in their various classes 
and ages. 
In the human race also we are learning the mean- 
ing of heredity. The story is told of a little boy 
who, being reproved by his mother for not having 
as high grades in his school as Tommy Jones, re- 
plied : “ Yes, but you must remember that Tommy 
Jones has very clever parents.” That boy intui- 
tively grasped the great principle of heredity which 
older people sometimes are slow in accepting. 
Often some particularly strong characteristic will 
be manifest in a family for generations. The father 
and grandfather of Beethoven both were musicians; 
in the family of Mendelssohn there were several 
musicians of note; and Bach was a member of an 
illustrious family in which this genius appeared in 
eight generations, there being twenty-nine musicians 
of eminence therein. 
In our own country and within our own period 
of history we have the exemplification of a superior 
type of intellectuality springing from two gifted an- 
cestors and appearing through a long line of de- 
scendants. Richard Edwards, a lawyer of high 
repute and great learning, married at Hartford, 
24 Heredity 
Connecticut, in 1667, Elizabeth Tuttle, who was a 
very beautiful woman, of queenly and commanding 
appearance, with a strong will, a vigorous mentality 
and a most striking personality. From them de- 
scended, through their only son, the following: 
Jonathan Edwards, one of the world’s greatest in- 
tellects, and at one time President of Princeton 
College; Timothy Dwight, President of Yale; Tim- 
othy Dwight, second, also President of Yale; Theo- 
dore William Dwight, founder and for thirty-three 
years warden of Columbia Law School; the wife of 
Eli Whitney, who burned the midnight oil to help 
the inventor to attain his enduring fame; Catherine 
Maria Sedgwick, of graceful pen; Charles Sedgwick 
Minot, authority on biology and embryology in 
Harvard Medical School; and Winston Churchill, 
author of “ Coniston.” Also we must mention an- 
other personage of keen intellect and great learning, 
but of inferior moral stamina, Aaron Burr, the 
traitor. Through the four daughters of Richard 
and Elizabeth Tuttle Edwards came Robert Treat 
Paine, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence ; the Fairbanks Brothers, manufacturers 
of scales and hardware at St. Johnsbury, Vermont; 
Morrison R. Waite, Chief Justice of the United 
States; Melville M. Bigelow, the law author; and 
Ulysses Grant and Grover Cleveland, Presidents of 
the United States. 
It was once said by a famous biologist: “ Man 
has in his anatomy a collection of uniques—we are 
25 Principles of Eugenics 
full of reminiscences.” Although the author re- 
ferred to the current belief in man’s ascent from 
the lower orders of life, the statement is even more 
forcible when applied to man’s heritage from his 
father, grandfather and their immediate ancestors. 
The hours spent by the Beethovens, Bachs and Men- 
delssohns in strenuous practice at the piano, and the 
ceaseless study and years of professional toil on 
the part of the Edwards, are pleasant reminiscences, 
and have been of immense value to humanity. Not 
so the drunken carousals and sensual debaucheries 
in which many families have taken part. These 
might well be forgotten if possible; but that can not 
be, for the forces are just as potent in evil as in good 
heredity, as is evidenced in numberless instances. 
From Max Jukes, a notorious drunkard, there de- 
scended in seventy-five years, 200 thieves and mur- 
derers, 280 invalids attacked by blindness, idiocy or 
consumption, 90 prostitutes, and 300 children who 
died prematurely. The various members of this 
family cost the State of New York more than a 
million dollars. 
From a drunken vagabond woman in Germany 
have sprung eight hundred and thirty-four descend- 
ants who are feeble-minded, prostitutes, tramps, 
paupers and criminals (some of them being mur- 
derers). The cost to the Prussian government in 
caring for them has been a quarter of a million 
pounds. 
In the “ Hill Folk ” is another example of the 
26 Heredity 
transmittance of evil tendencies throughout many 
generations. The progenitors of these people were 
shiftless, feeble-minded and alcoholic; the descend- 
ants are and have been degenerates of the first mag- 
nitude. From 1901 to 1910, 29 1-10 per cent of all 
aid given to paupers in the one little Massachusetts 
village where the ancestors first settled, was given 
to members of the Hill families. The court and 
prison records during the past thirty years show that 
at least sixteen of the Hill stock have been sentenced 
to prison for serious crimes, chiefly against sex, the 
expense to county and State being at least $10,- 
763.43. As public wards they have cost the State, 
as accurately as can be estimated, $47,719.32. The 
burden which these folk place upon the community 
is constantly increasing and out of all proportion to 
their numbers. 
The fact that feeble-mindedness, epilepsy, insan- 
ity and other forms of degeneracy are passed on 
from ancestor to descendants, is now well authen- 
ticated by careful and systematic investigations. 
Dr. H. H. Goddard, of the Vineland (N. J.) In- 
stitution for Feeble-minded, and former Vice-Chair- 
man of the Eugenics Section of the American 
Breeders’ Association (now known as the American 
Genetic Association), has shown from the genealo- 
gies of 187 families connected with that institution 
that where both parents were feeble-minded, there 
were no normal offspring; and that where there is 
an heredity of feeble-mindedness, only about two- 
27 Principles of Eugenics 
fifths of the total number of offspring are nor- 
mal. 
Dr. C. B. Davenport, Director of the Department 
of Experimental Evolution at Cold Spring Harbor, 
and former Secretary of the Eugenics Section of the 
American Breeders’ Association (American Genetic 
Association), also has made a careful study of a 
large number of family records, and the conclu- 
sions which he forms are somewhat in accord with 
those of Dr. Goddard. He says that where both 
parents are mentally defective, all the children will 
be mentally defective; where one parent is thus af- 
flicted, and the other normal but of blood thus 
tainted, one-half of the offspring will be abnormal; 
and that where both parents are normal, but of 
tainted blood, one-fourth of the offspring will be 
mentally defective. The above statement refers to 
insanity, feeble-mindedness and epilepsy. The two 
latter types of degeneracy are interchangeable in 
heredity; if one defect appears in a parent, either 
may be manifest in the offspring. 
Research works show that, to a certain extent, 
tramps, inmates of workhouses, inebriates, prosti- 
tutes and criminals are composed of the feeble- 
minded class. Of nearly 15,000 women who passed 
through Magdalen Homes in England, 2,500, or 
nearly 16 per cent, were definitely feeble-minded; 
and at the Pentonville Prison, in England—not 
counting those who were mentally unfit for prison 
discipline—18 per cent of the adult prisoners and 40 
28 Heredity 
per cent of the juvenile offenders were found to be 
mentally defective. 
Physicians disagree with reference to the hered- 
itability of tuberculosis, or the white plague, some 
believing that it is transmitted from parent to child, 
others that the tendency alone is transmitted, while 
others believe that it is simply infectious. But au- 
thorities—none of them—doubt the power of parents 
to pass on to their children the black plague, the 
awful diseases due to immorality, which leave in 
their train such frightful consequences. 
Does it not seem that the twentieth century civil- 
ization is almost a farce when we stop to consider 
that in this land there are 150,000 each of the insane, 
feeble-minded and epileptic, 5,000,000 young men 
under the age of thirty years who are victims of the 
social diseases, 50,000 deaf, 110,000 blind, 100,000 
paupers and 80,000 persons imprisoned for crime, 
and that to a very great extent these unfortunate in- 
dividuals are permitted to marry and send their 
tainted traits all down the ages? Nearly $100,000,- 
000 is annually expended to care for these people, but 
would it not be far wiser to “ put a fence around the 
edge of the cliff,” rather than “ an ambulance down 
in the valley ” ? Would it not be the part of dis- 
cretion, and one might even say of true patriotism, 
to absolutely prohibit these not-up-to-the-standards 
from raising families? True it is that Indiana, 
Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, California, 
Connecticut, New Jersey and other States have laws 
29 Principles of Eugenics 
upon their statute books forbidding marriage 
licenses to those who are unfit for parenthood, as 
the epileptic, feeble-minded, insane, and those af- 
flicted with the social diseases; and Indiana, Cali- 
fornia, Connecticut, New Jersey and other States 
have passed Sterilization Laws placing beyond the 
power of procreation such individuals as criminals, 
idiots, imbeciles, rapists and the insane. But these 
laws are not strictly enforced, and therefore of not 
much material benefit to the country. 
The great need is for a vigorous campaign on the 
subjects of health, heredity and sex hygiene, setting 
forth the direful consequences of evil living and the 
certainty of the transmission to posterity of some 
types of physical and mental diseases. Persons who 
have serious inheritable diseases should never be al- 
lowed to propagate their kind. This problem could 
be solved either by sterilization or segregation. The 
operations of vasectomy and fallectomy make par- 
enthood impossible by severing the tubes which 
conduct the reproductive principle for the purpose 
of procreation, and allowing the life force to be 
reabsorbed in the system. Sterilization by these 
means is regarded by many as a most cruel pro- 
cedure, depriving an individual of his or her rights; 
yet it must be remembered that the community, the 
State and the country also have rights which can 
justly be pitted against those of the individual. 
Segregation, the separation of these afflicted mem- 
bers of society from all other individuals, and each 
30 Heredity 
sex by itself, seems to some persons the only means 
of remedying the situation, and it has this advan- 
tage, that if at any future time they become sound 
and strong, they may take their place again in 
society and may become parents. A further bene- 
fit that is even greater and more far-reaching is, if 
persons afflicted with the social diseases are segre- 
gated, they will not be in a position to communicate 
their diseases to innocent people. Whatever be the 
method decided upon, whether it be sterilization or 
segregation, stringent laws should be enacted and 
most rigorously enforced, for the greatest foes our 
country has are those from within, and they must 
be met and successfully vanquished if we would con- 
tinue to be a strong nation. 
REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES 
Annual Report American Breeders’ Association, Vol. VI, 
pp. 5-7. Washington, D. C. 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “ Evolution and Animal Life,” p. 92. 
Harwood’s “ New Creations in Plant Life,” Chap. VIII. 
Copyright by the Macmillan Company, New York. 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “The Scientific Aspects of Luther 
Burbank’s Work,” pp. 59-68. A. M. Robertson, San Fran- 
cisco. 
Saleeby’s “ Parenthood and Race Culture,” p. 161. Mof- 
fat, Yard & Co., New York. 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “ Evolution and Animal Life,” pp. 
103-104. 
Lombroso’s “The Man of Genius,” pp. 139-140. Walter 
Scott Publishing Co., London, England. 
31 Principles of Eugenics 
C. B. Davenport’s “ Heredity in Relation to Eugenics,” 
pp. 226-228. Henry Holt & Co., New York. 
