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L. B. Cat. No. 1 137

Human Heredity

BY

Casper L. Redfield

Author of Control of Heredity, Dynamic
Evolution, Great Men, Etc.

CHICAGO

Heredity Publishing Company

1921

.\

o-

COPYRIGHT 1J21
BT

CASPER L. REDFIBDD

E ^ **•!!>/*

M C^. State Ooilege

CONTENTS

Page

—^ • * *

Preface iii

Introduction vi

Chapter

I. — Process of Power Changes 13

n.— Some Eminent Men 29

ni.— The Age of Parents 45

IV. — From Savagery to Civilization. . 56

V.I — Evolution of Intelligence and

Longevity 70

^ VI. — Disease and Immunity 82

Index 105

PREFACE

The things set forth in this little book are mat-
ters of fact, and not a philosophy or a set of
opinions. If some person does not agree, his
proper procedure is to find contrary facts to
offset those here presented. As there is an
ample supply of records, there is no excuse for
applying denunciation instead of getting the
facts.

For example, my tables show that the chil-
dren bom to fathers less than thirty are much
more numerous than those born to fathers over
forty. If anyone doubts it, let him go to the
birth registry in any city, or to family geneal-
ogies to be found in any public library. In ex-
amining the pedigrees of intellectually eminent
men I found that those born to fathers more
than forty are much more numerous than those
born to fathers less than thirty. The names of
the men in my list are given in my Control of
Heredity, and in my Great Men. If anyone
questions the results let him make up another
list of equally eminent men and tell us what
he finds.

• • •

111

A person will not read this book unless he is
interested in human welfare. If he is interested
in human welfare, he is quite competent to form
his own opinions from the facts as to what is
the best policy to pursue. For example, if it
clearly appears that improvements of the kind
which distinguish,' the higher iraces fr'om the
lower ones come only through the children pro-
duced in the later reproductive lives of their
parents, he will have no difficulty in forming an
opinion of laws which permit a fourteen-year-
old boy to marry a twelve-year-old girl, or of
customs which control births by shutting off all
but a few produced soon after marriage.

I have given a few conclusions when the con-
text seemed to call for them, but for the most
part I have left the reader to draw his own
conclusions. In a good many cases they are so
self-evident as to need no comment.

C. L. R.

March, 1921.

IV

INTRODUCTION.

Darwin wrote "The Origin of Species," and
that title represents his contribution to science.
While there are several races of men, it is gen-
erally considered that there is only one species.
As we are not interested in producing a new
species of man, or in increasing the number of
races of men, the origin of species has only an
academic interest for those persons who are
looking toward human improvement.

Man has risen little by little from savagery to
civilization, and the things we are here interested
in are those characteristics which distinguish the
civilized man from the savage. Going a step
further, we are interested in producing in the
entire human family more of those character-
istics which distinguish such men as Newton,
Shakespeare and Franklin from their feeble-
minded neighbors. As these are not the things
by which we distinguish one species from
another, it should be evident that the Darwinian
theory has nothing to do with the improvement
of human beings.

vi

Perhaps the reader will say that it is incon-
ceivable that selection has nothing to do with
human improvements. There are several answers
to that. One is that selecting an improvement is
not making it, and we are interested in the proc-
ess of manufacture. Another answer is that
Darwin knew his own theory better than anyone
else knows it, and in his Origin of Species,
(Vol I, p. 282) he says that "no one can solve
the problem why, of two races of savages, one
has risen higher in the scale of civilization than
the other; and this apparently implies brain-
power." A third answer is that selection for
mental qualities has been carried on in the British
peerage for about seven hundred years, and the
result is failure.

Mendel crossed the tall pea on the short pea,
the wrinkled pea on the smooth pea, and the pea
of one color on the pea of another color, and
then he in-bred the progeny. His followers have
done the same things with other plants and with
various animals, and have confirmed his results.
These results are said tO' be important in human
heredity.

Perhaps so and perhaps not. Just at present
we are not interested in crossing the white race

vu

on a race of some other color, and if we should
do so the law would prevent us from breeding
brother and sister together to get the Mendelian
segregation. Up to the present it has not been
shown that we can get pure whites and pure
blacks by breeding Mulattos together. Also, we
are not particularly interested in inches in height,
color of hair, or shape of physical organs, and
these are the things with which the Mendelian
theory deals. In a political campaign, the politi-
cal orator, in bringing forward the merits of his
candidate, does not say : "Vote for my man, he
has brown eyes and curly hair, and is much
superior to the other fellow, who has red hair
and a pug nose."

We are interested in improvements in mental
power, physical strength and endurance, vitality,
resistance to disease, and longevity. These are
not unit characters at all, and consequently do
not come under the Mendelian theory. On this
point I will refer the reader to the New York
Medical Journal for September 21, 1918.

A eugenic theory based on either the Darwin-
ian theory or the Mendelian theory, is founded
on a fallacy. Those theories relate to matters
of no consequence in the rise of man from a

viu

lower to a higher plane in the scale of evolution,
and the matters of real consequence do not come
under those theories.

In investigating these things in human beings,
and elsewhere among living organisms, there are
certain facts which stand out clearly, and which
should be taken into consideration in any study
of human improvement. It seems desirable to
make here a brief statement of what siome of
these facts are.

1. The main things in human beings, and in
many of our animals and plants, are matters of
power, and not matters of structure or color.
The powers of all living things, whether animals
or plants, are increased by exercising those pow-
ers previously in existence, and in no other man-
ner and under no other circumstances or condi-
tions. A man cannot become an athlete by sit-
ting still, no matter what he may eat.

2. The powers within any living thing de-
cline when there is a reduction of the degree of
activity which previously existed. An athlete
gradually loses his physical powers when he takes
up a sedentary life. A race horse retired to the
breeding ranks gradually loses his racing powers.

3. The gain in power by exercise, and the

loss of power by idleness, are processes which
may, and frequently do, extend through the
greater part of long lives. There is no known
limit to the increase of powers. The decrease
of powers is limited only by death.

4. When the matter extends over two or
more generations, improvements come through
the offspring of old parents and not through the
offspring of young parents. This means that
the origin of improvements is to be found in
something which occurs in the lives of parents
between youth and old age, and not in some
spontaneous variation occurring in a germ.

5. When the matter extends over two or more
generations, improvements in a particular form
of power, (as mental power, trotting power,
resistance to disease, etc.), come through the
offspring of parents who exercised that particu-
lar power to an unusual extent before reproduc-
ing, and not through the offspring of any other
kind of parents.

6. When a man develops the muscular
strength of his arms and hands by manipulating
a pair of shears which he uses to cut off the tails
of mice, the effect produced upon the muscular
strength of the subsequently conceived son of this

man is not determined by examining the tails of
the subsequently conceived mice.

7. The idea that the power of an organism
is a function of its structure is the same fallacy
that resides in the mind of a man who tries to
make a perpetual motion machine. That man
thinks that if he can get the proper structure he
can get unlimited power for nothing.

A race is made up of individuals, and improve-
ment of the race consists in improving the in-
dividuals which compose it. The improvement of
an individual consists in developing (increasing)
some one or more of his powers. An individual
can come into possession of such an improvement
only by exercise or by inheritance. But an in-
dividual cannot inherit from parents something
which those parents did not have, and those par-
ents could come into possession of the improve-
ment only by exercise or by inheritance. Unless
we are to accept spontaneous generation, or spe-
cial creation, for the form of improvements here
under consideration, we have to accept the idea
that powers developed by exercise in one genera-
tion are inherited by the next.

xi

Human Heredity

CHAPTER I.

PROCESS OF POWER CHANGES.

WHEN Darwin pointed out that offspring
resemble their parents, that there is va-
riation which makes that resemblance not exact,
and that by selecting variations of one kind or an-
other great changes can be produced in a few gen-
erations, he was simply putting into scientific
literature facts well known to common people
since long before the dawn of history. But bring-
ing those well known but ignored facts into rela-
tionship to other well known facts brought about

a revolution in our ideas about the animate world.
There is another set of facts which are the
common knowledge of common people, and have
been known to our ancestors since the days of
the cave man. They are facts which are par-
ticularly well known to prize fighters, to horse
jockies, and to sporting men in general, but they
seem to be unknown to science. Certain it is
that scientific literature ignores these facts almost

13

14 Process of Power Changes

altogether, and a large part of scientific teaching
is wholly erroneous because it is in direct con-
flict with well known facts which may be easily
verified. I refer now to those variations which
occur in the powers which distinguish the live
animal or the live plant from the dead one.

When I say that these facts are known to com-
mon people and to scientists but not to science, I
mean that it is known how variations in power
capabilities are produced in individuals, but it is
not known to what extent these changes may be
carried. It is the intention here tO' show some-
thing of the extent to which such variations may
be carried by deliberate purpose, and to bring
into view isolated facts which are now buried in
out of the way places, and to show that they are
different phases of one and the same thing.

Men train for athletic contests, horses are
trained for racing purposes, carrier pigeons are
trained for long flights, and dogs are trained to
perform work of many different kinds. When
a man trains for a physical contest he takes se-
vere physical exercise day after day, week after
week, and month after month. The exercise is
of an intensity which will make him weary each
dav.

Process of Power Changes 15

A very common statement found in scientific
literature is to the effect that when a man works
hard for years he gets worn out, has his vitality
sapped, and falls into an early grave. The state-
ment is not at all true. The process of expend-
ing energy through bodily organs is one step in
the larger process of building up energy within
exercised organs. Instead of a man becoming
worn out and having his vitality sapped by hard
work, hard work is the thing that 'increases his
powers and vitality, and extends the length of his
life.

