I came across an old textbook entitled, The Principles of Heredity.  It was written by geneticist Laurence H. Snyder and published in 1935 (Boston, New York [etc.] D.C. Heath and company).  The book was intended as a text for “the beginning student of heredity.”  The textbook has a chapter on Eugenics that provides us a glimpse of one portion of our American and scientific history.  Given that this material was being taught to students, I’ve transcribed this chapter and offer it merely as a service for those interested in the history of eugenics. – Mike Gene (3/6/06).

 

The Table of Contents is as follows:

 

I.                    The Study of Heredity

II.                 Simple Mendelian Inheritance

III.               The Physical Background of Mendelian Inheritance

IV.              Crosses Involving Two Pairs of Factors

V.                 Modified Two-Factor Ratios

VI.              Probability

VII.            Sec-linked Factors

VIII.         Lethal Factors

IX.              Multiple Allelomorphs

X.                 Sex-Linked Factors

XI.              Multiple Factors

XII.            Linkage

XIII.         The Cytological Basis of Crossing Over

XIV.         The Mapping of Chromosomes

XV.           Chromosomal Abberations

XVI.         The Proof of the Hypothesis That the Hereditary Factors are Carried in the Chromosomes

XVII.      Genes and Mutations

XVIII.    The Genetics of Domestic Animals

XIX.         The Genetics of Domestic Animals (continued)

XX.           The Genetics of Cultivated Plants

XXI.         Selection and Inbreeding

XXII.      The Statistical Treatment of Variation

XXIII.    The Determination of Sex

XXIV.   How Genes Act

XXV.      The Inheritance of Physical and Physiological Traits in Man

XXVI.   The Inheritence of Mental Traits in Man

XXVII.            Eugenics

XXVIII.          The Analysis of Human Family Histories

 

 

 

 

EUGENICS

 

 

Throughout the preceding pages we have seen that many human traits, both mental and physical, have definite hereditary backgrounds. From the standpoint of organized society, some of these traits are desirable, others undesirable. Even a superficial examination of a human population will convince us that various traits are being produced at different rates, that they are surviving or being eliminated in varying proportions, that assortative mating is going on in regard to some of them, and finally, as a result of these processes, the composition of the population is inevitably changing from generation to generation.

 

Consideration of these facts leads the thoughtful student of heredity to many problems. Is the changing genetic composition of the race proceeding in a direction that it desirable from the standpoint of society?  Will there be more individuals like the best of our population, and fewer of the incompetent, as a result of the processes which tend to preserve or eliminate certain traits?  What are the processes of selection in the world today, and how is each acting?

 

These and many other questions of a similar nature are raised by the study of genetics.  Much careful attention on the part of geneticists has been given to the study of these agencies under social control which may improve or impair the inherent qualities of the human race.  Such a study is termed eugenics.

 

Although no agreement could be reached as to the ideal hereditary characteristics which a race should have, probably every one would agree that there are certain hereditary traits so undesirable that the race could do well without them.  Among the undesirable traits might be listed feeble-mindedness, insanity, epilepsy, and the more severe or repulsive physical characteristics.

 

It is doubtful if any one would attempt to defend the expediency of perpetuating such a trait as acheiropodia (Figure 148).  Yet this trait, which is apparently dependent upon a dominant factor, may be eliminated only by preventing the reproduction of those who possess it.  Similarly any character which is dependent upon genetic factors can be eliminated only by preventing the procreation of those who will transmit the factors responsible for the character.

 

The question of which, if any, human characters are sufficiently undesirable as to warrant action along this line on the part of society is a problem for society itself to solve.  The task of the geneticist is to determine the genetic nature of the various traits, the relative frequencies of their production, elimination and survival, the degree of assortative mating concerned, and the probable future composition of the race in regard to these traits.  These facts the geneticist must place at the disposal of society, with appropriate recommendations which society may follow if it so chooses.

 

The first and most obvious suggestion for improving the qualities of the race would seem to be to improve the conditions under which people live; the sanitation, the surroundings, the opportunities, and the training.  This would be a relatively simple and straightforward procedure if it were all that is necessary to raise the physical and mental level of the population.  A host of investigations, however, point to the fact that ordinary changes in the environment, while they may sometimes modify the expression of a character, never change the genes responsible for it.  By all means let us have all the improvements possible in the environment, but let us not fall into the error of believing that such changes may in any way affect the genetic make-up of the individual, nor his potential ability to transmit the genes he possesses.