Lombroso’s “ The Man of Genius,” p. 144. 
Havelock Ellis’s “ The Problem of Race Regeneration,” 
p. 43. Moffat, Yard & Co., New York. 
Memoir No. 1, Eugenic Record Office, pp. 14-16. Cold 
Spring Harbor, L. I., N. Y. 
American Breeders’ Magazine, Vol. II, No. 4, p. 271. 
Washington, D. C. 
C. B. Davenport’s “ Heredity in Relation to Eugenics,” 
pp. 66, 72, 77. 
Havelock Ellis’s “ The Task of Social Hygiene,” p. 38. 
Houghton Mifflin Co., New York. 
American Breeders’ Magazine, Vol. II, No. 4, p. 247. 
C. B. Davenport’s “ Heredity in Relation to Eugenics,” 
p. 4- 
32 CHAPTER III 
RACE POISONS 
“ God never jests with us, and will not compromise the 
end of Nature by permitting any inconsequences in its 
procession.”—Emerson. 
People of all ages have sought for happiness. 
They are not aware that it comes only through the 
normal exercise of life’s functions, in thinking, 
planning, doing, loving. They look for it in self- 
indulgence and sense-gratification; in the pleasures 
of “ the world, the flesh and the devil ”; anything 
that “ will help us to forget time and space and our- 
selves—all we have worth remembering. These 
pleasures turn to misery in our lives, but a far more 
direful consequence is that they turn to greater mis- 
ery in the lives of our posterity, because of the fact 
that the harvest is always larger than the seed 
sowing. 
The use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs may seem 
to offer a certain amount of pleasure, but posterity 
often suffers a lifetime of misery for the moments 
and hours of self-indulgence of ancestors. It is said 
that Francis Bird, in making a call upon Dr. Howe, 
found him with his feet swathed in flannels. 
“ What is the matter ? ” asked Mr. Bird. 
33 Principles of Eugenics 
“ Gout,” was the answer. 
“ Gout ? What caused it ? ” 
“ Whiskey.” 
“ I thought you never drank any intoxicating 
liquors.” 
“ I don't, but my ancestors did, and I am footing 
the bill.” 
Nearly all authorities are now agreed as to the 
deleterious effects of alcohol upon posterity. Dr. 
Saleeby maintains that alcohol is a race poison—that 
it acts as a poison to the germ cell. Experiments 
upon animals have proven it true. It was shown by 
Combemale that pups begotten of an healthy female 
by an alcoholized dog were congenitally weak and 
showed marked asymmetry of the brain. Frieden- 
wald found that when pregnant rabbits were given 
alcohol they delivered their young prematurely. In 
one experiment where twenty rabbits were so fed, 
seventeen aborted, and eight of them died soon after 
of septicaemia (blood poisoning). Nearly all of the 
young which were born at full term died a few days 
after birth. 
Dr. T. Alexander MacNicholl, a renowned au- 
thority on the subject of alcohol and degeneracy, 
who was sent to Europe by Theodore Roosevelt 
during his administration as President of the United 
States to make further study and research, has cited 
some cases which show the differences in heredity 
between the children of the drinker and the children 
of the abstainer. He made a study of two groups 
34 Race Poisons 
of families living under the same conditions and in 
the same environment. Sixty-five children were 
born in the ten families of regular drinkers, during 
the period of investigation, thirty of whom died in 
infancy, one was insane, one epileptic, four anaemic, 
three had very poor teeth, one was diabetic, three 
had heart disease, two were imbeciles, five were 
neurotics, three had adenoids, eight were tubercu- 
lar, and only four were normal. In their studies at 
school two of the children were excellent, six fair, 
and seventeen deficient. In the ten families of total 
abstainers, there were seventy children, of whom 
only two died in infancy, one was anaemic, one tu- 
bercular, one neurotic, one rheumatic, and sixty-four 
were normal. In their studies at school fifty-six 
were excellent, ten fair and two deficient. In the 
children of the total abstainers, 90 per cent were 
normal in mind and body as against 7 per cent of 
the drinkers’ children. 
Perhaps some will say, and correctly, that other 
existing conditions might have helped to bring about 
these woful results. However, without doubt many 
of these indirect or contributing causes, such as un- 
wholesome environments, inharmony in the home, 
mental anguish and suffering, insufficient nutrition 
on account of poverty, were occasioned by the drink 
itself. 
In the light of such facts as the above, can a 
woman who wants to be just and generous to her 
future offspring marry a man that drinks alcoholic 
35 Principles of Eugenics 
liquors ? And can a man who would be truly loyal 
to his family, his community, his nation, and hu- 
manity in general, take that into his body which 
“ steals away his brains ” and the brains of those to 
come after him? 
The extent of the ravages of drink will be never 
accurately known; and it is only when we study 
what scientists tell us that we can begin to imagine 
how great may be its consequences. Dr. Axel Gus- 
tafson, one of the world’s greatest authorities con- 
cerning the effects of alcohol upon the human sys- 
tem, says that it is pre-eminently a brain poison. 
The brain essentially is composed of oxygen, fats 
and water, and alcohol has a marked affinity for 
these substances. It takes the loose oxygen from 
the red blood-corpuscles, thus retarding normal oxi- 
dation, and inducing accumulation of waste ma- 
terial; it dissolves fats, tending to paralysis of cell 
function; and it abstracts water from the proto- 
plasm, producing shrinkage of the cells. These con- 
ditions existing any length of time will cause the 
cells to degenerate, connective tissue to form and 
normal functions to be permanently impaired. 
There is no wonder then that the person imbibing 
freely of alcoholic drink staggers about the street, 
talks incoherently, acts madly, often committing 
violent criminal acts. His body becoming filled 
with the poison, gradually yields to weakness, de- 
generacy and disease. But more than that, since 
alcohol is so strong a brain poison, the individual 
36 Race Poisons 
using it often becomes mentally deranged. And 
since mental derangement is transmissible from an- 
cestor to descendants, it is only reasonable to sup- 
pose that the foundation is often thus laid in drink 
for a long line of hereditary insanity. This is in 
harmony with statements made by Superintendents 
of Insane Hospitals, who tell us that drink, directly 
or indirectly, causes from 47 to 60 per cent of the 
insanity in this country, some authorities putting it 
as high as 95 per cent. 
Intemperance is closely related to crime and pros- 
titution, not only in the individual, but in his off- 
spring. The Jukes family, the Hill folk and the 
progeny of the notorious vagabond woman in Ger- 
many, so many of whom were criminals and prosti- 
tutes (to whom reference was made in the preced- 
ing chapter) sprang from drunken ancestors. Mr. 
Dugdale, a careful student of criminality and its 
causes, and a member of the Executive Committee 
of the Prison Association of New York, in a study 
of 223 convicts, found that 42.49 per cent came 
from intemperate families, 39.05 per cent of the 
convicts themselves being habitual drunkards. Up- 
on looking up the family histories of 2,000 erring 
girls, it was found that 1,464 had drunken fathers 
and 1,140 drunken mothers. Dr. Praskovia Tar- 
novskai examined at St. Petersburg fifty prostitutes 
and found that 82 per cent had parents who were 
habitual drunkards. 
For many generations the German people have 
37 Principles of Eugenics 
been heavy consumers of alcoholic liquors, it usu- 
ally being considered that the indulgence did not 
injure them. However, Kaiser Wilhelm has re- 
cently become a total abstainer, and in an address 
to the naval cadets admonished them to free them- 
selves from the evils of drinking, saying: “ The next 
war and the next sea battle demand sound nerves 
of you. Nerves will decide. These become under- 
mined through alcohol and from youth up by the 
use of alcohol endangered.” 
Alcohol spells only desolation for the country in 
which it is freely used, for men of authority say 
that all the diseases which come as the result of 
drinking liquor are liable to become hereditary even 
to the third generation, gradually increasing if the 
habit is continued, until the family is extinct. This 
cutting off of the wicked from the earth may not 
occur until the fourth generation, or later, but retri- 
bution will come in some way at some time. 
“ Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they 
grind exceeding small.” 
What is a nation to do that is in the shackles of 
the rum traffic? There is only one course to pur- 
sue, and that is to extirpate the curse so that there 
is left no trace whatever of the evil thing. Some 
say that it never can be done, but that is not as- 
sured. Formerly it was thought that the relation 
of this question to the country’s finances was a 
serious barrier, but it is now known that the in- 
come derived from the liquor traffic does not begin 
38 Race Poisons 
to equal the amount of money expended in caring 
for the results of drink. 
And now that scientists are almost unanimously 
agreed concerning the direful effects of liquor upon 
humanity, and since more and more its use as a 
medicine is being discontinued, the only excuse for 
its existence is the gratification of perverted appe- 
tite and the swelling of the coffers of those who 
are in the business. It certainly seems that if the 
true, loyal citizens will stand united, they will be 
able to answer these arguments at the ballot box 
and thus forever drive the traffic from the land. 
Very much is being said and written these days 
concerning the evils resulting from the social dis- 
eases. This information is being so widely dissem- 
inated that it might seem that all young people had 
the knowledge necessary to safeguard themselves 
and their future homes. However, it will not be 
out of place here to relate some of the ill effects 
that come to the young man who “ has had his 
fling,” also emphasizing the fact that those closely 
associated with him share in the consequences of 
his evil living. Syphilis, one of the social diseases, 
infects the blood, and therefore reaches the entire 
body. Professor Alfred Fournier, of France, a 
conceded authority on this subject, says that the 
skin is most frequently affected and that the brain 
is the next point of attack; the brain is called the 
“ prince of organs,” which rules all the other organs 
and governs the entire human machinery. There- 
39 Principles of Eugenics 
fore it is easy to believe what the Indiana State 
Board of Health says in one of its circulars, namely: 
that the disease is responsible for 90 per cent of 
locomotor ataxia, a large per cent of insanity, for 
paralysis, apoplexy and sudden deaths, sometimes 
even after the malady is thought to have been cured. 
Insurance companies refuse to insure a syphilitic 
person for four or five years after the disease has 
been acquired, and then only upon special terms. 