How far can this be extended in man? That
we do not know as we do not have scientific rec-
ords bearing on the point, but by personal experi-
ment I have found that a man may add to his
physical strength by physical exercise after he
has past sixty years of age. But it is frequently
said that a man does not really build up physical
powers by physical exercise, and that all he does
is make manifest inherited powers within. At
this point we will go over to the trotting horse,
where we have records which we do not have for
man.

1 6 Process of Power Changes

The trotter is trained for racing purposes, and

that training consists in driving the horse at the

trot day after day and year after year until finally

retired from the track. A racing career lasts as

long as it is financially profitable, and no longer.

We will take the case of Goldsmith Maid as it is

one of the longest of which we have full records.

A horse is full grown at three or four years of

age, and a few of them live more than twenty

years. The record here begins at nine years of

age because it was not until that age that she had

developed the speed which would classify her as

a "standard trotter.'*

Extreme Speed of Goldsmith Maid.

Feet per

Age Time second

Nine years 2:30 35.20

Ten years 2:24^ 36.54

Eleven years 2:22^ 37.05

Twelve years 2:19^ 37.85

Fourteen years 2:17 38.54

Sixteen years 2:16 38.82

Seventeen years 2:14 39.40

One thing to be n;0ted here is that her gain in
trotting power was not limited to the attainment
of full growth, but continued year after year
with the most striking improvements made in the
evening of life. At ten years of age Goldsmith

Process of Power Changes 17

Maid had developed more trotting power than
ever existed in any ancestor, because, at the time
she was conceived, no horse in the world had suc-
ceeded in trotting a mile in 2 :24l/^, and those
which had approached that speed were not in her
ancestry. Yet after her trotting development un-
der trotting exercise had passed the point of any
possible inheritance, she made further gains for
seven years under continued training. At seven-
teen years of age she broke the world's record
four times in succession.

During the past century, thousands of horses
have developed more trotting power than was
called for by their inheritance because their de-
velopment under continued exercise exceeded
anything v/hich ever existed in any ancestor.
And on the race tracks of the United States
during 1917, more than one hundred trotters
over ten years of age showed more speed than
they ever show^ed before.

There is another example of continued develop-
ment of powers under continued exercise, and
that is that of milk-production by cows. A cow
produces a certain amount of milk per day when
she has her first calf, a larger amount when she

18 Process of Power Changes

has her second calf, a still larger amount when

she has her third calf, and so on. We can see

this a little better by reference to a table which

will show the amount of milk produced by cows

of different ages.

Holstein-Friesian Milk Production — Official Tests for
Year Ending June 14, 1913.
Ages of Cows Av. Milk in 7 Days
Under 2 years, 6 months 322.7 pounds

2 years, 6 months, to 3 years 348.8 pounds

3 years to 3 years, 6 months 400.3 pounds

3 years, 6 months, to 4 years 418.2 pounds

4 years to 4 years, 6 months 446.8 pounds

4 years, 6 months, to 5 years 459.2 pounds

Over 5 years (av. 7 years) 473.8 pounds

There were 5,961 cows in these tests, and the

average milk produced by them was 3.4 pounds
more than that produced by other cows of the
same ages the previous year. Considering only
the 473.8 pounds produced by the average cow
over 5 years of age, this is 19 pounds more than
similar cows produced seven years earlier. At
the earlier date there were 455 cows over five
years of age which were tested officially and are
recorded in volume 6 of the Blue Book. I have
analyzed these for the purpose of making a table
which will show what happens beyond 5 years of
age.

Process of Power Changes 19

Cows Over 5 Years of Age — Holstein-Friesian Milk

Production — Official Tests for Year

Ending May 15, 1906.

Ages of Cows Av. Milk in 7 Days

5 years to 6 years 43375 pounds

^ years to 7 j'-ears 449.00 pounds

7 years to 8 years 449.51 pounds

8 years to 9 years 458.10 pounds

9 years to 10 years 468.71 pounds

10 years to 11 years 490.35 pounds

11 years and over 446.33 pounds

By an inspection of the details of which this
table is composed, and by making another table
which shows the same cows tested in successive
years, I find that the actual increase in milk pro-
duction from year to year is much more than that
given in the above table. Also I find that actual
increase extends up to twelve years of age, which
is as far as these records reach on cows tested
two years in succession.

A cow may not be full grown when she has
her first calf, but she does not continue to grow
in size up to the time she has her tenth or elev-
enth calf. Under continued exercise which is
more than some minimum amount per unit of
time, animal powers continue to develop up to
some unknown point near the end of life.

20 Process af Power Changes

A dope fiend suffers no inconvenience when
taking a dose of poison great enough to kill sev-
eral men. He does not survive the taking of
such large doses because he was born with more
powers than other persons. He does so because
he began with small doses, such as any person
might take and survive, and then gradually in-
creased the size of the doses as his powers were
developed by the exercise of fighting such poison.

Calmette and Fraser found that when small
doses of snake venom, insufficient to cause death,
are injected into an animal, temporary disturb-
ance is produced ; but after a few days the ani-
mal recovers, and a larger dose is required to
produce any symptoms. By gradually increasing
the dose the animal becomes more and more re-
sistant, until a dose fifty times as great as would
at first have produced immediate death can be
injected without doing the animal any harm.

If we take some wild plant and attempt to re-
produce it by cuttings, we are likely to find that
it can be reproduced that way only with difficulty.
But if we take a cutting from the first plant
raised that way we find the second time it grows
a little more readily. If we take a cutting from

Process of Power Changes 21

the second plant to raise a third, we again find
that it starts more easily, and so on time after
time. By many repetitions the plant develops
the power of producing roots abundantly from
cuttings. By exercising the powers which it has
it acquires powers which it did not have before,
and which never existed in any ancestor.

There is no selection in this matter. No seeds
are produced. The final plant is really a de-
veloped section of the original plant, but has
powers which the original plant did not have. A
large number of our greenhouse plants are now
produced by cuttings, but originally came from
stock which would grow that way only with dif-
ficulty.

Henslow says that the hypocotyl of a seedling
sunflower, which would break under a weight of
160 grams, bore a weight of 250 grams after
being subjected for two days to a weight of 150
grams. After some further physical training, the
weight was increased to 400 grams without caus-
ing injury. Here we have in plants something
which corresponds exactly to the development of
muscular strength by muscular exercise in ani-
mals. Similar and even more pronounced results

22 Process of Power Changes

have been found in the leaf stalks of black helle-
bore after five days of physical training.

The Binet system is used to measure the men-
tal development of children. To measure any-
thing it is necessary to have a standard for com-
parison. By testing a good many children, the
Binet system establishes a certain degree of men-
tal development as representing normal-minded-
ness for a five-year-old child ; a higher degree of
mental development as representing normal-mind-
edness for a six-year-old ; a still higher degree of
mental development as representing normal-mind-
edness for a seven-year-old; and so on.

The Binet system does not extend its standards
into the mature years of adult life because the
tests used are not suitable for that purpose, but
v;^e can reach the matter in another way. It re-
quires mental power to learn a thing and re-
member it while learning a second thing. It
requires more mental power to remember two
things while learning a third ; more yet to re-
member three things while learning a fourth;
still more to remember four things while learn-
ing a fifth; and so on. From youth to old age
we are continually learning things, and we carry

Process of Power Changes 23

the learned things in our memories while we
learn other things. These learned things are a
load which requires mental power to carry, and
the increasing number of things we thus carry
is a measure of our growing mental power.

The converse of the gain of powers by exer-
cise is the loss of powers by idleness, — the term
"idleness" meaning a reduced degree of activity
and not a total cessation of action. As a matter
of fact, gain and loss are two operations which
go on simultaneously in the body of each individ-
ual, but for simplicity we will consider them sepa-
rately.

All plants raised for any considerable length
of time by division, like tubers, bulbs, cuttings,
buds or grafts, gain the power to produce roots
abundantly, and at the same time they lose the
power, sooner or later, to produce seeds. By con-
tinually exerting themselves along particular lines
plants develop new powers along those lines, and
by continued idleness along other lines (seed
production) they lose the power they originally
had.

Man took wild plants, and, by continually
training them, developed their power of produc-
ing the things he wanted.

24 Process of Power Changes

In the wild state these plants had to fight for
existence in a world covered with other plants.
When man domesticated these plants he protected
them from weeds. As a consequence of not hav-
ing to fight for room against other plants, our
domesticated kinds have lost the power of sO'
fighting, and are unable to maintain themselves
when deserted by man. Idleness along that line
caused a loss of power on that line. There is no
selection in this. Man did not select plants be-
cause of their inability to protect themselves.

A seed is an inert object, but it contains germ-
plasm and has the power, under proper circum-
stances, of developing into another plant like that
from which it came. At least it has that power
when it is first produced. But let that seed lie
idle two, three, four or more years, and that
power gradually declines and finally ceases to
exist. The germ-plasm (the physical basis of
heredity) is still there, but it has lost its power
of developing into a new plant because of a fail-
ure to exercise that power for a considerable
length of time. The loss of powers by reason
of a failure to exercise them applies to the germ-
plasm just the same as it does to the somatoplasm.

Process of Power Changes 25

A plant which is continually raised from cut-
tings is not raised from seed, and consequently is
not exercising its powers of growing from seeds.
It may be exercising its powers of producing
seeds, but the powers of producing seeds and
the power of growing from seeds after they are
produced are two different things. Now it hap-
pens that all plants which are continually repro-
duced by cuttings, grafts, tubers, or divisions of
any kind, and not by seeds, gradually and cer-
tainly lose their power of producing seeds which
will germinate, and ultimately lose the power of
producing seeds at all. The germ-plasm cannot
retain a power which it does not exercise, and it
cannot transmit a power which it does not have.