 

Traits differ in the degree to which they may be considered undesirable, and they differ in the degree to which their expression may be affected by environmental agencies.  Therefore, different eugenic measures are recommended for various traits.  Diabetes may be controlled by the use of insulin, blindness may sometimes be overcome by operation, harelip may be surgically repaired.  Yet the factors responsible for their traits are transmitted with no change by such cured individuals.  Modern medicine may not be an unmixed blessing for the race, since it now preserves many individuals with hereditary defects, and makes possible for them to transmit the factors responsible for the defects, whereas previously many of them died before the reproductive period, thus reducing the potential frequencies of the abnormalities in the population.

 

In the case of defects such as feeble-mindedness, however, we are faced with a more serious situation.  In the first place, there is no “cure” for mental deficiency.  Feeble-minded individuals become a burden on society, and must be either specifically taken care of by society, or allowed to remain uncared for, but contributing largely to delinquency, pauperism, and immorality.

 

Feeble-mindedness presents what is probably the outstanding problem in eugenics.  The Human Betterment Foundation estimates that about 6,000,000 persons, representing about 5 per cent of our population, are feeble-minded, judged by the standard of an I.Q. of seventy or less.  Of these only about one in every hundred is in a state institution.  Private institutions care for some others, but fully 90 per cent of the mentally deficient are at present free in the communities, where they create problems in the schools, cause much of the necessity for juvenile courts, and swell the rolls of public relief cases.  In return, they contribute very little to the welfare of society.

 

It would be bad enough if the proportion of the feeble-minded in the population were to remain as it is from generation to generation.  Unfortunately, however, the proportion is increasing.  Not only are the feeble-minded quite prolific, but the birth rate is found to be progressively lower as the scale of intelligence in the population increases.

 

Although some people are reluctant to admit it, different occupations are correlated with different levels of intelligence.  The mean I.Q. increases from slightly below the average for the population in unskilled laborers to considerably above the average in the business leaders and professional classes.  Conversely, the birth rate is highest in the feeble-minded, and decreases steadily as the level of intelligence and the level of occupation becomes higher.

 

It is not at all uncommon to find that feeble-minded mothers have produced as many as six or more children before they are in the late twenties.  At the other extreme, studies of women college graduates show that barely more than 50 per cent of them marry at all.  Those who do marry, marry late, and produce very few children.  College graduates as a class are not reproducing rapidly enough to maintain their proportionate representation in the population.  Not only are college graduates themselves failing to reproduce proportionately, but all classes who intelligence enables them to attain positions of responsibility in the business and professional worlds are reproducing less that their proportionate quota.

 

Inevitably it happens, then, that the children of each generation are being drawn in greater proportion from the lower intellectual strata of the population.  Taking into consideration the high death rate in feeble-minded infants, the effects of segregation, and the other contributing factors, the net fertility of the feeble-minded is approximately twice that of the upper intellectual classes.

 

Of the feeble-minded, the higher grade morons present the greatest problem.  The lower grades of the mentally deficient (idiots and imbeciles) are usually confined to institutions or at home, and are generally incapable of reproducing.  Among this group of idiots and imbeciles are included the microcephalic idiots (Fig. 149), the cretins (Fig. 150), and the Mongolian idiots (Fig. 151).  Microcephalic idiots occasionally have close relatives like themselves, but nothing is known as to the inheritance of this condition.  Cretins are individuals in whom the thyroid gland fails to function properly.  As a result the body is dwarfed and the mind never reaches normal development.  The condition frequently occurs in families, although how much of this occurrence is due to genetic factors affecting the thyroid gland and how much to environmental factors is unknown.  Mongolian idiots and imbeciles are so called because of an imaginary resemblance of the features to those of the Mongolian race.  They are infantile in development, and never progress very far mentally.  A curious characteristic of these individuals is the furrowed tongue.

 

Macklin suggests that the inheritance of Mongolism involves five pairs of recessive factors.  Other investigators doubt the genetic nature of the trait.

 

Thus, of the mentally deficient, only the morons constitute a serious eugenic problem (Fig. 152).  The morons, however, make up the vast bulk of the feeble-minded, and it is this group which is so inadequately provided with institutional care.

 

The higher grade moron may get along very well in the community until faced with some important decision.  He or she is then quite unable to make the decision adequately or correctly.  The easiest path is chosen, which frequently leads to sex delinquency, theft, and other non-social acts which result in the individual becoming a public nuisance.

 

Many of the decisions which the mentally deficient are called upon to face are the result of financial difficulties due to the presence of too many children in an inadequately supported home, or to the lack of proper supervision.  With proper supervision and training, and without the constant financial pressure brought about by large families, much of the difficulty of the moron in taking a reasonable place in society is removed. Various methods of cutting off the reproduction of the mentally deficient have been suggested.  Of these methods the most important are segregation and sterilization.