Their records prove that the disease shortens life 
one-third. The syphilitic person is a menace to 
society since he can communicate the disease to 
those about him, and he is a veritable curse to his 
children, who have thrust upon them the results of 
his riotous living. The hereditary marks are mani- 
fest in different forms, in defective development, ab- 
normal organs, in deviations from the natural type; 
hence we see the deformed, hunch-backed, grotesque 
creature—some of the actual monstrosities of life; 
the hydrocephalous, hysterical, neurasthenic indi- 
vidual; the epileptic and the deaf mute; and those 
who are weak in intelligence, the backward, the 
simple, the imbecile and the idiot. A most pitiable 
case of heredity is that of a girl whose physical 
growth had been stunted, her vision nearly de- 
stroyed, and at the age of eighteen she was just 
learning to spell “ cat ” and “ dog.” 
Very often children are destroyed from the ef- 
fects of this disease before or very shortly after 
birth. Dr. Fournier found that of 447 children 
40 Race Poisons 
whose fathers or mothers were syphilitic, there 
were 343 early deaths, only six surviving the first 
year. Another authority states that one-third of 
all children of syphilitic parents die before birth, 
and of the remainder, 24 per cent die within the 
first six months of life. Thus, natural selection, in 
the form of this disease, steps in and prevents the 
preponderant accession to the race of degenerate in- 
dividuals. 
The other social disease very often results in 
sterility, thus becoming a factor in race suicide. It 
is responsible for very much suffering, and while it 
is usually considered of local character, it can in- 
vade every tissue of the body. The individual 
who contracts gonorrhea may communicate it to 
others long after he thinks that he has been cured. 
The following is only typical of what is going on 
all about us. A young man, after following evil 
ways for some time, finally decides to “ clean up 
his deal with the devil.” He marries, and the 
happy couple start on their honeymoon trip, but 
they return in a short time, the bride appearing worn 
and haggard; she is not well, and continues to grow 
worse. In a few months she submits to an opera- 
tion. Her life is spared, yes, but she becomes a 
hopeless invalid, making no plans, dreaming no 
dreams. Never will she look down at her breast 
into the eyes of her little one, for she can never 
have one. Physical suffering, mutilation of the 
body, loss of womanhood, a childless home, and loss 
41 Principles of Eugenics 
of faith in him whom she loved most devotedly; all 
these are given to the young and beautiful wife by 
the husband who in the days of his young manhood 
had been “ having a good time.” 
The consequences are not always as pictured 
above. Sometimes a little babe is born in the home, 
but its eyes are affected. Doctor and nurse do all 
in their power, but in a couple of weeks the infant 
becomes totally blind. The innocent mother had 
been infected by the husband, and the infection 
had found its way into the eyes of the little child. 
A conservative estimate is that 25 per cent of blind- 
ness in children is caused in this way. Can you 
imagine the remorse of that young father when he 
learns the true cause of the affliction ? Verily, “ the 
last bill was not handed in ” when he gave up his 
evil ways. 
How true it is even in these days of enlighten- 
ment and progress that 
“ Folks talk too much of a soul 
From heavenly joys debarred— 
And not enough of the babes unborn, 
By the sins of their fathers scarred.” 
REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES 
Saleeby’s “ Parenthood and Race Culture,” p. 244. 
Billings’s “ Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Prob- 
lem,” Vol. II, p. 361. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass. 
International Purity Journal, Vol. XXVI, No. 101, p. 29. 
(Address of Dr. MacNicholl before the American Society 
42 Race Poisons 
for the Study of Alcohol and Other Narcotics, delivered 
June 3, 1912. Chicago, 111.) 
International Purity Journal, Vol. XXVI, No. 101, p. 19. 
Gregory’s “ Alcoholism and Insanity,” p. 25. Dr. Chas. 
L. Gregory, Greenville, Texas. 
Riddell’s “ Heredity and Parental Culture,” pp. 283, 320, 
321. Riddell Publishing Co., Chicago. 
International Purity Journal, Vol. XXVI, No. 101, p. 3. 
(Prof. Alfred Fournier’s Report to the 1899 Brussels In- 
ternational Congress for the Prevention of Venereal Dis- 
eases.) 
Indiana State Board of Health Circular, “ Social Hygiene 
vs. the Sexual Plagues,” p. 7. Indianapolis, Ind. 
International Purity Journal, Vol. XXVI, No. 101, p. 5. 
(Prof. Fournier’s Report.) 
Circular No. 3, Chicago Society of Social Hygiene. 
Chicago, 111. 
Scott’s “The Sexual Instinct,” p. 413. E. B. Treat & 
Co., New York. 
“Social Hygiene vs. the Sexual Plagues,” pp. 8-11. 
Circular No. 3, Chicago Society of Social Hygiene. 
43 CHAPTER IV 
INSTRUCTION IN SEX TRUTHS 
“ Better a year too soon than an hour too late.” 
Who stand guilty at the bar of justice for the 
deplorable conditions existing to-day? Not only 
the husbands and fathers who are directly the cause 
of so much suffering, but any one and every one 
who hold the thought that men can not lead clean 
lives, and who condone their evil ways. Before 
deciding to found a home, the young man should 
ask himself the question not only, “ What will pos- 
terity say of me ? ” but also, “ What will posterity do 
because of me ? ” He should have been taught that 
the character of his future offspring will be based 
upon his own thoughts and deeds; and that if he 
lives wickedly, he will have children that will rebuke 
him every hour of their lives. 
Does he know these things? No! In childhood 
he was left in ignorance concerning his sex nature. 
He asked his parents where babies came from, and 
they told him that the doctor or nurse found them 
under the haystack and brought them to their 
homes. The native intelligence of the child could 
not accept such a statement, and again he asked the 
44 Instruction in Sex Truths 
question, this time to be reproved and put off with 
the words, “ You must not think of such things ”; 
just as if it were a crime to want to know about the 
coming of children into the world. Poor deluded 
father and mother not to know that, being driven 
from them, the child will get the information from 
some other source. He goes to an older playmate 
and hears the story of life translated into the foul 
words of the street, in this way receiving the first 
and most lasting impression of the most sacred 
thing in all the world. Because his parents were 
too prudish to tell him the truth, a knowledge of 
impurity has been gained, and the vicious habit into 
which he falls soon holds him in its clutches. When, 
as a young man, he realizes the seriousness of the 
situation, perhaps he consults a physician who may 
advise him to secure a mistress, or in going to a 
house of shame, to be careful in the selection of his 
companion in crime. Many doctors do not offer 
this kind of advice, but why do any of them do so ? 
Why do they not offer the young man suggestions 
and practical hints which will help him to overcome 
his evil habit ? Why do they not advise him of the 
injurious consequences to himself, his future wife 
and unborn offspring, if he visits the house of ill 
repute, and then show the contrasted picture of the 
beneficent effects of clean living; telling him that 
by conserving his vital force it will be disseminated 
throughout his body and build him up into a splen- 
did, vigorous manhood? It is their privilege to 
45 Principles of Eugenics 
impart this knowledge, inspiring the young man to 
say to himself: 
“ I will guard my passions as Kings guard treasures, 
And keep them high and clean, 
(For the will of a man, with his passions, measures; 
It is strong as they are keen). 
I will think of each woman as some man’s mother; 
I will think of each man as my own blood brother, 
And speed him on his way. 
And the glory of life in this wonderful hour, 
Shall fill me and thrill me with Conscious power.” 
The efforts of platform and press to arouse the 
interest and consciences of people concerning the 
necessity of sex instruction are most praiseworthy 
and are helping to create a healthy public sentiment 
which is making its influence felt. Societies of Sex 
Hygiene and other organizations are circulating lit- 
erature on the subject; also Parent-Teachers’ As- 
sociations, in which parents and teachers co-operate, 
are discussing methods whereby the children may 
best be enlightened; and a number of Public Schools 
throughout the land are inaugurating courses of 
study in personal purity or sex hygiene. Although 
the methods of instruction will vary in different 
schools, the same general plan will doubtless be fol- 
lowed in all, namely: the imparting of sex hygiene 
instruction to children of the lower grades through 
nature study lessons; and to the grammar and high 
school youth through studies in botany, zoology, 
anatomy and physiology; boys and girls in separate 
46 Instruction in Sex Truths 
classes to be taught concerning the physical and 
psychical changes that come to them at the age of 
puberty; the girls to learn that they should allow 
no familiarities from the other sex, and to be warned 
as to the wiles and arguments which the betrayers 
use to ensnare girls and women; the boys to be 
taught the beneficial effects of continence and the 
injurious consequences of squandering life force; 
both boys and girls to study the laws of heredity so 
as to understand that their thoughts and deeds of 
to-day will have an influence upon their posterity 
of to-morrow. 
All this knowledge can be imparted to the youth 
of the public schools, and may the time soon come 
when every school throughout the land will inaug- 
urate courses in sex hygiene or personal purity. 
But this instruction should be only supplementary 
to that given in the home. Children should know 
something of the mystery of life before being sent 
to school, so that they will not be contaminated by 
what others may tell them. Conscientious parents 
early train their children in truthfulness, honesty, 
obedience, reverence, courtesy and kindness, and 
continue doing so until maturity is reached; but on 
the question of purity, very, very often not one word 
of instruction is given. Why do the father and 
mother hesitate to tell the boy or girl the secret of 
life which would safeguard them against unclean- 
ness of thought and conduct? Because they can 
not, holding, as they do, incorrect ideas of sex and 
47 Principles of Eugenics 
an improper conception of life in its different 
phases. Let them get a true reverence for life and 
God’s view of sex, then it will not be a difficult mat- 
ter to unfold the mysteries of life to the child. 
When the question is asked, “ Where did I come 
from ? ” the psychological moment will have arrived 
for the narration of the facts. The mother can say 
that once he or she was a tiny egg in mother’s body, 
and that the egg grew because her own blood nour- 
ished it; and that when it became large enough, God 
opened the door in her body through which the child 
passed as a tiny babe. The secret of life is usually 
told to children in this way, and when they under- 
stand that the mother gives herself and must suffer 
in order for them to have an existence, a bond of 
affection is usually established between mother and 
child which is truly beautiful. 
When the boy or girl is ready for the more seri- 
ous part of the story, they can be told that the rea- 
son they love their father so well is because they 
are also a part of him; that he, too, gave a part of 
his life that they might be; that God bestows upon 
every living thing in the world a father and a 
mother, this being His way for keeping life on the 
earth. Have them understand that the whole sub- 
ject is a sacred one, not to be discussed with other 
children, but only with father and mother, who will 
answer anything and everything they wish to know. 
They should not have the impression that anything 
is being withheld, for then their curiosity will be left 
48 Instruction in Sex Truths 
unsatisfied and they will think there is something 
impure about sex. However, the questions which 
they ask will not seem embarrassing, but can be 
easily answered if the whole subject is regarded as 
sacred and viewed from the standpoint of the 
Creator. 