The theory of the continuity of the germ-plasm
is one of those fallacies which gains a wide cur-
rency because of a lack of knowledge of the
fundamental characteristics of living things. It
assumes that a living body can have a power
which it never has exercised, and which was
never exercised by any ancestor from which it
was derived. Such a thing is utterly impossible.

Experiments have shown that when smallpox
virus is taken from a human patient and inocu-

26 Process of Power Changes

lated into a cow, it will take only about once in
ten trials. In fact, the smallpox germ can sur-
vive in the cow only when it comes to some cow
which, from some cause or other, happens to be
in an unusually weak condition at the time. But
when this organism has once succeeded in its
fight for life in the blood reaction of a weak
cow, it has built up its powers by its own efforts
in fighting that kind of blood reaction and then
can be passed along to and can live in a cow in
whose blood it would have died if inoculated
there in the first instance. Then it can be passed
along from cow to cow in series, and each time
it thus passes it further builds up its powers of
fighting the blood reaction of cows by exercising
such powers.

While the smallpox germ is thus busy develop-
ing its powers of fighting the blood reaction of
cows, it is not fighting the blood reaction of man,
with the result that if it be inoculated into a man
after having passed through a series of ten or
twelve cows, it is found to be cowpox and not
smallpox. It has lost the power of fighting the
blood reaction of man by not exercising that
power, and is able to survive only a short time in

Process or Power Changes 27

that blood reaction. And a man who is vacci-
nated builds up his powers of resisting smallpox
by beginning his exercise on a weak form of it,
with the result that he becomes able to resist fully
virulent smallpox when it later puts in an appear-
ance. But after he is vaccinated he ceases to
exercise his powers of fighting smallpox virus
because there is none present to fight, and the
result is that these powers gradually decline. If
he is to continue to be able to resist smallpox he
must again exercise the powers he has by again
being vaccinated.

Here we have a case of one kind of power
being built up in the protoplasm of a germ by
exercising that power, and simultaneously another
power in the same protoplasm was permitted to
decay by reason of a failure to exercise it. Also,
we have the case of resisting powers being built
up in the bodily cells of the man by exercising
such powers as he had at the time, and subse-
quently the decline of the same powers in the
same person by a failure to exercise them for
some years.

When disease-producing bacteria are raised on
some artificial food, as bouillon or agar, they do

28 Process of Power Changes

not have to fight a hostile blood reaction, and as
a consequence they gradually lose their disease-
producing powers by failing to exercise them.
By putting such weakened bacteria through a
course of training in which they are forced to
use these powers to a gradually increasing ex-
tent, their virulence can be increased to something
greater than it was when they were first placed
upon artificial food. These facts were first found
by Pasteur in working on the anthrax bacillus,
and have since been found by other persons work-
ing on other germs.

CHAPTER II.

SOME EMINENT MEN.

THE modern birth control doctrine is to
produce fewer children and better ones.

Their method of procedure is to have parents
stop producing as soon as they have two or three
children and give their attention strictly to the
upbringing of those two or three.

If that practice had begun back in the Stone
Age, we would still be in the Stone Age. The
"we" of that statement does not mean the readers
of this, because every one of us has in our an-
cestry a good many persons who were later than
the tenth child. It means whatever might be
alive as the result of that proceeding, and if any-
thing human were alive they would be in the
Stone Age because advancement comes through
children produced late in the lives of their par-
ents, and not otherwise. In this matter let us
examine a few persons alphabetically.

29

30 Some Eminent Men

Alfred the Great, the greatest of British kings,
was the fifth and youngest son.

Sir Richard Arkwright, the inventor, was the
youngest of 13 children of parents too poor to
give him an education.

"The great Arnauld," famous French theo-
logian, was the youngest of 20 children.

Audubon, America's naturalist, was born when
his father was 57, and that father was the young-
est of 20 children.

Sir Francis Bacon, one of the most profound
of intellects, was the youngest of 8 children.

Sir Charles Bell, famous surgeon, was the
youngest of 6 children.

Bismarck, the founder of the German Empire,
was the youngest surviving son.

Blackstone of law fame was a youngest son.

Robert Boyle, "the great Christian philoso-
pher," was the fourteenth child.

Elihu Burritt, ''the learned blacksmith," was
the youngest of ten children.

The fact that mental eminence comes from the
late progeny of a man rather than from the early
progeny may be seen in the Lee family of Vir-
ginia. The story begins with Richard Lee (1646-

Some Eminent Men 31

1714), who was certainly a younger and probably
the youngest son of a "numerous household."
He had five sons, the last two of whom became
the progenitors of the eminent branches of the
family. One of these was Thomas Lee (1690-
1750), born when his father was forty- four, and

the other was Henry Lee (1691 ), born when

his father was forty-five.

Like his father, Thomas Lee had five sons, the
last three of whom were the eminent members.
One of these was Richard Henry Lee (1732-
1794), who was born when his father was forty-
two and who became a statesman and orator.
Another was Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734-1797),
who was born when his father was forty-four,
and who was one of the signers of the Declara-
tion of Independence. And the third was Arthur
Lee (1740-1792), who was born when his father
was fifty, and who was a statesman and diplomat.
These men all have places in the Encyclopedia
Britannica, which is evidence that they were of
more than ordinary ability.

From Henry Lee (1691 — ), son of the orig-
inal Richard, the eminent line continues down
through his youngest son, Henry, bom when his

32 Same Eminent Men

father was thirty-eight, his grandson, "Light
Horse Harry," and his youngest great-grandson,
Gen. Robert E. Lee.

What is presented here about the Lees is not
family gossip. The persons named are not sim-
ply members of a prominent family. They are
the most eminent members of an eminent family,
with the emphasis in the superlative. The analy-
sis shows where eminence does and where it
does not arise in any line of descent from com-
mon ancestors. Using "eldest" and "youngest"
in a generic sense to indicate early and late off-
spring from the parents, we may say that im-
provement comes through the youngest son of
the youngest son, and not through the eldest son
of the eldest son.

Benjamin Franklin was clearly one of the mas-
ter intellects of the world. It is doubtful if
there lived at the same time another intellect
equally great. However that may be, it is cer-
tain that there were not a half dozen of them.
Franklin tells us that he was "the youngest son
of the youngest son for five generations back."
Franklin considered that as merely curious, and
others since then have thought the same thing.

Some Eminent Men 33

But "curious" things analyzed lead to important
truths. When there are many in a family, the
"youngest" is the offspring of old parents. It
was this way in the case of Franklin. Ben was
born when his father was 51, the father was born
when the grandfather was 57, and the grand-
father was born when the great-grandfather was
in the neighborhood of 70. The rest of the male
line is not known, but Ben's mother was born
when her father was 50. Here is an average of
57 instead of the normal average of 32.

Ben's father was a soap boiler, but he was a
learned man. He was a studious, self-taught
man, who got his education first and his son after-
wards. The father of Ben's mother was a
"learned Englishman," who got his education
first and his daughter afterwards. Both of these
men were studious men in the strict meaning of
that term. But even a person who is not studious
gets an education by mere contact with his fellow
man. The person who is old when his child is
born is one who has got his education first and
his offspring afterwards.

George Washington was somewhat above the
ordinary run of men. He is even considered to

34 Some Eminent Men

have been superior to the prominent men of his
day. He was born when his father was 38, and
the next three generations cover 99 years. This
is an average of a little over 34. But there is a
suspicion that Washington's greatness came from
his mother. She was Mary Ball, born when her
father was about 60 years of age. There is a
Ball pedigree extending back eight generations,
but dates are not given. From Mary's birth back
to the estimated birth of the earliest of these
Balls, the average is about 40 years.

Henry Ward Beecher was perhaps the greatest
preacher of the nineteenth century. At least, he
was exceptionally brilliant. Henry was bom
when his father was 38, and that father was a
Yale graduate and a learned man who got his
education first and his son afterwards. The
father, Lyman Beecher, was born when his father,
David, was 35 or more years of age. And David
was one of the best educated persons in New
England, who got his education first and his son
afterwards. Running out the male line to Isaac
Beecher, born in 1620, we have five generations
in 193 years. In the other parts of Beecher's
pedigree we have the ages of seven other persons.

Some Eminent Men 33

The average for the entire twelve is over 36.
Among the other persons were one lawyer, one
colonel and one general. These were all educated
men who got their educations first and their off-
spring afterwards.

In the early part of the eighteenth century
there was a poor French fisherman with a large
family. Poor fishermen do not get much educa-
tion in the ordinary significance of that term, but
the work of fighting storms on the bay of Biscay
and providing food and clothing for a large and
growing family develops mental powers, and that
is the kind of education referred to here. In
1723 that fisherman's twentieth child was born,
and it is very certain that that fisherman had ac-
quired a good deal of education before that twen-
tieth child was conceived. That twentieth child
rose to be an admiral in the French navy, a fact
which indicates that he inherited mental ability
from his parents, and that he acquired considera-
ble education. By the time this French admiral
had got education to the extent of 57 years he
became the father of a child, subsequently known
as John James Audubon, America's greatest
naturalist.

36 Some Eminent Men

Alexander the Great needs no particular in-
troduction. He was the son of Philip of Mace-
don, and was born when his father was 26. But
if we will look more at essentials and less at the
spectacular we will observe that Alexander reaped
where Philip had sown, and that Philip was the
brains back of Alexander's achievements. Philip
was born when his father Amyntas II was about
63, and Amyntas was born about 90 years after
the birth of his grandfather, Alexander I. In-
cluding the 26 for Alexander the Great, the aver-
age is nearly 45 for four generations.

