HEREDITY AND EUGENICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 92, 14 September 1914, Page 6

HEREDITY AND EUGENICS.

LECTURE BY PROFESSOR DM'K--I'ORT. That parentage counts for little in ) the characteristics of individuals in comparison with the influence of racial traits, was the keynote of Professor Davenport's address on "Heredity and Eugenics," delivered at Canterbury College Hall last week. Dr. Davenport, who is a delegate to that Science Congress whose deliberations in Australasia were upset because of the war, is the Director of the Department of Experimental Evolution at the Carnegie Institute, New York, was introduced by Professor Evans, a* one specially chosen to represent Amcr v ica in his field of scientific research at" the Congress, and, therefore, one more than ordinarily qualified to deal with the subject of heredity. It was mainly on the lines of the Mendelian theory that the lecturer con- ' ducted his discourse, and, in opening, be insisted that the only tenable point of view from which to regard the phenomena of heredity was that individual traits, -whether in plants or animals, were derived to materials common to the race, and not transmitted directly through the parents. , I HYttßinrsA'fiox. Prom the standpoint of heredity the different unit characteristics are for the most part independent of each other, so that with the birth of an individual a new grouping of characteristics may be obtained. Slides, showing the hybridication of different varieti ies of maize, and the crossing of varieties of birds of tlie same species, were shown in the illustration of th'j regroup-, ing of traits common to the parent stocks, and the lecturer went on to speak of the apparent exception to this •. law—the reversion of hybrids to a primitive type after crossing frequently. This. I exception has been stressed as a point lof great importance by Darwin, but Professor Davenport accounted for this . apparent exception very interestingly, I drawing from his old experiments. The | Darwinian idea was that the very pro- | cess of hybridisation caused the acquired characteristics of a species to lose their balance and force, and so resulted in a reversion to a primitive type, lie, however, through his experiments 1 with different varieties of domestic ] fowls, had been led to the belief that 'in varieties acquired characteristics the. coloration and pattern of the ancestral or primitive type was always present, though not obvious, and, in a sense, submerged in the acquired traits. The first generation of 'hybrids was always uniform; it was the second generation that produced the amalgamation waking new characteristics'. EUGENICS. From this point tlie Professor went on to demonstrate that the laws of human heredity were the same as affecting other animals and plant life, and spoke of the ancient ideal of mankind for breeding that would eliminate undesirable qualities, from human nature, lie spoks of some characteristics, notablv those producing degenerates, as being" due to the absence of determiners. A parent lacking in development, physi- | cal or mental, limit inevitably produce I children similarly lacking in develop- I 'ment, and with the aid of diagrams, showed how an unhealthy strain would all'eet succeeding generations. Yet. particularly with regard to insanity, or j feeble-nundedness, though both parents j might be normal, it was possible for 1 them to have defective children, since the defect, which existeil in the germ plasm, might slip one generation. ■ FERTILITY OF THE UNFIT. The dilliimlty confronting eugenists was how to control mating. People whose intelligence could % not be relied on to produce a good result feebleminded and the emotionally uncontrolled—should be prevented from indiscriminate muting at all, but there lay the dilliculty. Jn America there was a very, good law prohibiting the marriage of the unlit, but it could not be enforced—or, rather, marriage .could be prohibited, but mating - could not, and it was not the marriage of the feeble-minded people that it was desired to prevent, but the production of children. Twelve of the American .States had laws which, with | certain conditions, and without infringing the rights of the subject, allowed of the sterilisation of degenerates, but to all intents the law was a dead letter, and would remain so until a better publie backing v/as .obtained. There was evidence, though, 'that the public conscience was awakening to the importance and desirability of some such regulation. It was necessary to secure a relatively high percentage" of the fittest stock, in order that the improvement of the race should go on, but in America it was noticeable that thusc families which seemed to be the best stock showed a tendency not to. reproduce, and not only must society aim at the fertility of the most fit, it must also attend to those, likely to impair the stock. In this connection Professor Davenport referred to the ideal of a White Australasia as a ' high ideal, and one which we must cling ' to, for the evil results of the other policy were apparent in America, which, at the beheat of -big business," they were admitting inferior elements —those who would work for least wages, and such folk were for the most part those who had failed in their own countries.

I'OSTKRIXU UEGEXTiIIACY. The matter of a dill'erential mortality amongst the lit and unlit was also dwelt on. Under natural conditions the percentage of deaths amongst the unlit must be higher than that amongst the lit, but mistaken liumanitarianism safeguarded the unfit in these years, and natural laws wore interfered with. The feeble-minded were kept iu institutions and taught" some occupation until they arrived at a certain age, .when they were turned loose in the world without an,- precautions being 'taken; against their mating, anil producing other degenerates. If they are to be preserved at all, said the professor, society should at least be protected against their increase, either by sogrigating them or by sterilisation. Environment in its relation to characteristics was also briefly touched upon, but'while the lecturer dwelt on the importance of environment in making for healthy traits, he did. not develop on its possibilities for eliminating or strengthening hereditary characteristics. MARRIAGE 01' COUSINS. At the conclusion of bis address, he replied to several questions from members of the audience, and the marriage of lii'st cousins was one of the questions ; dealt with. The evil ell'ects of such 'consanguinity was an open i|iicstion, the professor said, for though some cousinly manages bore evil results, an equal number could be pointed io as having had excellent results. He himself did not believe relationship had any effect as long as the .blood of the common stock to which the cousins belonged was free of taint, but when it was tainted, the results were disastrous. An inhovite.il defect, such as insanity, even though it might be far back in the blood of the common stock undthc tousiua to be to

all intents perfectly normal, would, by the admixture of the allied strain, be reproduced in its original intensity. The lecturer was also intensely listened to by a large audience throughout tho evening, received most enthusiastic applause a'' the conclusion of his replies on a motion of thanks proposed bv Mr Justice Denniston.