The prudent mother will dwell upon the neces- 
sity of caring for the body, telling the children that 
certain organs are set apart as the life-giving or- 
gans; and are never to be desecrated in any way, 
for that is a sin against themselves and God; and 
that if they want to grow up strong, healthy, vigor- 
ous men and women, they must regard the entire 
body as the holy temple of God. Knowing the aw- 
ful prevalence of impurity among the young, she 
will be ever on the alert watching lest her children 
be contaminated by some other child. Also she will 
keep them busily occupied with interesting and ab- 
sorbing work or recreation, instilling into their 
minds the highest ideals and noblest ambitions which 
will fill their lives so completely that they will have 
neither time nor inclination for anything of im- 
morality. 
Thus all along the way, the parents, and espe- 
cially the mother, will instruct, guide and inspire, in 
a very great degree helping to answer the prayer 
of the children as voiced by Kipling: 
“ Father in Heaven, who lovest all, 
O help Thy children when they call; 
49 Principles of Eugenics 
That they may build from age to age 
An undefiled heritage. 
“Teach us to rule ourselves alway, 
Controlled and cleanly night and day; 
That we may bring, if need arise, 
No maimed or worthless sacrifice.” 
Instruction concerning sex must be given in the 
public school, the Sunday school, in normal schools, 
colleges and universities, and from pulpit, platform 
and press; but more than anything else is the need 
of intelligent, faithful, consecrated parents who will 
teach their children about the beginnings of life, and 
carefully and wisely train them in purity. If all 
could have this kind of parents for a few genera- 
tions, the time would not be far distant when there 
would be no more “ maimed or worthless sacrifices ” 
of humanity, but children and young people leading 
clean lives and building “ an undefiled heritage ” for 
God and their country. 
50 CHAPTER V 
TOBACCO AND DRUGS 
“If God should wink at a single act of injustice, the 
whole Universe would shrivel up like a cast-off snake 
skin.”—Arab Proverb. 
The problem as to the causes of race degeneracy 
and race suicide will never be completely solved un- 
til exhaustive investigations and experiments are 
made relative to the effects of tobacco on posterity. 
The consumption of tobacco has increased so rap- 
idly during the past fifty years, that naturally one 
inquires if it might not be a factor in causing the 
declining birth rate and the alarming increase of 
insanity, feeble-mindedness, epilepsy and other 
forms of degeneracy. 
It is well known that one pound of tobacco con- 
tains three hundred and eighty grains of nicotine, 
a poison second only to prussic acid in virulence. 
One-twentieth of a drop is sufficient to completely 
paralyze a frog, one drop to kill a dog, and in poi- 
sonous doses it will destroy the life of a man in from 
two to five minutes. The smoke from tobacco, in 
addition to the nicotine, contains ammonia and car- 
bonic acid; the ammonia causing dryness of throat 
and mouth, which produces abnormal thirst, usually 
51 Principles of Eugenics 
only allayed by alcoholic drinks; and the carbonic 
acid inducing sleepiness, lassitude and headache. 
In the smoke of tobacco is also found the deadly 
poison, empyreumatic oil, one drop of which in- 
jected into a cat causes death in a very few minutes. 
It is believed by some that to swallow all the smoke 
from one cigar would be sufficient to kill a beginner. 
It is probably conceded by all physicians that im- 
moderate smoking is directly the cause of many 
cases of acute indigestion, and is an important fac- 
tor in producing arterio-sclerosis, apoplexy, inter- 
stitial nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) and 
a weak heart. 
The use of tobacco has a most harmful effect up- 
on the intellect, impairing the memory and the abil- 
ity to concentrate the mind on study. A man of 
prominence who knew the evil consequences of 
smoking said that it never failed to render him dull 
and heavy, and to weaken his powers of analyzing 
subjects and defining ideas. Because of its injuri- 
ous effects upon the mind, tobacco has been forbid- 
den to the students at the U. S. Naval Academy at 
Annapolis, and the Board of Visitors and Directors 
at West Point Military Academy have recommended 
that its use be prohibited among the cadets at that 
place. The French government has forbidden the 
students of the state colleges to smoke, it being 
found that only six out of an hundred smokers were 
able to take a place in the first division. 
Physicians say that tobacco produces eye difficul- 
52 Tobacco and Drugs 
ties, such as myosis, amaurosis, and atrophy of the 
optic nerve, which do not yield to treatment unless 
the patient discontinues the use of tobacco. Very 
often these diseases are passed on to offspring, caus- 
ing such defective vision in them as to necessitate 
the wearing of glasses. One of the most noted 
ophthalmic surgeons of the United Kingdom, Dr. R. 
B. Carter, says that tobacco smoking has the ten- 
dency to produce blindness. At first he was scepti- 
cal on the subject and made the above statement 
only after forty years of experience as a physician. 
But this is not all. Superintendents of Insane Hos- 
pitals say that the use of tobacco tends to produce in- 
sanity, even when there are no other complicating 
causes; some maintain that it is even a greater 
causative factor than the drinking of spirituous 
liquors. 
The effect of tobacco upon the individual being 
so deleterious, the question may well be asked as to 
its bearing upon his offspring. Upon this point, as 
well as upon all others, proof must be sought, and 
not a mere expression of opinion be given. Dr. 
Saleeby, a noted authority on Eugenics, says that it 
is only the fanatic who would affirm that there is 
any relation between racial degeneration and to- 
bacco smoking. He says that immunizing sub- 
stances, or anti-toxins, are doubtless produced in 
the smoker’s blood which may protect his germ 
cells as well as his own body. But he does not show 
that they are so produced; and the fact that the 
53 Principles of Eugenics 
individual suffers physically and mentally from to- 
bacco smoking proves that the anti-toxins are not 
supplied in sufficient quantities to guard the body 
cells; and if the body cells are not protected against 
nicotine poisoning, there is no valid ground for 
saying that the germ cells will be uninjured since 
the same blood nourishes both. 
This conclusion is in harmony with the statement 
of Dr. Borel, who says that tobacco smoking makes 
the individual socially unfit, brutal and criminal 
since it leaves its consequences in the poisoning of 
his germ cells. But not only that, if husband and 
wife be not continent, the system of the wife be- 
comes saturated with the nicotine and her repro- 
ductive cells also are poisoned. Surely strong, 
healthy offspring can not come from such sources. 
Then, too, the wife is breathing the emanations 
from her husband’s skin and lungs, and is often 
called upon to inhale the smoke from his cigar, pipe 
or cigarette, producing in her highly nervous con- 
ditions. That breathing nicotine-laden air by 
mothers has an injurious effect upon offspring is not 
generally known, but investigations carried on 
among women working in tobacco factories strongly 
confirm the above opinion, if not actually proving 
its truth. Dr. Kostral, physician to the Royal To- 
bacco Factory of Iglan, near Vienna, says that the 
women working in the factory who bear children 
and furnish nourishment for them have inflam- 
mation of the breast, and their milk has in it the 
54 Tobacco and Drugs 
odor of tobacco. That is not to be wondered at, 
since the women are exposed ten hours each day 
to the atmosphere charged with tobacco dust. 
Of 506 children born in three years to these 
women, there were 11 cases of foetal death, and 
181 cases of death during the first year, the curious 
fact being that the major part of these infants died 
when from three to four months old, just when the 
mothers returned to work in the factories. One 
hundred and one of these children had brain dis- 
ease and died with convulsions. If such ill effects 
befall offspring because the mothers have breathed 
the atmosphere which was laden with tobacco dust, 
could any less injurious consequences be expected 
when wives breathe tobacco smoke, and the exhala- 
tions from their husbands’ lungs and skin ? 
Dr. Playfair leads us to believe that it is a factor in 
causing loss of foetal lives, same occurring in women 
who occupy overheated rooms where there are nox- 
ious gases in the atmosphere. It is said that where 
tobacco is smoked in badly ventilated rooms, the air 
becomes highly charged with carbon monoxide gas, 
the person breathing that atmosphere not only starv- 
ing his or her blood of oxygen, but introducing into 
it the poison of carbon monoxide. Since the unborn 
child depends upon its mother’s blood for nourish- 
ment, we can easily see that if this supply of food 
be poisoned, there must be evil consequences. 
From experiments performed upon animals, Dr. 
Tidswell has formed the conclusion that nicotine 
55 Principles of Eugenics 
poisoning may be the cause of painful childbirth. 
He also believes that nicotine may be found to pro- 
duce sterility in man, since the poison existing in 
the life principle and in the blood might easily act 
as an irritant and bring about reflex action of nerves 
and muscles. 
Another authority makes a statement somewhat 
similar to the above, which has a very decided bear- 
ing on Eugenics. He says that tobacco decreases in 
a marked degree the sexual power, the organs be- 
coming relaxed and shrivelling in proportion to the 
amount of tobacco used. That is a basis for his be- 
lief that the immoderate use of tobacco is gradually 
reducing the natural executive power of statesman- 
ship in man, same being dependent, as is well 
known, upon abundant sex force. 
To accurately ascertain the ill effects of tobacco 
upon posterity from a physical standpoint, so that 
there can be no occasion for questioning results or 
ascribing them to other causes, a series of experi- 
ments might be performed upon the lower animals. 
For instance, a young male could be subjected to 
the fumes of a lighted cigar or pipe a certain 
period each day in such very limited quantities that 
it would not kill him; a female also should be placed 
in the cage so as to inhale the emanations from the 
skin and lungs of the male, but to get none of the 
fumes of the tobacco, the object of the experiment 
being to ascertain the effects upon offspring when 
the male only is subjected to the tobacco smoke; she 
56 Tobacco and Drugs 
should become impregnated, the two remaining in 
the cage until she had ceased to nourish her young, 
if the experiment be performed upon mammals. 
The important facts as to the birth rate, loss of 
foetal life, if any, manner of delivery of the young, 
their physical vigor, brain formation and length of 
life could then be noted; and the same information 
should be obtained concerning animals that had 
lived normally. 