Men of unusual ability gravitated to Washing-
ton during the war, and were given unusual
authority. Let us suppose that one of these men
should be superior to others, and be given more
authority than that given to any one else. How
much superior would that person have to be be-
fore we abolished the republic, made that man
an emperor, and gave him the honorary title of
Augustus? But Octavius changed the Roman
Republic into an Empire, and is known as Au-
gustus of Rome. He was born in 63 B. C., and
his great-grandfather was in the battle of Cannae,
fought in 216 B. C. The least we can figure

Same Eminent Men 37

gives an average of 57 years from birth of father
to birth of son for three generations in succes-
sion. And his mother was the youngest sister of
Julius Caesar.

In the early days Rome v^^as controlled solely
by the patricians. Little by little the plebeians
gained in power at the expense of the patricians.
The most prominent member of the most illus-
trious plebeian family of the Claudia Gens was
Marcus Claudius Marcellus. As evidence that
we are not referring simply to an ordinary supe-
rior person, observe that double superlative. The
average for seven generations in the male line to
Marcellus is over forty years.

The Kembles were a famous family of actors
and actresses. Recorded history begins with Roger
Kemble, born in 1721, who was an actor and the
father of eleven children, all of whom were more
or less famous in theatricals. The famous grand-
children of Roger were Fanny Kemble, and Ade-
laide, also known as Mrs. Sartoris. Both were
authors as well as actors. Now these famous
granddaughters did not come from Roger's first
child, or his second child, or his third child, or
his fourth child, or his fifth child, or his sixth

38 Some Eminent Men

child. They came from his eleventh and youngest
child, Charles Kemble, who was born when his
father was fifty-four years of age. Evidently the
wife of Roger did not practice birth control,
otherwise there would have been no Fanny Kem-
ble, or Mrs. Sartoris. Neither would Fanny and
Adelaide have existed if the wife of Charles had
indulged in birth control, as one was born when
her father was thirty-six and the other when he
was forty-five.

It has been the fashion for some time to say
that Lamarck advanced a false theory of evolu-
tion. But as the persons who say that have not
yet succeeded in making an intelligent statement
of what Lamarck's theory is, we may pass their
opinions as unworthy of consideration. Lamarck
was born when his father was forty-two and
the next two previous generations cover some-
thing more than 110 years. This is an average of
more than fifty years for three generations in
succession.

William Thomson, afterwards known as Lord
Kelvin, was a son of Prof. James Thomson, and
was born when his father was 38. And James
was born when his father was 48. This is a total

Some Eminent Men 39

of 86 years from birth of grandfather to birth of
grandson. This may not appear much, but if
there is nothing in years of education given the
father and grandfather before they reproduce,
then it should be possible to find some other man
as good as Kelvin, who was born less than 48
years after the birth of his grandfather. Try it.

Hereditary kings are not usually of much im-
portance from the intellectual standpoint, but
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is an exception.
He was born 98 years after the birth of his
grandfather, Gustavus Vasa. In ordinary popu-
lations, more persons are born within 44 years of
the births of their paternal grandfathers than are
born 98 or more years after. Normally, heredi-
tary kings are the eldest son of the eldest son,
and great numbers of them are born within 44
years of the births of their grandfathers. Just
try to find one so born who is in any way com-
parable to Gustavus Adolphus from the intellect-
ual standpoint.

In other contributions I have shown that
Charles Darwin was produced by an ancestry
which accumulated', in a few previous genera-
tions, an aggregate of more than fifty years of

40 Same Eminent Men

extra education before reproducing. But Dar-
win does not carry off all of the glory. Alfred
Russell Wallace did something. Wallace was
bom when his father was 52, and the father was
born when the grandfather was 46. Here is
another 98 years in two generations to match
that of Gustavus Adolphus. What man born
within 44 years of the birth of his grandfather
is the equal of Wallace?

John and Giarles Wesley were the founders
of Methodism. There can be no doubt about the
intellectual superiority of these men. They were
the sons of the Rev. Samuel Wesley who was 40
and 43 years of age respectively when his famous
sons were born. Now it is quite evident that the
Rev. Samuel must have acquired a good deal of
education before his sons were conceived. It
also happens that the mother of John and Charles
was Susanna, the twenty-fifth and youngest child
of Dr. Samuel Annesley, a vicar. There can be
no doubt but Dr. Sam had acquired a good deal
of education before his twenty-fifth child was
conceived. And where would Methodism be if
birth control had got in its deadly work in the
families of these two pious Samuels?

Some Eminent Men 41

The steam engine and several other inventions
of a high order are due to a Scotchman by the
name of James Watt. James was born when his
father was 38, and the father was born when the
grandfather was 56. This is only 94 years for
two generations, but only one person in 122 is
born as great a length of time as that after his
grandfather. And the grandfather of James
Watt was a teacher of mathematics, a fact which
shows that education before reproduction was not
only long continued but was intense as compared
to what exists in the general population.

Some of these persons who do not like to have
facts of this kind presented to the public may
come along and say that Confucius was his fath-
er's eldest son. Quite true. All of the other
children were girls, and the father was 71 when
the famous son was born. Also, the father was
a learned man and a chief magistrate. Also,
the mother was the youngest daughter of an-
other learned magistrate.

Or, the objector may say that Cuvier, the
French naturalist, was an intellect of the first
order, and was his father's eldest child. Correct
again. But it happens that the father was a

42 Some Eminent Men

younger son, was trained as a military officer, and
did not get married until he was fifty years of
age. Intense education long continued led to the
production of this remarkable Frenchman.

In the same year that Cuvier was bom, Alex-
ander Von Humboldt was born, and no one can
say that there was any lack of intellect in Hum-
boldt. As in the case of Cuvier, Humboldt was
the son of a military officer, and this officer was
49 when Alexander was bom. Just as many
children are bom to fathers 22 and under, as are
bom to fathers 50 and over. It will be interest-
ing if someone will find some Cuvier or Hum-
boldt born to a father 22 or less.

The same year that produced Cuvier and Hum-
boldt also produced Napoleon Bonaparte, born
when his father Carlo Bonaparte was 23 years
of age. Does the reader think that I have met
my own suggestion ? That will depend upon the
meaning applied to human superiority. Napoleon
was doubtless far more famous than either Cuv-
ier or Humboldt, but how about intellectual su-
periority as distinguished from mere fame ? Does
anyone think that in the realm of pure intellect
Napoleon was the equal of either Cuvier or Hum-

Some Eminent Men 43

boldt? Probably not. In his life-time, Humboldt
was recognized as an authority on every known
science, and he was the last man to be so rec-
ognized. At the present time, the sciences are
too numerous and comprehensive for even the
mind of a Humboldt.

In the field of science it is doubtful if it is pos-
sible to name any persons superior to Cuvier or
Humboldt, and it is doubtful if anyone can say
either of these men was superior to the other.
But as a military chieftain and conqueror, com-
pare Napoleon with Genghis Khan, who lived six
hundred years earlier, and Napoleon shrinks to
small potatoes. Napoleon tried literature but was
unable to produce anything of value in that line.
As a chess player he was inferior to several of his
generals. He was a brilliant commander of
small armies, but that is practically all. There is
nothing to indicate that he was a master in hand-
ling armies of more than one hundred thousand;.
There is every reason to think that he would be
wholly incompetent to handle such vast armies
as those recently fighting in Europe.

The pedigree of Napoleon stops with his par-
ents. We have no information about either set

44 Some Eminent Men

of grandparents. If Napoleon was bom a short
time after the births of his grandparents, then
some of his numerous biographers should have
found and given us the facts about those grand-
parents. The fact that no biographer has told us
about those grandparents indicates that they were
so far in the past that, when the biographers got
busy, there were no living persons who knew
those grandparents and could tell about them.
The difficulty in finding records increases with
their distance in the past, and one reason why we
know so little about the ancestors of eminent men
is due to the fact that they are the final product of
old parentage repeated two or three or more gen-
erations in succession.

Biographers can rarely tell us about the grand-
parents of eminent men. Compare that fact with
the fact that investigators have no great difficulty
in tracing the Jukes, the Ishmaels, the Kallikaks,
and other inferior families for three, four, five
or six generations. The difference is due to the
fact that in one case the generations are far apart
and in the other case they are near together.

CHAPTER III.

THE AGE OF PARENTS.

IN what has gone before we h^ve cited a num-
ber of eminent men as the product of slow-
ly moving generations. Citing instances is often
persuasive, but it is hardly conclusive. What we
want is some kind of evidence that it is not pos-
sible to find contrary cases to offset the cases
given. This we can do by the establishment of
standards and the use of statistics.

When we speak of slowly moving generations
we refer not only to the ages of the fathers when
the eminent sons were produced, but to the ages
of the grandfathers when the parents were pro-
duced, and the ages of the great-grandfathers
when the grandparents were produced. We also
refer to the mothers, and grandmothers, and
great-grandfathers, but unfortunatey our human
records do not give these facts, and we have to
use what we can find.

Practically every pedigree extended for three
or four generations has in it some young parents

45

46 The Age of Parents

and some old parents. A pedigree extended
that far and composed of all old parents or all
young parents is very rare. The terms "old" and
"young" as here used is somewhat vague, but
means a few years more or a few years less than
the average. The average in the white race is
about 32 for fathers when children are bom. If
we take five years above and below this as repre-
senting old and young, we may then say that it
IS rare to find a pedigpree in which all males in
three or four generations are either above 37 or
below 27 when the next generation is produced.