 

If all feeble-minded could be segregated in institutions, the reproduction of this group could be stopped in this way, and the increase of feeble-mindedness could be prevented.  The reduction in the proportion of feeble-mindedness would be considerable in the immediately following generation, and would proceed more slowly in later generations.  The exact rate of reduction would depend upon the number of genes responsible for low mentality, and their frequencies in the population.  This we have at present no means of knowing.

 

Of course, even if all feeble-minded persons were segregated in each generation and prevented from reproducing, there would be a certain amount of mental deficiency produced from normal parents through segregation and recombination of genes.  This proportion would rapidly become less from generation to generation, however, and in any event the large proportion of feeble-minded offspring produced by feeble-minded parents would be prevented from appearing.

 

Segregation of all the feeble-minded would, then, be one way of lowering the proportion of this defect in the population.  This is hopeless of realization, however, as no state is at present caring for as much as 10 percent of its feeble-minded, and the cost of caring for them all would be prohibitive.  In place of segregation there has been advanced, by those who have carefully studied the problem, the alternative of sterilization.

 

Sterilization is not an operation to unsex the individual.  It is a relatively simple operation which prevents parenthood without in any way unsexing the individual.  In the male it is a very minor operation, entailing no discomfort, and performed in a very few minutes under local anesthetic.  It consists of cutting and tying off the ducts which carry the sperms.  After sterilization the patient has normal feelings and desires, has not lost any organ nor had any nerve supply or blood supply changed.  He is not in any sense “mutilated.”  He has simply had the normal passage of the sperms shut off, and can no longer become a parent.

 

In the female the operation is a little more complicated, because the abdomen must be opened in order to tie off and cut the Fallopian tubes which conduct the egg from the ovary to the uterus.  It is not, however, any more serious than a simply operation for appendicitis. 

 

The first eugenical sterilization in the United States was performed in 1899 in Indiana.  Soon thereafter sterilization laws began to be passed in various states.  By 1909 four states (California, Connecticut, Indiana, and Washington) had laws providing for the sterilization of the feeble-minded or the insane, or both.  By 1925 twenty-two states had enacted sterilization laws, and by 1934 twenty-seven states had placed such laws on the statute books.  Two of the provinces of Canada, and several European countries, have similar laws.

 

Some of these laws have not functioned well, due to lack of understanding or cooperation on the part of the authorities.  Some have been held unconstitutional in the state courts.  Others, however, have been markedly successful, notably the California law.  The Human Betterment Foundation finds that up to January 1, 1933, more than 16,000 persons in the United States had been sterilized, of which more than half were in the state of California.

 

A careful study of the results of sterilization in California, by Gosney and Popenoe, indicates that they are quite satisfactory, both from the standpoint of society and from the standpoint of the sterilized individuals.  In the case of the feeble-minded, those who are capable of being taught to do simple tasks are carefully trained, then sterilized, and released under parole.  Careful supervision is an important part of the sterilization program.  Many of those who are sterilized marry, and the marriages are largely successful.  With no children in the home to be supported on the small and inadequate earnings of the mentally deficient parents, the marriage tends to be permanent.

 

Promiscuity has not been found to occur as a result of sterilization.  On the contrary, the study of mentally deficient, sex-delinquent girls in California shows a reduction of nearly 90 per cent in sex delinquency after sterilization.  No decrease in sexual feelings occurs in the individual, but marriage becomes more permanent, as a result of a lack of children whom it would be impossible to support, and also as a result of the careful supervision which is given to all paroled individuals.

 

The California study shows that the majority of the mentally deficient individuals who have been sterilized have been from the unskilled laboring class of the population.  As Popenoe has pointed out, numerous investigations have shown that this class contributes almost nothing to the list of eminent persons.  Thus sterilization is not cutting off the supply of geniuses.

 

The constitutionality of eugenic sterilization has been settled for all time by the famous case of Buck vs. Bell.  In this case Carrie Buck, an incorrigible feeble-minded girl in the State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-minded of Virginia, was recommended by the superintendent for sterilization.  The case was appealed to the Circuit court of the county, which sustained the decision of the Board of Directors of the state institution.  The case was then carried to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, which sustained the law.  Finally, it was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States.  On May 2, 1927, Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the decision of the court, upholding the constitutionality of the statute.  In this decision appeared the now famous phrase “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

 

Sterilization does not mean that the country will be flooded feeble-minded individuals.  On the contrary, there will be no more of them in the various communities than there are now.  The state institutions will still be full of those who are not deemed worthy of parole, or who are being trained for useful simple tasks before being sterilized and paroled.  Those who are free in the state, however, will not only be under careful supervision, but will be incapable of adding to the number of mentally-deficient children produced.