Few persons are aware of the injurious effect of 
drugs upon the unborn child, especially when taken 
by the mother to destroy foetal life. It is known 
that the young of animals develop abnormally if 
subjected to unnatural conditions. In an experi- 
ment with fish eggs which were put in sea water to 
which a solution containing one part of magnesium 
and two parts of chlorin had been added, 50 out of 
100 formed embryos which were one-eyed monstros- 
ities. Other substances, such as alcohol, ether and 
chloroform were tried and gave like results. When 
alcohol was used, the embryos manifested almost 
every gross abnormality known to exist in the brain, 
and the spinal cord also was defective. Could not 
similar irregularities arise in human offspring if they 
are allowed to develop under unnatural conditions 
such as are induced when the mother takes drugs 
to destroy the prenatal life? There is reason to 
think so, since physicians state that anything having 
a morbific (disease producing) influence upon the 
mother will react deleteriously upon the product of 
57 Principles of Eugenics 
conception, either destroying it or weakening its re- 
sisting powers. The foetus or embryo gets its nour- 
ishment from the mother’s blood, and since experi- 
ments have proven that certain drugs injected into 
the foetal organism were eliminated by the mother, 
showing that they traversed the placenta (through 
which the unborn child is nourished by the mother) 
it is reasonable to conclude that they reached, and 
would affect, the unborn child. 
Dr. Rentoul, in his “ Race Culture or Race Sui- 
cide,” contends that a considerable number of chil- 
dren who do not die from abortion are so poisoned 
that their brain and nervous system are perma- 
nently injured, the child being influenced to as great 
an extent within the uterus as outside of it. He 
also maintains that cancer in the reproductive or- 
gans of woman often occurs because portions of con- 
ception left in the system undergo retrograde or de- 
generative change. 
It is natural to look for the cause of congenital 
degeneracy in bad heredity or alcoholism. How- 
ever, these are not always prime factors as has been 
proven in an investigation carried on at the Vine- 
land (N. J.) Institution for Feeble-minded, where 
187 families connected with the institution were 
studied. Out of 343 children born in 60 families 
of normal heredity, there were 60 feeble-minded; 
and out of 148 children born in 21 families where 
the heredity was normal and both parents were non- 
alcoholics, there were 21 feeble-minded children. 
58 Tobacco and Drugs 
Being convinced that bad heredity and alcoholism 
are not the only factors bearing on this subject, it 
may be asked if unnatural conditions attending pre- 
natal life might not be a cause for degeneracy? 
This may be answered by the statement of Beach, 
Shuttleworth and Barr, who carefully analyzed the 
causes of feeble-mindedness and idiocy in 5,430 
children and found that agencies acting during preg- 
nancy accounted for 64.85 per cent of feeble-minded 
children, as against 32.23 per cent during birth, and 
2.92 per cent after birth. They do not state what 
these causes are, but no doubt the use of drugs is 
one of them, for when the unnatural and forced 
contractions of a mother’s organs to give up the 
foetus or embryo are noted, and also that the poi- 
sonous drug finds its way into that structure, it is 
very easy to believe that this arrested cell develop- 
ment would result disastrously to body and brain. 
Instances have been observed to support this theory. 
The fact that feeble-minded and epileptic children 
were seldom the first born of their parents forcibly 
impressed C. J. Bayer, author of “ Modern Re- 
searches,” and caused him to form the opinion that 
often mothers, after having given birth to two or 
three children, and not desiring more, would take 
drugs to destroy the foetal life; and that when their 
purpose was not accomplished, degenerate children 
would be born. He had many private interviews 
with mothers of feeble-minded and epileptic chil- 
dren, and some of them confessed endeavoring to 
59 Principles of Eugenics 
produce abortions; and the statements also of prac- 
tising physicians and superintendents of institutions 
for the feeble-minded and epileptics confirmed him 
in this opinion. This is a very delicate subject on 
which to approach people, many of whom most per- 
sistently deny the truth, but enough information was 
gathered by Bayer and is being collected by other in- 
vestigators to cause people to think and observe on 
this most important question. 
The researches and investigations carried on 
through Carnegie Institute are very valuable, also 
those of the American Genetic Association, to learn 
to what extent physical and moral traits and dis- 
eases are transmitted. But two additional things 
must be done if degeneracy would be prevented 
from getting a foothold in this country; first, the 
true causes for the beginnings of disease and deteri- 
oration must be ascertained; and, secondly, every 
possible means must be employed to prevent those 
evil forces from working. 
The crime of foeticide is a disgraceful blot upon 
so-called civilization. The ancient Romans are con- 
demned for their practice of infanticide, but modern 
races hold no higher regard for life, in the slaughter- 
ing of unborn infants. This is equally a crime 
against life, and no doubt it is more far-reaching in 
its results for evil to humanity than the former, for 
if the mother is not successful in her attempts to 
destroy the unborn, she will stamp upon its mind, 
through the law of maternal impressions, the desire 
60 Tobacco and Drugs 
to kill, which may go with him all through life. If 
the 860 cases of homicide and the 1,813 cases of 
suicide which occurred in Chicago during the quad- 
rennium from 1907 to and including 1910, could be 
traced back to predisposing causes, no doubt they 
would be found in the prenatal life of the individual 
in many instances when the mother tried by various 
methods to destroy the life developing within her 
body. However, the mother is not the only one 
who is responsible for this murderous instinct; often 
the father is an equal partner in the crime, for he 
may have forced motherhood upon her against her 
reasonable wish and at a time when she felt she 
could not assume its burdens, or he may have con- 
strained the wife to refuse maternity from his own 
dislike to accept his paternal responsibilities or sup- 
port a child. 
Young people should be impressed with the truth 
that the sublimest thing in all the world is human 
life. Instruction in home and school will fail in its 
purpose if the ethical phase of sex and reproduction 
is neglected or given secondary place. In all such 
teaching there must be emphasized the sacredness of 
life, the responsibility of conferring life upon an- 
other, and the duty and privilege of cherishing that 
life in every way. 
REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES 
The Clinique, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6, pp. 312-313, 317- 
Chicago, 111. 
61 Principles of Eugenics 
“The Use of Tobacco,” p. 54. B. Marsh, Boston, Mass. 
“Tobacco Manual,” p. 73. 
“ Nicotine, Racial Poison,” p. 7. Mrs. Frances Swiney, 
Sandford Lawn, Cheltenham, England. 
The Clinique, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6, pp. 315, 317. 
The Beacon Light, Vol. XVII, No. 8, p. 88. London, 
England. 
The Naturopath, Vol. XVIII, No. 5, p. 342. New York. 
Saleeby’s “ Parenthood and Race Culture,” pp. 291-292. 
“Nicotine, Racial Poison,” pp. 9, ir. 
Tidswell’s “ The Tobacco Habit,” pp. 182, 184, 70, 148, 
206. J. & A. Churchill, London, England. 
The Clinique, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6, pp. 315, 317. 
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, No. 
205, p. 191. Philadelphia, Pa. 
Philadelphia Medical Journal, October 6, 1900. 
Revue des Sciences Medicates, 1898, p. 484. 
Rentoul’s “ Race Culture or Race Suicide,” pp. 105, 130. 
Walter Scott Publishing Co., London, England. 
American Breeders’ Magazine, Vol. II, No. 4, p. 271. 
Report of the Department of Health of Chicago for 
1907-10, p. 407. 
62 CHAPTER VI 
PRENATAL NUTRITION AND ENVIRON- 
MENT 
“ When Breeds are in the making, everything is worth 
while.”—Kipling. 
The study of Eugenics will be of little practical 
benefit to humanity unless it is considered from the 
positive, as well as from the negative standpoint. 
It is well to know how to avoid having inferior off- 
spring, but it is equally important to know how to 
produce superior children. Doubtless everybody 
admits that there must be wise training if desired 
results are to be obtained, and it is generally con- 
ceded that this training must begin early. One au- 
thority of prominence has said that if he could have 
a child the first seven years of its life, he could make 
of the boy or girl anything he wished. Another 
writer has said: “ Begin to teach the child when its 
grandsire is a baby,” which is equivalent to saying 
that the education and training which persons re- 
ceive show results in their children and grandchil- 
dren. 
But perhaps some one raises the question, “ Are 
acquired characteristics transmissible? Can pros- 
pective parents who have thoroughly and systemat- 
63 Principles of Eugenics 
ically disciplined themselves, physically, mentally 
and morally, transmit to their offspring the traits 
or tendencies which they have developed ? ” It 
seems reasonable to suppose that they have this 
power, it being simply a phase of heredity, the ten- 
dency of like to beget like. However, often it is 
very difficult to distinguish definitely between trans- 
mission of acquired and inherent characteristics; 
neither is the line clearly drawn between the trans- 
mission of acquired characteristics and the power 
of maternal impressions. But illustrations are seen 
in instances where special physical training has been 
taken by men who desired to fit themselves for 
parenthood before the initial of a new life took 
place, the effect being that the children, even as 
babes, manifested great strength of muscle and vigor 
of body. Also children of unusual talents have been 
born of parents who have put themselves through 
a systematic course of instruction along specific lines 
of study, the effect being most pronounced when the 
mother continued the training during gestation. 
The power of this factor in heredity is doubted 
by some persons who maintain that the reproductive 
cells found in the new-born infant contain at that 
time everything that they ever will contain; in other 
words, the child is the outgrowth of the germ plasm 
just as it is found in its father and mother at their 
birth. But it must be remembered that the re- 
productive cells or germ plasm must have nourish- 
ment, which it receives through the blood of the 
64 Prenatal Nutrition and Environment 
individual. If that supply of blood be correct in 
quantity and quality, the reproductive cells will be 
well nourished; but if the nourishment be poor, the 
germ plasm will result in inferior offspring. This 
fact has been demonstrated in animals. In one in- 
stance, an experiment was performed with silk- 
worms, and three generations were dwarfed in size 
on account of lack of feeding of only the first brood 
of larvae, the moths of succeeding generations being 
larger and resuming their normal appearance. 
The above shows the effects of different supplies 
of nutrition on the progeny of animals, and it seems 
reasonable to suppose that similar results will be 
noted in the human race. When an individual 
habitually takes physical culture exercises, his mus- 
cular system is gradually built up because of the 
improved quantity and quality of blood in his body; 
and it is easy to believe that the germ plasm in his 
body will be increased in vigor because of better 
nourishment which it also receives through this 
blood; and that, as his mind directs the flow of 
blood and life force to certain muscles in his body 
causing them to develop, so it also has the power 
to direct the flow of blood to the potentialities of 
those muscles in his germ cells, making possible 
strong and healthy muscles in the offspring. Also 
it is easy to believe that if a certain organ is not 
used at all, the effect of that non-use will be per- 
ceived in the offspring, because that potential organ 
existing in the germ cell did not receive its proper 
65 Principles of Eugenics 
nourishment. This belief would seem to be con- 
firmed by the fact that species of fish living in caves 
have eyes that are atrophied (become useless), al- 
though they have come from fish with well-devel- 
oped eyes. In planning for the perpetuation of the 
race, God ordained the law of natural selection, or 
the survival of the fittest, extending that selection 
to include traits of character, physical, mental and 
moral; the traits which are strongest, most vigor- 
ous, and greatly exercised, being the ones that are 
handed down from generation to generation; and 
those that are weak and seldom used, becoming ex- 
tinct in the species. 