The first step in this proceeding is to find the
normal distribution of births in normal pedigrees
in a normal community, and then compare that
with what is found in the pedigrees of intellect-
ually eminent men. The normal distribution was
determined by tabulating births as they occurred
in the 18th century in New England, and as they
are recorded in family genealogy. The table for
that is our standard for comparison.

In the cyclopedias were found 571 eminent
men in whose pedigrees it was possible to get
dates of births for one or more ancestors in
each pedigree. A tabulation of the distribution

The Age of Parents 47

of births in the pedigrees furnished the material
to be measured by normal distribution as a
standard. The results are given in the follow-
ing table:

Percentages of Births to Fathers of Different Ages.

In Pedigrees Relative

Age of In Normal of Emi- Value of

Fathers Pedigrees nent Men Father Age

24 and under 9.06 1.63 1.000

25 to 29 23.05 9.77 2.356

30 to 34 26.00 16.63 3.557

35 to 39 19.67 19.19 5.426

40 to 44 13.39 20.23 8.406

45 to 49 5.50 14.53 14.670

50 to 54 2.22 10.12 25.328

55 to 59 0.72 4.30 33.138

60 and over. 0.39 3.60 51.562

100.00 100.00

This table shows that normally more than 9
per cent of all children are born when their
fathers are less than 25 years of age, but that
in the pedigrees of eminent men less than 2 per
cent are the offspring of such young fathers.
Normally more than 23 per cent of children are
born after the fathers are 25 and before they are
30, but in pedigrees of eminent men less than
10 per cent are the offspring of such young
fathers. Continuing the comparison, it is seen

48

The Age of Parents

that eminent men are not produced in the same
manner that ordinary people are produced.

The last column is calculated from the other
two in a well-known manner. It shows to what
extent added age in the father helps to give the
son a good mental inheritance. Putting that last
column into the form of a diagram we have what
is shown in Fig. 1.

£

^

giftTM

t

CHANJCESC
o IS e

)F BECOMIN

G EMINENT

n A^ so

■ 1^

■ 2

35

3^5
543

S4f

1457

JJ4

^4'

25-29

30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
30-54
55^9

HUH

' ' ' ^^^^H

I2S32

'"■'■r i"'""f" ■r"t'""7"™ 1 1 i5,.?«i

Fig. 1. Relative chances of becoming eminent, as

measured by age of father at birth of son.

From "Great Men," by Redfleld.

The preceding table gives the distribution of
births as they occurred two hundred years ago.
In recent years there has been a decline of births,
which has been ascribed to birth control. For
the purpose of determining just what was hap-
pening, a similar tabulation was made from the
birth registry in Chicago for the year 1913. The

The Age of Parents 49

result is shown in the following table, in whicK
all three tabulations appear:

Percentage of Births to Fathers of Different Ages.

In Pedigrees
of Eminant

Ages of Fathers Men Normal In Chicago

24 and under 1.63 9.06 15.83

25 to 29 9.77 23.05 31.20

30 to 34 16.63 26.00 24.67

35 to 39 19.19 19.67 15.30

40 to 44 20.23 13.39 8.06

45 to 49 14.53 5.50 3.55

50 and over 18.02 3.33 1.39

Is it really necessary to comment on that
table? Is it not perfectly plain that birth con-
trol as it is being practiced in Chicago is carry-
ing the race backward?

It is recognized that from powerful-minded
parents we get powerful-minded offspring, and
from feeble-minded parents we get feeble-minded
offspring. It was shown before that mental
power in human beings continues to develop
from youth to old age. Hence, the same normal-
minded person may be relatively feeble-minded
as a parent in early life, and relatively power-
ful-minded in later life. We have examined pow-
erful-minded persons and have found that they

50 The Age of Parents

came from the late lives of their parents. Let us
look at the other side of the picture.

During the Revolutionary War a twenty-year-
old boy, now known under the fictitious name
of Martin Kallikak, Sr., came into contact with
a young girl of unstated age. The result was
an illegitimate son, now known as Martin Kalli-
kak, Jr. As Martin, Sr., and the girl were both
much below what is normal-mindedness for the
standard parent, it will be seen that Martin, Jr.,
was by two feeble-minded parents. As we get
only feeble-minded children from feeble-minded
parents, Martin, Jr., was born feeble-minded and
became the founded of a feeble-minded family.

Martin, Jr., started life with some degree of
feeble-minded handicap, but even a feeble-
minded person can develop to some extent as the
years go by. We may suppose that Martin, Jr.,
could reach or nearly reach the standard for a
thirty-year-old, even if he did not arrive at that
point until he was fifty years old. Martin, Jr.,
had several sons, the eldest of whom was bom
when his father was far below the thirty-year
standard. He was below that standard partly
because of his inheritance, partly because of lack

The Age of Parents 51

of schooling, and partly because of lack of years
when the eldest son was bom. The eldest son is
said to have been feeble-minded, and the head
of the principal feeble-minded branch of the
Kallikak family.

The second son, born after Martin, Jr., had
come nearer to the thirty-year standard, was
also feeble-minded, but to a less extent. Some
branches of his descendants are said to have been
normal-minded or doubtful. The third son, born
after Martin, Jr., was still nearer the thirty-year
standard, is said to have been normal. Martin,
Jr., also had several daughters. The earlier ones
were all feeble-minded, but the last two are said
to have been normal. The parents had acquired
mental development between the births of their
first and last children.

Let us return to the history of Martin, Sr.
About ten years after the contretemps which
resulted in the feeble-minded Martin, Jr., Mar-
tin, Sr., married a girl of good family and one
who had a good or fair education. At this time
Martin, Sr., was nearly thirty years of age, and
was much nearer to what is normal-mindedness
for average parents when the average child is

52 The Age of Parents

born. He had several children by this marriage,
all of whom are said to have been normal.

Martin, Sr., was a feeble-minded parent when
Martin, Jr., was conceived, but was substantially
normal-minded when his other children were con-
ceived. We have feeble-minded stock coming
from the first union, and normal-minded stock
from the second. Of course, some of the dif-'
ference was due to the individuality of the moth-
ers, but the first one was feeble-minded for the
same reason that her partner was, and the sec-
ond was normal-minded for the same reason that
Martin, Sr., became normal-minded at a later
date.

"The Ishmaels'' is a named used to designate a
group of degenerate families which are located
in and near Indianapolis, and which came mostly
from Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina
nearly a hundred years ago. In a statement made
about thirty years ago, McCullock catalogs 1,750
criminals, paupers and prostitutes among them,
fifty-seven of whom were in the sixth genera-
tion from the original importation. McCullock
states that he personally knew three generations
of beggars among them. His descriptions make

The Age of Parents 53

the average parents, generation after generation,
less than twenty years of age.

Another famous group of degenerates is
known as "The Jukes." The story begins with
a girl known as "Margaret, the mother of crimi-
nals." She was an eldest child, born when her
parents were quite young, though their ages are
not given. In 1784, while Margaret was in her
teens, she had an illegitimate son. In turn, this
illegitimate son became a father at the age of
fifteen, and the son of this fifteen-year-old father
became the founder of one of the worst branches
of the Jukes family. Observe the three suc-
cessive generations of unusually young parents,
one of which was a male only fifteen years old
when his son was born.

The records of the Jukes show that one girl
became a mother at the age of twelve, and sev-
eral others at thirteen and fourteen. One boy
contracted syphilis at the age of thirteen. He
was bom only thirty-six years after the birth of
his paternal grandfather.

Remembering that the different races and tribes
of men freely interbreed, and consequently are
biologically close cousins, and that apes and

54 The Age of Parents

other animals are somewhat more distant cousins,
it will help some to make a table which will
represent, approximately, the length of time
elapsing from generation to generation in the
male line.

APPROIX.MATE Average Age at Reproduction

Rabbits 1 year

Cattle , 4 years

Horses 10 years

Apes . ., 16 years

Digger Indians 21 years

Eskimos 23 years

Polynesians 26 years

Chinese , 29 years

Chicago in 1913 .31 years

New England in 18th Century 33 years

Fathers of 571 Eminent Men ). , . .40 years

Fathers of 10 Extraordinary Men 58 years

It will be worth the reader's while to study
that table, and to take notice of the fact that it
might have been very much extended by includ-
ing within it many other tribes and races of
men, and many other lower animals, with re-
gard to which we have fairly reliable informa-

The Age of Parents 5 5

tion. What is given, however, is sufficiently com-
prehensive to make it evident that the advance of
many animals in the scale of evolution is quite
accurately represented by the length of time
elapsing from one generation to the next.

Due consideration of the table will make it
evident that selection has nothing to do with
bringing about the kind of improvements which
distinguish the higher animals from the lower
ones, and consequently nothing to do with the
improvement of the human race. To have se-
lection, a pair of parents must produce more
than a pair of offspring, and the greater the num-
ber of offspring, the more the opportunity for
selection to get in its deadly work. Also, the
more frequently the generations follow each
other, the more is the selection. Lengthening the
time between generations cuts out selection and
its opportunities for accomplishing anything.
Looking at that table it is seen that we get im-
provement by a process which necessarily results
in eliminating selection. If selection had any-
thing to do with the matter, then rabbits should
very quickly overtake and pass human beings.

y

CHAPTER IV.

FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION.

IN the early stages of social organization,
men became divided into tribes. A vast

number of tribes have existed at one time or
another. A few of those tribes have advanced
from savagery to civilization and have become
organized into nations ; others still remain as
tribes at the present time; while the remainder,
and by far the larger number, have become ex-
tinct. As examples of extinction it is only
necessary to mention the disappearance of
Indian tribes in North America, and the dis-
appearance of other tribes in other parts of the
world invaded by the white man. But the
white man is not the sole cause of tribes be-
coming extinct. Neighboring tribes frequently
exterminate each other by warfare, the stronger
killing off the weaker. In South America,
Humboldt saw a parrot which was the sole
living thing capable of speaking the language
of an extinct tribe.