 

Many states include in their sterilization laws not only the feeble-minded, but those of the insane who may be expected to produce offspring like themselves, the epileptics, and the habitual criminals.  Sterilization, however, should not be thought of as a punishment.

 

Other defects of human beings are not at present considered of sufficient undesirability to warrant compulsory sterilization.  The deaf and the blind are not mentally deficient because of their defects, and may be given special training to enable them to become useful members of society.  Schools for the deaf and the blind have become exceedingly efficient in preparing their students for competition with the more fortunate members of society.

 

Since deaf-mutism, ostosclerosis, and many types of blindness are definitely hereditary in nature, it would seem feasible to extend to the deaf and the blind the privilege of voluntary sterilization if they so desired.  Many of them would welcome such a procedure as a means of avoiding tragedy in their homes.  The same consideration should be extended to those suffering from or capably of transmitting hemophilia and other severe physical defects.

 

Contraception is another selective agency changing the genetic composition of the population from generation to generation.  It is now too firmly established to be done away with by legislation.  The wise alternative would appear to be the legalizing of the spread of contraceptive information.  At present it is available to, and is being used by, the very classes whose reproduction is most to be desired, while those whose fecundity should be lowered have difficulty in obtaining access to it.

 

Immigration and emigration may profoundly affect the genetic composition of the people of a nation.  The question in the United States as present resolves itself into a problem of the type of individual to be admitted. Eugenically no one should be permitted to enter the United States who is not above the average of intelligence of the American population.  Moreover, he should be of good health, and should present a family history free from genetic defects.  In the past these precautions have not been taken, and the result has in many cases been unfortunate.  Other immigration requirements, such as good character, and racial, social, and cultural qualities similar to those of our own people, are equally important.

 

Selective segregation, sterilization, contraception, immigration, and emigration are all changing in one way or another the genetic composition of the race.  The eugenic measures involved are largely ‘negative eugenics,’ that is, they treat of the prevention of the increase of the more undesirable elements of the population.  Another group of recommended eugenic practices is included under ‘positive eugenics,’ that is, the conscious attempt to increase the genetically desirable proportion of the population.  Many plans for such a procedure have been offered, most of which are impractical.  Bonuses for offspring of superior families, taxes on bachelors, family allowance systems, and other such schemes, are not apt to be enthusiastically received in our present social order.

 

Education in heredity and eugenics can, however, result in marked progress.  The young man or woman who knows the principles of genetics can hardly fail to be more discriminating in the choice of a life partner.  Intelligent thought given to the children likely to result from a union will not degrade the romantic aspect of courtship and marriage.

 

In addition to education along eugenic lines, more research into acts of human inheritance is needed.  The understanding of the mode of inheritance of many human traits is far from perfect.  Perhaps the greatest task which confronts the geneticist today is the unraveling of the complexities of the exact hereditary and environmental influences which underlie the development and expression of human characteristics.  Fortunately society is willing to encourage and aid those whose interest lies in this direction.  It is to be hoped that more and more facts will be uncovered, and that with their discovery will come the willingness and the opportunity to see them to the fullest advantage for the human race.

 

PROBLEMS

 

  1. Suppose a friend of yours is in love with his cousin and wants to marry her.  He comes to you for advice.  What would you tell him?
  2. Outline a practical program of eugenics for your state.  List the advantages of each point in your outline, and discuss practical difficulties involved in establishing such a program.
  3. Is there a sterilization law in your state?  If so, how does it function?  Are there adequate records available as to the success or failure of the plan?
  4. If your state has no sterilization law, discuss the reasons for the fact.  In your opinion, are these reasons adequate?
  5. If possible, visit your state institution for the feeble-minded.  Observe what is being done for these individuals. Obtain opinions of the officials of the institution as to the merits of the various suggested eugenical measures.
  6. Visit if possible your state schools for the deaf and blind.  How would suggested eugenical measures involving such individuals differ from those involving the feeble-minded?
  7. The Declaration of Independence states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” Discuss this statement from the genetic standpoint.

 

REFERENCES

 

Gosney, ES and Popenoe, P., Sterlization for Human Betterment.  New York, The Macmillan Co. (1929).

 

Holmes, SJ, The Eugenic Predicament.  New York, Harcourt, Brace and Co. (1933).

 

Popenoe, P. Jour. Heredity 25: 19 (1934).

 

Popenoe, P. and Johnson, RH, Applied Eugenics.  New York, The Macmillan Co. (1933).

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