Only the physiological aspect of the question has 
been considered, but it is well to remember that 
man has a mind as well as body; he has a psychic 
as well as a physical nature which must be nour- 
ished and maintained. As the blood builds up the 
physical, so the thoughts build up the psychic in the 
individual; his mind power is determined by his 
thoughts, ambitions, purposes and ideals. If he is 
giving himself special mental training, his blood and 
life force will go to the areas in the brain repre- 
sented by the special traits which are being called 
into action. It is reasonable to suppose that his 
blood and life force will be directed also to the po- 
tentiality of those traits in his germ cells, making 
possible the healthy activity of traits in the offspring. 
This fact has been demonstrated in different species 
of animals. Professor Elmer Gates, at Chevy Chase, 
66 Prenatal Nutrition and Environment 
Washington, D. C., who has obtained world-wide 
fame because of his psychical and physiological ex- 
periments upon the lower animals and man, says 
that he trained four generations of guinea pigs in 
using their powers of sight, and the progeny of the 
fourth generation were born with a larger number 
of brain cells in the visual areas than any guinea 
pigs whose ancestors had not had the training. He 
has formed the conclusion that mental activity cre- 
ates in mental organism certain structures trans- 
missible to their offspring, and demonstrates the 
transmission of acquired characteristics. This view 
is in harmony with that of Herbert Spencer, who 
says that change of function produces change of 
structure and these changes of structure are in- 
herited. Darwin said that the different species have 
been modified not only through natural selection 
but in an important manner through the inherited 
effects of the use and disuse of parts. Some sci- 
entists would have us believe that all progress in 
life has been brought about by natural and artificial 
selection, and that no such thing is possible as the 
transmission of acquired characteristics. Such an 
eminent authority on scientific subjects as Dr. David 
Starr Jordan, although not a firm believer in this 
phase of heredity, yet concedes the difficulty of ex- 
plaining to any satisfaction species forming or evo- 
lution without the help of this factor. Ribot, on 
commenting upon the instinct in the English wood- 
cock of the fear of man and how it had increased 
67 Principles of Eugenics 
by its transmission through several generations, 
says: “ It is not for us to inquire here how these 
acquired or modified instincts are produced. We 
have only to ask whether they are hereditary. Ex- 
perience answers in the affirmative/’ Luther Bur- 
bank, whose remarkable success with plants renders 
him well able to speak on the subject of life and 
reproduction, believes so strongly that acquired 
characteristics can be transmitted that he defines 
heredity to be “ the sum of all the effects of all the 
environments of all the past generations on the re- 
sponsive, ever-moving life forces.” 
However, Weismann and his followers claim that 
characteristics which have been built up during the 
life of an individual can not be transmitted to off- 
spring; that what a person attains for himself or 
herself has no effect on the reproductive cells, and 
hence no effect on offspring. He believes that the 
greatest cause for physical and mental variation in 
individuals is in the fusion of germ cells of the par- 
ents. If this be true, the question may be asked 
why there are such dissimilarities in character be- 
tween members of the same family, all coming from 
identically the same germ plasm in father and 
mother. And when they say that these differences 
are caused by variations in the germ plasm, it may 
be asked if these variations are not caused by the 
influence of the parents’ surroundings and thought- 
life upon their reproductive cells. Thought is the 
mightiest thing in the Universe and well may it be 
68 Prenatal Nutrition and Environment 
believed that it is sufficiently powerful to take hold 
of an individual’s whole being, his life-giving fac- 
ulties included; the differences in character between 
members of the same family being due to different 
thoughts, purposes and ambitions existing in the 
minds of the parents before the conception of these 
children. Everything visible to man is the product 
of mind. The picture of the artist; the sonata of 
the musician; the telegraph; the telephone; the 
automobile; the airship; all existed in the mind of 
the individual before they were visible realities; 
and the child must have existed in the minds of the 
parents, as well as of their ancestors, before its 
birth; in other words, it is the product of the 
thought-life of those who have preceded it, includ- 
ing its parents. 
Some authorities disbelieve in this phase of hered- 
ity because mutilations, such as the habitual deform- 
ing of the feet in Chinese women, are not trans- 
mitted from one generation to another. But it must 
be remembered that the Chinese woman uses her 
feet; therefore their function is not destroyed; hence 
also the mutilation does not affect the body, nor 
reach the germ plasm, but is an influence external 
to the germ plasm, probably having no more effect 
upon it than the clipping of the hair of the indi- 
vidual or the cutting of the nails of his fingers. If 
the bandaged feet were not used, no doubt in time 
the Chinese women would have deformed feet; or 
if the injury to the feet resulted in disease, perme- 
69 Principles of Eugenics 
ating the system so as to reach the germ plasm, the 
consequences of that mutilation might be seen in the 
offspring. The reason why an injury is not dupli- 
cated usually in the offspring or their descendants 
is because for countless generations preceding there 
has been the perfect organ, and it takes a stronger 
influence than a single mutilation to affect the germ 
plasm. That a mutilation not affecting the body as 
a whole is sometimes transmitted from parent to 
child may be due to the fact that the mother had the 
picture of that injury stamped indelibly upon her 
mind during gestation; or because the father, in 
whose body the injury perhaps was received before 
the initial of a new life occurred, was highly sensi- 
tive to it, and firmly believed it would reappear in 
his offspring. No doubt the former is the more 
potent factor. 
While mutilations in the individual’s body act as 
an external factor to the germ cells, the emotions 
which he experiences are an agency which has a 
most decided influence on the reproductive princi- 
ple and the physical as well as mental constitution 
of his offspring. Professor Elmer Gates has dem- 
onstrated that evil emotions, such as fear, remorse 
and anger, create poisons in the blood which tend to 
retard or stop the growth of the cells of the body; 
while the good emotions, as peace, joy, happiness, 
produce secretions which bring about a normal de- 
velopment of those cells. These secretions affect 
the reproductive cells, as well as the soma cells of 
70 Prenatal Nutrition and Environment 
the individual. Therefore, Professor Gates urges 
parents to put themselves in training and cherish 
only the right kind of emotions, the inspiring, high- 
grade feelings, for six months or a year before the 
initial of a new life takes place, in order that the 
reproductive cells may be perfectly formed and have 
in them the foundation for a strong, vigorous con- 
stitution in the offspring. 
But why should they wait until that time to train 
themselves ? Why should they not early form right 
habits of thinking and living, so that their offspring 
may have the richer endowment? Too much em- 
phasis can not be placed upon the necessity of young 
people making the proper choice of mates in mar- 
riage ; yet if the production of superior children 
were dependent upon that one factor, the outlook 
would be most discouraging to prospective fathers 
and mothers, for weak traits of character are to 
be found in all. But when young people learn that 
by a conscientious endeavor to train themselves, 
they are thereby training their unborn children, they 
can feel that there is some hope and joy in parent- 
age ; that it is something to which they can look for- 
ward with delight and even rapture; then they will 
be inspired to work hard to attain the best and high- 
est that there is in them, leading the lives that will 
be not only a blessing to themselves but to their 
succeeding generations. 
71 Principles of Eugenics 
REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES 
Riddell’s “ Heredity and Prenatal Culture,” pp. 156 and 
160-161. 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “ Evolution and Animal Life,” pp. 
202, 179. 
Elmer Gates’s “ The Mind and the Brain,” p. 30. The 
Theosophical Publishing Co., New York. 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “Evolution and Animal Life,” p. 
196. 
Darwin’s “ Origin of Species,” p. 293. Murray, London. 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “ Evolution and Animal Life,” p. 
116. 
Ribot’s “Heredity,” p. 17. Copyright, 1911, by D. Apple- 
ton & Co., New York. 
Burbank’s “Training of the Human Plant,” p. 68. The 
Century Co., New York. 
Weismann’s “Essays upon Heredity,” Vol. I, p. 273. 
Oxford-Clarendon Press, 1892. 
Elmer Gates’s “The Mind and the Brain,” pp. 11 and 21. 
Andrea Hofer Proudfoot’s “ A Mother’s Ideals,” pp. 48- 
50. (Prof. Gates’s address to Mothers’ Congress, Febru- 
ary, 1897, Washington, D. C.) A. Flanagan Co., Chicago. 
72 CHAPTER VII 
PRENATAL NUTRITION AND ENVIRON- 
MENT (Continued) 
“ A sweet, new blossom of Humanity, 
Fresh fallen from God’s own hand to flower on earth.” 
—Gerald Massey. 
It is said that a learned body of scientists once 
sat in conference and decided that it was scientific- 
ally impossible for a vessel to cross the ocean by the 
power of steam, and while the decision was being 
recorded on the minutes, word was received that a 
steamship had actually made the voyage across the 
ocean, and was that moment entering the harbor. 
Some scientists who have only the materialistic 
view of heredity tell us that it is impossible for the 
thoughts and emotions of the mother during gesta- 
tion to influence the unborn child. But in spite of 
their denial and ridicule of facts, the law of ma- 
ternal impressions during gestation still operates, 
both for the weal and woe of humanity. Students 
of heredity who have opportunities for observing 
family histories declare that they see its results 
everywhere. Many mothers whose knowledge of 
Eugenics has come to them since the birth of their 
children, on analyzing their own thought-life during 
73 Principles of Eugenics 
the periods of gestation, detect an intimate relation 
between it and the character of their children. 
Then again prospective mothers who have received 
instruction along these lines, and believed in the 
potency of the law, have made a practical test of it, 
placing themselves under special training during 
these highly susceptible periods, in order to give cer- 
tain desired tendencies of mind and character to 
,their offspring. When they declare, and others can 
perceive, that their efforts have been successful, it 
is only fair and just to admit the existence and ef- 
fectiveness of this law of maternal impressions, or 
gestative influence, producing results through the 
child’s prenatal nutrition and environment. 
If, as Dr. David Starr Jordan says, “ Science is 
human experience tested and set in order,” then a 
woman who is a mother and is able to classify and 
analyze her experiences, is a true scientist; for it is 
facts, not theories, with which science deals; and a 
mother knows the facts of maternity as a man, even 
though he be a scientist, can not know them. It is 
for man to stand and wait, while woman has the 
experience. 