56

Fram Savagery to Civilizatian 57

Travelers have found among surviving tribes
of savages many bizarre customs. Many explana-
tions have been offered as to the origin, mean-
ing and usefulness of these customs to the tribes
practicing them, but we are not here concerned
with the origin of any particular custom. We
may simply assume that each custom arose from
some particular circumstance without troubhng
ourselves to inquire what those circumstances
were. If a custom adopted for any reason what-
ever proved advantageous to the tribe in its strug-
gle with other tribes we may assume that the
tribe adopting the custom would be likely to sur-
vive. If a custom adopted proved disadvan-
tageous, the tribe adopting it would become more
than ordinarily liable to extinction. Hence, we
may assume that those customs which we now
find widely prevalent among surviving tribes are,
in some way, advantageous to the welfare of
the tribes adopting them.

One of the widely prevalent customs among
savages is that of "exogamy," a term proposed
by McLennan for the custom of compelling mar-
riage out of the tribe. It is the converse of
"endogamy," which is the practice of compelling

58 From Savagery to Civilization

marriage within the tribe or community. Endo-
gamy was probably a very early custom, but is
now found only among very low races, and those
protected by their locations. Exogamy is widely
prevalent among surviving tribes, and those which
appear to be advancing. We may therefore as-
sume that there is something about exogamy
which makes it more advantageous than endo-
gamy. The most common explanation of this
advantage is that it prevents in-breeding, a prac-
tice which is said; to be injurious. The practice
of exogamy is supposed to be the forerunner of
our customs and laws which prohibit the mar-
riage of close relatives.

There is another reason why exogamy is more
advantageous to a savage tribe that endogamy.
When the wife is to be had within the tribe, she
is convenient, and any ten-year-old boy can get
one when he wants her without the least trouble
or effort. When the wife must be "captured"
from some other tribe the case is different. She
is not so convenient and cannot be had so soon.
Furthermore, he is put to considerable trouble
to get her, and has to do a good deal of extra
work and planning before he accomplishes that

From Savagery to Civilizatioii 59

result. Exogamy is one of the many ways em-
ployed by different races to interfere with early
reproduction and to compel the would-be hus-
band to do an extra amount of work before he
can have his mate.

Races of men have risen from savagery to
civilization by interfering with the mating in-
stincts of the young in such a way as to post-
pone the actual age at which production begins,
and by the introduction of customs which com-
pelled an extra amount of physical and mental
effort to be expended before reproducing. When-
ever such customs were introduced and main-
tained, the tribe introducing them rose, genera-
tion by generation, to a higher level of intelli-
gence. Whenever a tribe failed to introduce some
customs having these general results, that tribe
fell by the wayside unless it was protected by
isolation from competition with other tribes.

Exogamy represents one of these methods of
interfering with early mating. The custom of
purchasing brides is another form of interfer-
ence. The young man who must purchase his
wife must first spend some time acquiring the
purchase price, and the effort to get the price

60 From Savagery to Civilization

would not normally begin until the desire for a
bride became urgent.

The introduction of elaborate marriage cere-
monies is a method of compelling the members
of the tribe or clan to do a considerable quantity
of work, mental and physical, more than is neces-
sary for meeting the requirements of mere ex-
istence. Customs of display, and religious cus-
toms of all kinds are other means for causing the
members of the community to do extra work.
Warfare, and the feasts and celebrations asso-
ciated with warfare, are still other devices for
causing extra work.

There are many tribes of savages, semi-sav-
ages and barbarous people in the world today.
Those people have a great variety of customs,
many of which have been declared to be absurd
and ridiculous by civilized people. When we re-
view these numerous tribes and their customs,
one by one, we find one general result. The low-
est tribes are those which interfere with natural
reproduction the least, and the highest are those
which interfere the most. Going over the scale
as a whole, it is found that the advancement of
any tribe is an accurate reflection of the average

From Savagery to Civilization 61

amount of work that the members of the tribe
perform before the average child is born. When
we review historical cases of tribes suddenly ad-
vancing in civilization we find that such advance-
ment followed immediately upon the introduction
of some custom which delayed marriage and
caused extra work.

In looking over the centers of civilization we
find them beginning in semi-tropical countries
and then gradually moving northward. After
Egypt and Babylonia came Greece, a little fur-
ther to the north. Next the center of civilization
moved to Rome, slightly further north. From the
time of the fall of the Roman Empire to the
present there have been many shifts, but gradu-
ally the center of civilization and power has
moved northward until now we may say that
it runs along northern Germany and France,
England and the northern part of the United
States. There is, of course, no definite center
of civilization at the present time, but we all
recognize the fact that the principal part of hu-
man progress occurs in sections which are well
to the northward of Greece and Rome.

62 From Savagery to Civilization

When we look at individual wars we find that
the tribe or nation whose habitat is further to
the north normally defeats the tribe or nation
whose home is further to the south. Looking
closer, we find that the victor, when other things
are equal, is the people who live in the colder
climate, and the defeated is the people who live
in the warmer climate.

From a consideration of the various facts in-
volved, we may say that a cool or semi-cold
climate promotes the development of intelligence
and bodily vigor in those peoples who live in
such climates. Amateurs coming upon this fact
would normally give this out as the latest de-
termination of science, whereas it is not science
at all. It is only an item with which science may
deal. The matter comes into the domain of
science only when we can explain that fact in
the terms of some other facts of a known kind.
Human advancement has moved northward
step by step and at the present time the most
vigorous and intelligent people are those who
live in comparatively cold climates, and whose
ancestors lived in the same kind of climate for
many generations. Why?

From Savagery to Civilization 63

Man needs a habitation of some kind. In a
warm climate a tent or cheaply constructed hut
or house serves every purpose. In a cold climate
a man must, or usually does, build a more sub-
stantial house to protect himself in winter. This
more substantial house requires more mental ef-
fort in planning and more physical labor to
construct.

In a warm climate man needs fuel only for
cooking purposes. In a cold climate a man must
provide fuel to warm his house in winter, and
that requires extra effort on his part. In a
warm climate a man needs but little clothing.
In a cold climate a man must provide extra
clothing for winter protection, and providing this
extra clothing demands extra labor. And so on
for many things. The people who live in cold
climates must and do exert themselves mentally
and physically to a much greater extent than do
those people who live in warm climates.

When a man goes into a gymnasium and
swings Indian clubs and dumb bells, he exercises
certain muscles, and those muscles gain strength
as a result of the exercise. The fact that mus-
cles gain in strength as the result of exercise is

64 From Savagery to Civilization

well known and is used by athletes in preparing
for physical contests. It is also used by govern-
ments in preparing soldiers for war. And it is
used by drivers in training trotters for racing.
In this last case we have definite records which
show continued development of muscular
strength for many years in succession.

As a result of various investigations it is
learned that the offspring inherits that particular
muscular or mental development which existed
in the parents at the time the offspring was con-
ceived. For muscular development this has been
traced very accurately in the trotting horse for
a period of about one hundred years. In im-
proving lines among these animals, each genera-
tion in succession inherited more trotting power
than was inherited by its predecessor. But an
offspring cannot inherit what the parent did not
have. If the offspring is to inherit more than
the parent inherited, the question arises as to how
the parent got that which he did not inherit.

When we take the best trotting stock of the
present day and run their pedigrees back four or
five generations, we find that these superior ani-
mals were not produced by any ordinary method

From Savagery to Civilization 65

of breeding. We got these improvements only
from parents, grandparents, great-grandparents,
etc., who developed their trotting muscles to an
unusual extent before reproducing. This fact is
seen partly from the individual histories of the
progenitors in those pedigrees, and partly from
the high ages at which they appear as sires and
dams.

When we turn our attention to human beings
we find the same facts there. Intellectually emi-
nent men come from old parentage and not from
young parentage. While an eminent man is
sometimes the son of comparatively young par-
ents, he is never the son of young parents who
were the children of young parents. In pedigrees
of eminent men the average age of one thousand
fathers, grandfathers, etc., was over forty years.
When we analyze the distribution of births in
the pedigrees of eminent men, and compare that
with the normal distribution, we find that the
older the father is when the son is born the
greater is the inherited mental ability of the son.
When we look back at the fathers and grand-
fathers of these eminent men to see what kind
of lives they lived before reproducing, we find

66 Fram Savagery to CivOization

that it is not the abstract age of the father which
determines the matter. It is the extent to which
the father developed his mental powers by men-
tal efforts. The age of the father is simply a
factor in measuring the amount of his efforts,
and consequently a factor in measuring the men-
tal development coming from those efforts.

To enable them to exist with any degree of
comfort, men living in cold climates must work
much harder than men living in warm climates.
This extra work is both mental and physical, and
the result of such work is a corresponding de-
velopment of mental and physical powers. At
the time of reproducing, the man of the north
is somewhat more developed than his brother to
the south, and their sons inherit the difference.
This is repeated generation ^fter generation until
small differences grow to be great differences. .
Then, when there comes a clash of arms, the
southern man falls before the man of the north.

Warlike tribes and warlike nations have al-
ways been noted as being superior, mentally and
physically, to their more peaceful neighbors.
Why ? Looking at the matter closely we can see
that it is for the same reason as that before given.

From Savagery ta Civilization 67

A tribe or nation which spends much time in the
practice of war must necessarily do much men-
tal and physical work which would otherwise be
undone. This extra work causes extra mental
and physical development, and children coming
from such developed persons have better power
inheritances.

