CHAPTER I. NATURE OR NURTURE? 1
II. MODIFICATION OF THE GERM-PLASM 25
III. DIFFERENCES AMONG MEN 75
IV. THE INHERITANCE OF MENTAL CAPACITIES 84
V. THE LAWS OF HEREDITY 99
VI. NATURAL SELECTION 116
VII. ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE EUGENICS MOVEMENT 147
VIII. DESIRABILITY OF RESTRICTIVE EUGENICS 167
IX. THE DYSGENIC CLASSES 176
X. METHODS OF RESTRICTION 184
XI. THE IMPROVEMENT OF SEXUAL SELECTION 211
XII. INCREASING THE MARRIAGE RATE OF THE SUPERIOR 237
XIII. INCREASE OF THE BIRTH-RATE OF THE SUPERIOR 255
XIV. THE COLOR LINE 280
XV. IMMIGRATION 298
XVI. WAR 318
XVII. GENEALOGY AND EUGENICS 329
XVIII. THE EUGENIC ASPECT OF SOME SPECIFIC REFORMS 352 TAXATION 352 BACK TO THE FARM MOVEMENT 355 DEMOCRACY 360 SOCIALISM 362 CHILD LABOR 368 COMPULSORY EDUCATION 369 VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE AND TRAINING 371 MINIMUM WAGE 374 MOTHER'S PENSIONS 375 HOUSING 376 FEMINISM 378
OLD AGE PENSIONS 384 SEX HYGIENE MOVEMENT 385 TRADES UNIONISM 388 PROHIBITION 389 PEDAGOGICAL CELIBACY 390
XIX. RELIGION AND EUGENICS 393
XX. EUGENICS AND EUTHENICS 402
APPENDIX A. OVARIAN TRANSPLANTATION 419
" B. DYNAMIC EVOLUTION 421
" C. THE "MELTING POT" 424
" D. THE ESSENCE OF MENDELISM 429
" E. USEFUL WORKS OF REFERENCE 436
" F. GLOSSARY 437
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE PAGE
1. Four Baby Girls at Once 6
2. The Effect of Nurture in Changing Nature 10
3. Height in Corn and Men 12
4. Why Men Grow Short or Tall 14
5. Bound Foot of a Chinese Woman 42
6. Defective Little Toe of a Prehistoric Egyptian 42
7. Effect of Lead as a "Racial Poison" 63
8. Distribution of 10-Year-Old School Children 76
9. Variation in Ability 77
10. Origin of a Normal Probability Curve 78
11. The "Chance" or "Probability" Form of Distribution 79
12. Probability Curve with Increased Number of Steps 80
13. Normal Variability Curve Following Law of Chance 80
14. Cadets Arranged to Show Normal Curve of Variability 82
15. Variation in Heights of Recruits to the American Army 82
16. How Do You Clasp Your Hands? 100
17. The Effect of Orthodactyly 102
18. A Family with Orthodactyly 102
19. White Blaze in the Hair 104
20. A Family of Spotted Negroes 104
21. A Human Finger-Tip 106
22. The Limits of Hereditary Control 106
23. The Distribution of Intelligence 106
24. The Twins whose Finger-Prints are Shown in Fig. 25 108
25. Finger-Prints of Twins 110
26. A Home of the "Hickory" Family 168
27. A Chieftain of the Hickory Clan 170
28. Two Juke Homes of the Present Day 172
29. Mongolian Deficiency 174
30. Feeble-Minded Men are Capable of Much Rough Labor 192
31. Feeble-Minded at a Vineland Colony 192
32. How Beauty Aids a Girl's Chance of Marriage 215
33. Intelligent Girls are Most Likely to Marry 216
34. Years Between Graduation and Marriage 217
35. The Effect of Late Marriages 218
36. Wellesley Graduates and Non-Graduates 242
37. Birth Rate of Harvard and Yale Graduates 266
38. Families of Prominent Methodists 263
39. Examining Immigrants at Ellis Island, New York, 303
40. Line of Ascent that Carries the Family Name 331
41. The Small Value of a Famous, but Remote, Ancestor 338
42. History of 100 Babies 344
43. Adult Morality 345
44. Influence of Mother's Age 347
45. The "Mean Man" of the Old White American Stock 425
46. The Carriers of Heredity 431
INTRODUCTION
The Great War has caused a vast destruction of the sounder portion of the belligerent peoples and it is certain that in the next generation the progeny of their weaker members will constitute a much larger proportion of the whole than would have been the case if the War had not occurred. Owing to this immeasurable calamity that has befallen the white race, the question of eugenics has ceased to be merely academic. It looms large whenever we consider the means of avoiding a stagnation or even decline of our civilization in consequence of the losses the War has inflicted upon the more valuable stocks. Eugenics is by no means tender with established customs and institutions, and once it seemed likely that its teachings would be left for our grandchildren to act on. But the plowshare of war has turned up the tough sod of custom, and now every sound new idea has a chance. Rooted prejudices have been leveled like the forests of Picardy under gun fire. The fear of racial decline provides the eugenist with a far stronger leverage than did the hope of accelerating racial progress. It may be, then, that owing to the War eugenic policies will gain as much ground by the middle of this century as without it they would have gained by the end of the century.
This book could not have been written ten years ago because many of the data it relies on were not then in existence. In view of inquiries now going on, we may reasonably hope that ten years hence it will be possible to make a much better book on the subject. But I am sure that this book is as good a presentation as can be made of eugenics at its present stage of development. The results of all the trustworthy observations and experiments have been taken into account, and the testing of human customs and institutions in the light of biological principles tallies well with the sociology of our times.
I cannot understand how any conscientious person, dealing in a large way with human life, should have the hardihood to ignore eugenics. This book should command the attention not only of students of sociology, but, as well, of philanthropists, social workers, settlement wardens, doctors, clergymen, educators, editors, publicists, Y. M. C. A. secretaries and industrial engineers. It ought to lie at the elbow of law-makers, statesmen, poor relief officials, immigration inspectors, judges of juvenile courts, probation officers, members of state boards of control and heads of charitable and correctional institutions. Finally, the thoughtful ought to find in it guidance in their problem of mating. It will inspire the superior to rise above certain worldly ideals of life and to aim at a family success rather than an individual success.
EDWARD ALSWORTH ROSS.
The University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin July 1918.
APPLIED EUGENICS