Luther Burbank, who is well able to speak on the 
improvement of the species, in referring to the pre- 
natal period and the importance of throwing around 
the prospective mother every loving, helpful and 
ennobling influence, says: “ In the doubly sacred 
time before the birth of a child lies, far more than 
we can possibly know, the hope of the future of this 
74 Prenatal Nutrition and Environment 
ideal race which is coming upon this earth if we and 
our descendants will it so to be.” 
Some authorities who do not believe in the power 
of maternal impressions are fair-minded enough to 
concede its possibilities, even citing cases to prove 
the law. Such an one is J. Arthur Thomson, Regius 
Professor of Natural History in Aberdeen Uni- 
versity, and author of a number of scientific works. 
In his book, “ Heredity,” after referring to the 
striking example of this influence narrated in the 
Bible, concerning Jacob’s experience with his father- 
in-law’s flocks and herds, he cites the case of a 
breeder who had never been able to obtain a par- 
ticular kind of calf by a certain cow; but, keeping 
her, through pregnancy, with a heifer of the desired 
color, he secured the calf he wished. The author 
also tells how a pregnant woman who had viewed 
her husband's arm cut open by a falling block gave 
birth, in spite of the doctor’s reassurance to the 
contrary, to a child that had a mark suggestive of 
the father’s wound, and on the same arm. He then 
says: “ We must remember that for a prolonged 
period the unborn child is part and parcel of the 
mother—almost an integral part of herself—and we 
are beginning to know enough of the influence of 
mind upon body to make us cautious in dogmatizing 
as to the possibilities of what Ballantyne finely calls 
‘ the mysterious wireless telegraphy of ante-natal 
life.’ ” 
Physiologists tell us that the fertilized ovum, the 
75 Principles of Eugenics 
microscopic bit of protoplasm, contains all that the 
child will ever be, except what it gains through 
nutrition and environment. These are known to be 
most important factors in the child’s life after birth. 
Why are they not of as much importance, or more, 
before birth? 
The unborn child receives its nourishment from 
the mother’s blood. That blood is affected by her 
thoughts, containing poisons if her thoughts are ill; 
so that if she becomes very angry, revengeful or 
morose during the time when any organ in the 
foetus or embryo is beginning to develop, her poi- 
soned blood, feeding that organ, will prevent its 
normal growth and may cause it to be otherwise 
vitiated. But on the other hand, if she is filled 
with hope, peace and love, then secretions which are 
beneficial to the system are thrown into her blood 
and will help to produce the normal development 
of the child. 
The growth of the child is very rapid during the 
first nine months of its existence. When fertilized, 
the ovum is .2 millimetre in diameter, and increases 
in length the first month 3650 per cent; during the 
first three months increases in weight 400,000,000 
per cent, so that a new-born babe is millions of 
time heavier than the ovum in which it started; in 
the next twenty-five years, the adult becomes only 
about twenty times heavier than at birth. There- 
fore, it is not a difficult matter to understand why 
nutrition is such an important factor at this time, 
76 Prenatal Nutrition and Environment 
when growth is so rapid, and why the thoughts and 
emotions of the mother affect in so great a degree 
the child’s development, both of body and brain. 
No doubt many a person has been personally handi- 
capped throughout life because the mother poisoned 
her blood, through feelings of anger, despondency 
or fear, when she was carrying the child beneath 
her heart. 
But that is not all. During the first three months 
of gestation the child gets its nourishment directly 
from the mother’s blood. Doubtless, then, her 
mind directs extra supplies of blood in the foetus to 
the potentiality of physical organs and brain areas 
which she exercises most largely. But even in the 
latter period of gestation, when the child has its own 
blood and circulatory system—the function of the 
mother’s blood simply being to furnish oxygen and 
new, clean blood, and carry away waste material 
from the embryo—it is not unreasonable to believe 
that she can affect the destination in the embryo of 
the new supply of blood, by her own thought-life, 
ambitions, purposes and deeds. Thus a foundation 
may be laid for either a strong or a weak physical, 
mental and moral constitution. 
The question as to whether a mother can mark 
her child’s body because of fright or some intense 
longing is an important one, concerning which peo- 
ple have different ideas. That there are instances 
of this power can scarcely be denied by the un- 
prejudiced observer, nor should it cause wonder 
77 Principles of Eugenics 
that such is the case when it is considered that the 
mind is all-powerful, every function and organ in 
the body being influenced by it. When an intense 
longing or a cruel fright has been experienced, the 
image of that longing or fright is so clear and strong 
as to efface all other pictures from the mind, and 
to put its impress upon the developing organs in the 
foetus or embryo. This phase of maternal impres- 
sions simply demonstrates the power of mind over 
matter, and the peculiar impressionability of the 
unborn child. 
There are some persons who, unless seriously cor- 
nered in an argument, deny all belief in gestative 
influence; admitting, if they must, that they feel 
justified in so doing, because if the extent of this 
power were fully known, the prospective mother 
would be in a ceaseless state of worry and excite- 
ment. But they should realize that the same mind 
power which could mark the child also could pre- 
vent its being marked; and that the mother who is 
strongly impressed by fright or an intense desire, 
can counteract the evil effects therefrom by enter- 
taining all-absorbing thoughts of a pleasant nature, 
and giving suggestions to herself that she will not 
allow her child to be influenced by her disagreeable 
emotions. This fact also should be known; that 
there is ever the tendency in nature to produce the 
perfect; that in the unborn child there is the germ 
plasm for countless generations of normal form and 
features; and that it takes more than a single scare 
78 Prenatal Nutrition and Environment 
or intense craving to make any effect thereon. 
Every woman should know these truths concerning 
this phase of maternal impressions for her own wel- 
fare and that of her posterity. 
Thus far gestative influence has been considered 
simply from the standpoint of the physiological, but 
it should be known that the mother exerts an in- 
fluence over the mind of the unborn child, as well 
as upon its body. As soon as conception has taken 
place, the foetus with its potential organs of diges- 
tion, respiration, circulation, with its brain and 
nervous system, with its wonderful mind powers, 
all capable of development and growth, is as truly 
a human being as it ever will be; and since its 
psychic nature at this early stage is in existence and 
probably developing at a rate to correspond with 
its physical being, it may well be believed that the 
unborn child will be susceptible to all impressions 
made upon it in the form of thoughts and emotions 
of others. And since during gestation, the mother 
and child are in closest contact and doubtless are 
en rapport with each other, there is every reason 
for believing that the mother’s thought-life has a 
most decided effect upon the developing mind of the 
unborn child, giving it tendencies and traits similar 
to her own. The opposition sometimes raised on 
the ground that there is no nervous connection be- 
tween them is scarcely plausible, for no one doubts 
the power of the mother or of any other individual 
to influence the child after birth; and if at that time 
79 Principles of Eugenics 
when there is no nervous connection, why not also 
before birth ? The child beneath the mother’s heart 
is in the environment which she creates for it, by 
her thoughts, purposes, ambitions, ideals; and feels 
their effect, even though they be not expressed in 
words; just as every individual, to a certain extent, 
has the ability to feel the atmosphere produced by 
others about him. Perhaps its subjective mind is 
peculiarly active at this time and can receive im- 
pressions from its mother because it has no direct 
communication with the outside world. In reality 
the mother wields a wonderful power, either for 
good or ill, over her unborn child. But the father’s 
influence during this period must not be overlooked, 
since to such a large degree he may make or mar 
the happiness of his wife, thereby making possible 
or impossible a propitious environment for the 
child. 
A writer on “ The Sacredness of Motherhood ” 
has justly said: “ But let that mother give thanks 
morning and evening whose creative work of 
motherhood has been accomplished in an atmosphere 
of sustaining sympathy, and whose physical strength 
has never been taxed at the expense of her child. 
“ These words suggest the paramount obligations 
of man and husband, his highest duty in the bonds 
of sacred wedlock. The husband has to bear little 
of the passive service and continuous burdens which 
attend parenthood. The wife, who has to bear the 
long-continued drain on body and soul, prenatal 
80 Prenatal Nutrition and Environment 
and post-natal, has an absolute right to all the help 
which pure love, exhaustless patience and tenderest 
sympathy can afford. This is due to the child also, 
who must suffer loss in proportion as these are with- 
held from the mother. If any husband denies these, 
or worse still, gives in place of them indifference, 
neglect, harshness or abuse, he becomes a shame to 
the name of fatherhood, a disgrace to his sex, an 
enemy to his own child and a sinner before God. 
O men, be true to all which the sacredness of 
fatherhood demands, or enter not its holy temple. 
If you will be disobedient to these demands, let not 
your crime poison other lives through unworthy 
fatherhood.” 
To the person who believes in the wisdom of 
God, and has studied His wonderful laws of pro- 
creation, the pessimistic idea that He placed the be- 
getting of good offspring beyond the control of 
humanity, seems most repellent and utterly errone- 
ous. The statement made by Leonardo that God 
has given all good things to man at the price of 
labor is as applicable to parenthood as to other 
phases of life. And when young women, becoming 
conversant with the laws of their being, make large 
investments in noble thoughts and purposes, and 
exercise wise efforts and unflagging perseverance 
to attain their ideals; and when later on they have 
the sympathy and loving co-operation of their hus- 
bands, who have similar aspirations and likewise 
work to realize them; then there will be not only a 
81 Principles of Eugenics 
glorious outlook for humanity, but the beginnings 
of a glorious humanity. 
REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES 
David Starr Jordan’s “ Scientific Aspects of Luther Bur- 
bank’s Work,” p. 78. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 
Luther Burbank’s “Training of the Human Plant,” p. 72. 
Thomson’s “ Heredity,” pp. 162-163. G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons, New York. 
Bible: Genesis, Chap. XXX. 
Andrea Hofer Proudfoot’s “A Mother’s Ideals,” pp. 49- 
50. (Address of Prof. Elmer Gates before National 
Mothers’ Congress, Washington, February, 1897.) 
G. Stanley Hall’s “ Adolescence,” Vol. I, pp. 3-4. D. Ap- 
pleton & Co., New York. 
82 CHAPTER VIII 
CONTINENCE 
“ There is no wealth but life; and if the inherent quality 
of life fails, neither battleships, nor libraries, nor sym- 
phonies, nor free trade, nor tariff reform, nor anything 
else, will save the nation.”—Saleeby. 
“ The maximum of life can only be reached by the maxi- 
mum of virtue.”—Ruskin. 