Where war spirit and war preparations be-
come a part of national existence, as in Sparta,
Rome and modern Germany, another factor
enters into the matter. The soldier is trained
when young and is not permitted to marry at as
early an age as his ancestors married. As a re-
sult, there is a rise in the average age at which
parents produce their children, and the status
of any tribe or race of people is determined by
that average. The lowest tribes are those which
reproduce at the lowest average age, and the high-
est are those which reproduce at the highest
average age. This is, of course, modified by the
degree of activity. Each increase in mental and
physical activity on the part of parents causes a
corresponding increase in the inherited capabili-
ties of the offspring, even when there is no in-
crease in the age of the parents at time of
reproducing.

68 From Savs^ety to Civilization

Wars have caused the death of many of the
best men of the nations at war, and the men so
killed have been eliminated from the general
stock. Yet it is a plain fact that those tribes,
races and nations which have lost the greatest
numbers of their best men, yet not enough to
cause extermination, are the tribes, races and na-
tions which have advanced most rapidly from a
low to a high stage. The explanation is simple
but it is not that of the eugenist doctrine. Good
men were killed, but the extra efforts caused by
warfare gave to the survivors an extra develoj>-
ment which more than balanced what was lost by
deaths. The next generation was produced by
these survivors and inherited their acquired
development.

War is and always has been a destructive
agent, but the preparations for war and the ac-
tivities growing out of war have been a con-
structive agent. We learned this first fact from
war itself, but the second fact we learn from
other sources. Now that we know what it is
that brings about progress, we can have that
progress without any of the disadvantages of
war. One of the first things to do is to shut off

From Savagery to Civilizatian 69

marriage by minors so that we will not be pro-
ducing inferior stock by undeveloped parents.
Another thing to do is to introduce more physical
training into our schools so as to check a grow-
ing tendency toward physical degeneracy.

CHAPTER V.

EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENCE
AND LONGEVITY.

AT some time in the past there was a com-
mon ancestor for man and the ape. We

do not know that common ancestor, but we have
some concepts in regard to him. We are not con-
cerned here with how tall he was, how much hair
was on his body, or what color that hair may-
have been. The immediate things under con-
sideration are those qualities of mind and mus-
cle which enabled him and his descendants to
meet the conditions involved in the struggle for
existence.

Considering the things we have learned in
archaeology and palaeontology it is highly prob-
able that the nearest common ancestor of man
and the ape was less intelligent than is the ape
today. Still, for the sake of our argument, it
will be assumed that the ape of today is the same
in intelligence as was that common ancestor.
With that assumption we have the case of hu-

70

Evolution of Intelligence 71

man beings of high intelligence descended from
ancestors which were mentally lower than those
human beings we now call feeble-minded.

The eugenists tell us that from feeble-minded
parents we can get only feeble-minded descend-
ants and are urging that we segregate or sterilize
all persons below some illy defined standard of
mental development. Evolution tells us that the
best we have came from ancestors lower than
what we now call feeble-minded.

The eugenist professes to believe in evolu-
tion, and at the same time he preaches a doctrine
which denies evolution. When confronted with
this contradiction and asked to explain it, the
eugenist assumes that at some time in the dis-
tant past, when there were giants and fairies in
the world, things just happened which don't
happen any more. Try to find out from a
eugenist or biologist just what happened or how
it happened, that intelligent descendants came
from unintelligent ancestors and one runs into
ideas so vague and nebulous that they are
matched by nothing short of the superstitions of
savages.

72 Evolution of Intelligence

Let us go back to that common ancestor of
man and ape and picture to ourselves some of
the steps by which man was evolved. That early
ancestor was of low intelligence, reproduced at
an average age of some twelve or fifteen years
from birth of parent to birth of offspring, and
normally lived some twenty or thirty years. Lit-
tle by little as the ages went by, this animal re-
produced at later and later average ages, rose
step by step in intelligence and lived greater
and greater lengths of time.

These three things, average age at reproduc-
tion, inherited powers, and normal longevity, are
indissolvably linked together and an examination
of the relationship between them shows how they
are linked and how they may be brought under
human control. Between natural longevity and
the average age at which reproduction takes
place, the relationship is direct, as far as it is
possible to determine by facts available. In the
different races of men, and in different species of
lower animals, the natural longevity is approxi-
mately twice the average age at which reproduc-
tion takes place.

Evalution af Intelligence 73

Does natural longevity follow variations in
the average age at which a race of animals re-
produces, or do€S the average age at which they
reproduce follow variations in natural longevity?

The question is fair. The facts of evolution
say that the two go together, and logic requires
that one be the leader and the other the follower.
We know that reproduction is spread over con-
siderable parts of the lives of parents, and that
any kind of circumstances may limit the sur-
vivors to offspring produced at early or late parts
of life. We also know that tribes and races of
men at many times in the past have adopted
marriage customs which changed the average age
at which the race reproduced. Such changes
usually had their foundation in some military
expediency, and certainly were not changes fol-
lowing or caused by previous varitions in natural
longevity. In other words, we know definitely
that changes in the average age at which a race
of animals reproduces may be, and frequently
are, wholly independent of previous changes in
the longevity of the individuals of the race.

If changes in longevity follow changes in the
average age at which reproduction takes place,

74 Evolution of Intelligence

then we know the circumstances which produce
'the original changes, and can control them. If
changes in longevity is the leader in this matter,
then we must assume some mysterious agency
as being the cause. To say that an increase of
longevity over what existed at some earlier date
is a "mutation," is such an assumption of the
mysterious.

We have a little direct evidence on this mat-
ter in the history of races of men at present liv-
ing. Some are much longer lived than other
ones. They are also the ones which reproduce
at the latest average age. When we go back into
the marriage customs of the past we find that
those races in which longevity is greatest today
are those which are descended from people who
long ago introduced exogamy, wife capture, wife
purchase, and other tribal customs which raised
the average age at reproduction. Those races
which are lowest and in which longevity is least,
are those races which have not artificially de-
layed the average age of reproduction. They are
the races in which boys and girls are free to
reproduce as soon as they are so disposed.

Evolution of Intelligence 75

There is no uncertainty about this matter.
Average age at reproduction and average longev-
ity have changed in races of men now living,
and changes in one have followed changes in the
other. We know that the direct or immediate
cause of change in average age at reproduction
has been usually some military necessity or tribal
custom based upon military necessity. We can-
not assume that this military necessity grew out
of some spontaneous variation in the germ-plasm
which increased natural longevity. The only
logical conclusion is that natural longevity is de-
termined by the average age at which ancestors
have reproduced during several preceding gen-
erations.

To get a line on this matter I made a direct
test of the length of life of different brothers
and sisters in the same family. A person's
natural longevity is not determined by the length
of time he lives, because practically no one lives
the full term of his natural life. Each person is
either killed or kills himself before he reaches
the point of dying of old age. While age at
death is no criterion of a person's longevity,
still, by taking a large number of persons prop-

76 Evolutian of Intelligence

erly classified, age at death may be used to deter-
mine relative longevity as distinguished from
actual longevity.

It is not possible to explain here all of the
steps taken to eliminate errors in an investiga-
tion which is bristling w^ith potential errors, but
a few points will be mentioned. The material
taken consisted of large families of brothers and
sisters who lived into the reproductive age be-
yond twenty-five. The average family consisted
of a little more than six persons, and the total
number of persons was 1,105. These persons
were made into a composite family in which there
was a direct comparison between the age of the
father when the child was born, and the age of
the child at its death. All known cases of vio-
lent deaths were eliminated, and care was taken
to eliminate as much as possible all families of a
distinctly pathological character. Also to get a
line on variations in health of parents. The final
result may be set forth as follows :

As long as parents retain their health and
strength, the older they are when their children
are born, tlie greater will be the natural longevity
of those children. The figures showed that each

Evolution of Intelligence 77

four years added to the age of the parent when
the child was born, added one year to the normal
longevity of the child. The actual table is as
follows :

Expectancy of Life at Age of 25 for 1,105 Brothers
and Sisters of Composite Family.

Average
Age of
Ages of Fathers at No. of Childen at

Birth of Children Children Death

Under 25 83 62.63 years

25 to 29 233 65.20 years

30 to 34 266 65.28 years

35 to 39 199 65.41 years

40 to 44 165 68.02 years

45 to 49 88 66.28 years

50 and over 71 70.27 years

1105 65.89 years

There can be no doubt that lengthening the
time from birth in one generation to birth in the
next adds to the longevity of the descendants,
but the figures given must be considered as ap-
proximate only. There is a high degree of prob-
ability that the approximation is pretty close, but
to determine the matter accurately would require
a more extended investigation, and one extend-
ing over several successive generations. This

78 Evolution of Intelligence

matter cannot be determined by anything so su-
perficial as ordinary tabulations.

It is well established, but not yet widely known,
that the age of the parent at conception of the
child has a profound influence upon the natural
intelligence of the child. The superior children
come from the older parents and not from the
younger ones. Those persons who, a few years
ago, denied this fact, are now reduced to the
point of trying to find some explanation which
is not inconsistent with their preconceived ideas.

Passing by all explanations, we have the defi-
nite fact that superior children come from older
parents, and when we have old parents for two
or three generations in succession, we get stock
which is much superior to the normal stock.
There is also the fact that increased longevity,
as well as increased intelligence, follows increase
in time between generations.

When a person exerts himself he expends cer-
tain foot-pounds of energy, and the energy must
be in his system before he can expend it. If
the efiforts which a person makes are moderate,
within the ordinary meaning of that term, then
the foot-pounds of energy withdrawn by exer-

Evolution of Intelligence 79

tion are soon replaced by other foot-pounds of
energy derived from food.