We look about us and see among the human race 
“ the lame, the halt, the blind,” while the animals, 
wild and domestic, are strong and vigorous. We 
seek for the cause, knowing that there must be some 
law or laws of life which the animals obey, that the 
human race does not. We learn that the animals 
live close to nature; they are active in the open air, 
getting sunshine, eating natural foods and breathing 
large quantities of oxygen; and we believe if man- 
kind did likewise, they would be immeasurably 
stronger. 
But perhaps the greatest factor in producing the 
strength and vigor of the animals is the following 
out of their natural inclination to conserve life 
forces. They live long periods of continence be- 
tween short mating seasons. The female then exer- 
cises her right to determine maternity, and never 
allows any approach if she is with young. There- 
83 Principles of Eugenics 
fore there is no wasting of life forces, but resultant 
offspring always, unless conditions are unfavor- 
able. 
Reproduction depletes the organism of much 
physical energy. This is most strongly exemplified 
in the case of the drone bee, the May fly and the 
King Salmon, for they impart life to offspring only 
at the expense of their individual lives. Since ani- 
mals living many years and caring for their young 
have but few offspring, while short-lived animals 
not caring for their young are very prolific, it would 
seem that those whose main object is to perpetuate 
their kind, consume so much energy thereby that 
they have not enough left for any other purpose, 
even for their own existence. 
Saleeby makes the practical application to man, 
reasoning that since the energy available by any 
one is finite, if he or she expends it all upon repro- 
duction, the individual will cease to exist. Human 
beings are too high in the scale of creation to expend 
all their energy in the exercise of the race function. 
They have duties to perform in the earning of a 
livelihood for their families; in carefully training 
their children, and in taking their share of respon- 
sibility of the work of the world. But also for an- 
other purpose should they conserve life forces, that 
they may have “ the more abundant life ” to trans- 
mit to their offspring. 
Perhaps very few people realize what a deleteri- 
ous effect the squandering of the life principle has 
84 Continence 
upon the reproductive cells. Mrs. Teats, in her 
book, “ The Way of God in Marriage,” relates an 
interview that she had with an eminent scientist, 
who, in his laboratory, examined the life principle 
of certain men both when they had been squander- 
ing it, and after a period of continence. In the first 
instance, the spermatozoa seemed languid, moving 
about slowly in the liquid. In the second case they 
were “ much stronger, of much larger size, and 
very active, with normal motive power.” This 
proves that when the life principle is wasted, strong, 
vigorous germ cells can not be built up. If the 
germ cells are weak, it can only be expected that the 
resultant offspring will show a corresponding lack 
of vigor. Therefore may we not believe that chil- 
dren born of depleted parents will probably be 
physically feeble, literally “ born tired ” ? 
The wasting of life forces has been going on all 
down the ages, and it is reasonable to conclude that 
the generations have been thereby robbed of their 
vitality and vigor, and this may be the chief reason 
why the civilized human race is cursed with so many 
weaklings and degenerates, and why few really are 
strong and healthy. 
Is it not reasonable to conclude that by excessive 
dissipation of force the germ cells may become so 
weak that they will be incapable of fertilizing the 
ova, causing sterility in man? It is a well-known 
fact that women of the street seldom become 
mothers, the physiological cause being described by 
85 Principles of Eugenics 
Professor E. B. Wilson in his book, “ The Cell in 
Development and Inheritance.'' But not only that, 
incontinence is a factor in causing loss of foetal life. 
Dapaul holds that it produces two-thirds of all spon- 
taneous foetal deaths, while Miquel of Tours puts 
the rate as high as nine out of ten. Do men and 
women want to continue on the low plane of exist- 
ence and thus reap the disastrous results that 
follow ? 
It is their privilege to rise above their perverted 
instincts; to live continently except when they de- 
sire to bring a human being into existence, and then 
by clean thinking and noble living to protect that 
little one developing within the mother’s body, thus 
insuring it against the awful tendency to sensuality 
and also bestowing upon it a healthier mind and 
body than could otherwise be given it. They should 
rise far higher than the animals that obey only their 
natural instincts. They should deem it the highest 
honor God has conferred upon them that they can 
co-operate with Him in creating life. And as 
spiritual creatures, capable of thinking, reasoning 
and loving, they should strive to produce offspring 
just as clean and strong and superior in every way 
as it is in their power. 
Mankind will be able to do much for human 
progress when they cherish higher thoughts of life, 
reverence it in all of its aspects, and learn to con- 
secrate its forces to the sacred purpose of creation. 
It will not be many years before these lofty prin- 
86 Continence 
ciples are strongly advocated, for some of our lead- 
ing authorities are now giving much study to the 
subject. Luther Burbank, perhaps, has the clearest 
vision of what these ideals mean to the human race, 
for in speaking of the work of Mrs. Mary E. Teats 
(lecturer on Eugenics and founder of the Corre- 
spondence School of Gospel and Scientific Eu- 
genics), the very keynote of which is continence, he 
says: “ I am sure that her work is only for good, 
and my hope is that others may soon learn to fol- 
low ; in fact, thousands of the most intelligent ones 
are now following her teachings, and before any 
great betterment of the human race can be made, 
her good and true teachings must be generally 
heeded and followed.” 
Dr. Prince A. Morrow, who was President of the 
American Federation for Sex Hygiene, said: “ So 
far as we can apprehend nature’s design in the 
sexual life of humanity, the specific and supreme 
purpose of the sex function is reproduction—the 
transmission of life to the next generation.” 
Dr. C. F. Hodge, Professor of Biology in Clark 
University, Worcester, Mass., says: “ We need sub- 
limation of sex quite as much after marriage as 
before it.” In speaking of the growing tendency to 
disregard the sacredness of marriage, “and, as the 
running sore of this abnormal condition we have 
promiscuity and prostitution,” he says: “ These lat- 
ter are but the incidental ills resulting from a bad 
philosophy of sex and do not tend to thwart the 
87 Principles of Eugenics 
great stream of racial evolution as do anti-biological 
practices in the marriage relation itself.” 
The words of Dr. G. Stanley Hall, President of 
Clark University, also are pertinent. He says: 
“ The ascendant individual family or stock is the 
one that refuses to yield in excess to the temptation 
of the flesh, and the descendants are those whose 
instincts for selfish gratification preponderate over 
those of race-conservatism.” Can we not conclude 
that in proportion as they refuse to yield to the 
temptation of the flesh, developing a firm control 
of self, in that proportion will they be ascendants? 
And that those who do not yield in any manner nor 
in any degree, other conditions being the same, will 
rise the highest? 
Havelock Ellis, a noted English scientist and 
psychologist, considered by some writers to be the 
best authority on sex to-day, in speaking of the 
ancient idea that “ children came, and their parents 
disclaimed all responsibility for their coming; the 
children were sent by God, and if they turned out 
to be idiots the responsibility was God’s,” says: 
“ We have learnt that in this, as in other matters, 
the Divine force works through us, and that we are 
not entitled to cast the burden of our evil actions on 
to any higher power. It is who are, more im- 
mediately, the creators of men. We generate the 
race; we alone can regenerate the race. . . . Reck- 
less abandonment to the impulse of the moment and 
careless indifference to the morrow, the selfish grati- 
88 Continence 
fication of individual desire at the expense of prob- 
able suffering to lives that will come after—this may 
seem beautiful to some persons, but it is not civiliza- 
tion. . . . We possess the power, if we will, delib- 
erately and consciously to create a new race, to 
mould the world of the future. . . . It is in our 
power not only to generate life, but, if we will, to 
regenerate life.” 
When we consider that for so many centuries 
God’s law of the conservation of life forces has been 
most flagrantly disobeyed, we understand why hu- 
manity is so seamed and scarred to-day. But it 
need not remain in that condition. Through His 
laws of reproduction; natural selection; heredity, 
including the transmission of both inherent and ac- 
quired characteristics; and gestative influence, God 
has most wonderfully provided for the development 
and ultimate perfection of mankind. And since the 
mind of man, next to that of God, is the mightiest 
thing in the Universe, and can attain to whatsoever 
it desires, it is not unreasonable to believe that some 
time in the future the race will manifest a superi- 
ority of which the keenest imagination of the pres- 
ent day does not dream. As we consider the genius 
of a Shakespeare, a Faraday, a Darwin; as we ad- 
mire the master minds that harnessed the forces of 
steam and electricity and taught us to fly like birds; 
as we reverence the memory of Queen Victoria, 
Florence Nightingale and Frances E. Willard, the 
uncrowned queen; and do honor to the names of 
89 Principles of Eugenics 
Washington, Lincoln and Gladstone, we ask with 
Wordsworth: 
“ What one is, 
Why may not millions be? What bars are thrown 
By nature in the way of such a hope?” 
It is only perverted nature and the abnormal 
habits of so-called civilization that are in the way 
of the fulfilment of such a hope for the race. In 
the past there has been ignorance and “ Hitherto the 
development of our race has been unconscious, and 
we have been allowed no responsibility for its right 
course. Now, in the fulness of time, and for some 
good reason, we are treated as children no more, 
and the conscious fashioning of the human race is 
given into our hands. Let us put away childish 
things, stand up with open eyes, and face our re- 
sponsibilities.” 
REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES 
Jordan & Kellogg’s “ Evolution and Animal Life,” p. 226. 
Saleeby’s “ Parenthood and Race Culture,” p. 99. 
Mrs. Mary E. Teats’s “The Way of God in Marriage,” 
pp. 78-79. Correspondence School of Eugenics, Chicago. 
E. B. Wilson’s “ The Cell in Development and Inherit- 
ance,” p. 148. Macmillan Co., New York and London. 
Playfair’s “ System of Midwifery,” p. 257. Prof. W. S. 
Playfair, London, England. 
Parvin’s “ Science and Art of Obstetrics,” p. 467. Lea 
& Febriger, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Mrs. Mary E. Teats’s “The Way of God in Marriage,” 
Introduction. 
90 Continence 
Prof. C. F. Hodge’s “ Instruction in Sex Hygiene in the 
Public Schools,” p. 313. Reprint from School Science and 
Mathematics. 
Dr. Prince A. Morrow’s “The Teaching of Sex Hy- 
giene,” p. 1. American Federation for Sex Hygiene, New 
York. 
Dr. G. Stanley Hall’s “ Adolescence,” Vol. I, p. 438. 
Havelock Ellis’s “ The Problem of Race Regeneration,” 
pp. 51 and 54. 
Whetham’s “ The Family and the Nation,” p. 230. Prof. 
W. C. D. Whetham, Trinity College, Cambridge, Eng. 
91