But it is known that a man by great efforts
long continued may cause his own death as a
result of nothing else than his own exertions.
This means that death is caused by withdraw-
ing from the system more than a certain amount
of energy, and that in turn means that life itself
is a form of energy. We identify electricity
as being a form of energy, even though we do
not know precisely what this form is. In the
same way we can identify life as being a form
of energy, even though we are unable to deter-
mine the essential nature of this form as dis-
tinguished from other forms.

But it is not the intention here to elaborate on
the ways of identifying life as a form of energy.
I have done that to a considerable extent in other
contributions. It is sufficient for our present pur-
pose to point out that energy within the body is
the source of the foot-pounds of work that a
person may perform, and that if more than a cer-
tain amount of this energy is withdrawn at one
time, death results. The manner in which the

80 Evalution of Intelligence

energy within the system is built up was the
subject matter of a previous chapter.

The table for longevity was made up from
large families. The parents of large families are
well along in life when their later children are
produced, and the strenuous efforts in caring for
earlier ones built up their powers before the
later ones were conceived. The later children
live longer than the earlier ones because they
inherit the powers which their parents acquire in
the years between the production of the earlier
children and the later ones.

Does some one think that adding to the longev-
ity of children by causing the parents to devel-
op their own powers by exercise before produc-
ing the children is a freak idea which has no
foundation in fact ? We can determine that mat-
ter positively by going to the records of the
trotting horse.

We have a record of 39 stallions of the trot-
ting breed who lived to be 30 or more years of
age. These horses were all born between the
years of 1804 and 1887. During that period of
horse history, not one stallion in a hundred was
trained and raced sufficiently to enable him to

Evolution of Intelligence 81

obtain a standard record of 2:30. This should
be evident from the fact that no stalHon ever
trotted in standard time before 1858, and that it
was not common to train and race stalHons until
after 1890. On the mere matter of probabiHties,
not one of these 39 stallions should be a horse
with a race record, or the son of such a horse.
As a matter of fact, 18 of them were horses with
race records, and 1 1 of them were sons of horses
with race records.

CHAPTER VI.

DISEASE AND IMMUNITY.

THE verb "to acquire" means to obtain by
effort, exertion, exercise, or performance

of work of some kind. The verb "to educate"
means *'to exercise the mental faculties, as
by instruction, training and discipline, in
such a way as to develop and render efficient
the natural powers." It also means to exer-
cise physical powers, as we have such a thing as
^'physical education." And "education" means
the "systematic development and cultivation of
the mind and other natural powers."

From the biological standpoint, an education
consists of the development of powers by exer-
cising them, and not the things learned. This is
plain enough in physical education, but is gen-
erally confused in speaking of mental education
because of the common use of that term "edu-
cation" in another sense. The biological educa-
tion is the thing acquired, and the only "acquired
character" which has any right to that term is

82

Disease and Immunity 83

some increase of powers by the exercise of those
already in existence. A negative acquirement
would be by the loss of powers by idleness. Such
things as mutilations and sunburns are ''thrust
characters" and not acquired characters.

When a man winds up a spring, punches a
bag, runs a foot race, or performs physical labor
of any kind, he expends certain foot pounds of
energy, and foot pounds are something well
known in science. Those foot pounds of energy

come out of the muscles of the man who makes
the efforts, and they must be in those muscles
before he can expend them.

A mathematical calculation represents an
operation of the intelligence. But a calculating
machine driven by a steam engine will do the
same work, and things which are equal to the
same thing are equal to each other. The object
here is to show that physical energy and mental
energy are special forms of that energy which we
know elsewhere as heat, light, electricity, etc.

When a man swings Indian clubs or dumbbells
he exercises certain muscles and expends cer-
tain foot pounds of energy. As the swinging con-
tinues, he gradually becomes tired and has to

84 Disease and Immunity

stop for a rest. After resting for a few minutes
he can resume his exercise, but soon becomes
tired and must rest a second time. After another
short rest he can begin the exercise a third time,
and so on time after time for perhaps several
hours. Each period in which the man was tak-
ing this exercise consumed the available energy
in the muscles being exercised, and during each
period of rest the supply in the exercised muscles
was partially replenished by drawing upon the
store existing at the time in other organs.

The fact that severely exercised muscles in
the arms may draw upon the reserves in unexer-
cised parts of the body is evident from the fact
that a person who has become tired by swinging
dumbbells is in no condition to compete in a foot
race or in a debating contest. Each organ has
in it a store of energy normally appropriated for
the use of that organ, but in emergency, a se-
verely taxed organ may draw upon the supplies
in other organs.

The fact that one organ of a body when under
strain may call upon and receive assistance from
other organs represents one of the great advan-
tages a miUticellular organism has over the uni-

Disease and Immunity 85

cellular. In multicellular organisms, strain is
never thrown directly upon all of the organs of
the body at the same time, and those not under
strain can help those which are. And mental
powers are not exceptions. They may be ex-
pended as common foot pounds through other
organs.

When a man takes up a course of physical
training, or does other work which is more than
has been customary or habitual with him, but an
amount which is less per day that his system can
restore from the food he consumes, he not only
gets back the energy he expended, but a little
more. The result is that he gains some in
strength and endurance and can do a little more
work on the second day that on the first one. If
he gradually increases his work as his powers
develop he can continue to gain up to some point
which has never been determined.

But if the man expends a little more energy
per day by his exercise than his system is capa-
ble of restoring from food, then he is a little
weaker the second day that he was the first.
If he repeats this operation day after day, he

86 Disease and Immunity

grows weaker and weaker until finally he dies
from sheer exhaustion.

The distinction here is between a load and an
overload. If the load is something more than it
was before, and is continually increased but never
raised to the point of becoming an overload,
the man, or other animal or plant, continues to
gain in powers for an indefinite period. If the
load is raised to an overload, then the man be-
comes progressively weaker. This last is, in its
essence, the same as disease.

Several examples of the development of
powers were given in a preceding chapter. A
few more given at this point will help in an
understanding of the relation of powers to health
and disease, and to everything which makes life
worth living.

The flagellata are unicellular animals. During
a period of about six years Dallinger subjected
these animals to gradually increasing tempera-
tures. Beginning with those normally living in
water at 60 degrees Fahr., he found that they
began to die as soon as the temperature rose
above 'JZ degrees. But by holding the tempera-
ture for about two months at this point he found

Disease and Immunity 67

he could raise the temperature still higher. At
78 degrees he found another sticking point which
he could not get by for eight months without
causing deaths. But past this point progress
was much more rapid. Several other sticking
points were found, but he finally got these ani-
mals to live in water at 158 degrees, when the
experiment was terminated by accident.

Here is an example of these little animals de-
veloping their powers of resisting the action of
heat on their protoplasmic substance by exercis-
ing such powers as they had in the beginning,
and such as they acquired on the road. In that
process they gained powers continually under in-
creasing load, but they died when the load was
raised to an overload.

Czerny found that by a very gradual addition
of salt he could get amoebae to live in a four per
cent solution, but that none could survive when
placed directly in a two per cent solution. The
two per cent solution was jn overload for amoebae
which had lived in pure water, but four per cent
of salt was less than an overload after the
amoebae had developed their powers by exercising
them,

88 Disease and Immunity

Davenport and Neal raised three lots of
stentors, — one in pure water and another in a very
weak solution of corrosive sublimate. After two
days both lots were put into a killing solution
which was twenty times as strong as the weak
solution. Those raised in pure water died in 83
seconds, while those raised in the weak solution
lived for 304 seconds, or nearly four times as
long. No deaths occurred in the weak solution,
but the animals there had to exert themselves to
resist the action of corrosive sublimate, and in
doing this they acquired powers they did not
have before, and powers which never existed in
any ancestor. The third lot was kept in a solu-
tion twice as strong as the weak one, or one-
tenth of the strength of the killing solution.
These last died more quickly than those raised
in pure water.

Here we have a case of one lot of stentors sub-
jected to a load which was within the powers
they had originally, and another lot subjected to
a load which was in the nature of an overload.
When the load was greater than anything to
which they had been subjected before, but was
within their powers, those powers were built up

Disease and Immunity 69

by their exercise in carrying that load, and they
were able to survive much longer under a
killing load. When the load was an overload,
that overload absorbed part of the powers they
had originally, and they died more quickly when
placed in the killing solution.

In sexual reproduction, two germ cells unite
and afterwards develop into a new individual
by growth and repeated divisions. This union
of cells and subsequent growth and division is a
dynamic process which calls for greater or less
exertions on the part of the cells involved. If
the two germs cells which unite come from
parents of the same breed, these cells are much
alike and can unite and subsequently divide with
a minimum of effort. If they come from differ-
ent breeds, then these germ cells are somewhat
unlike and it requires greater efforts on their
part to successfully fit themselves together and
then divide into new cells which constitute
proper divisions of the united differences. If
they come from different species or different
genera, then the uniting cells are still more un-
like, and this increased unlikeness calls for still

90 Disease and Immunity

greater efforts on the part of this living substance
in making the proper union and divisions.

One of the phenomena of hybridization is that
the hybrids are commonly more vigorous than
either parent. This extra vigor does not come
from nowhere out of nothing. Vigor means phys-
ical power of some kind, and powers are devel-
oped in living organisms by exercising those
previously in existence, and in no other manner.
Primarily, the vigor of hybrids is increased
power of growth, and increased growth means
increased power of cell division. We can trace
this increased power in hybrids directly to the
extra efforts (increased exercise) which the un-
like germ cells had to make to form a proper
union and then proper divisions of the mixture of
differently organized substances.

Another thing observed in hybridization is that
the extent to which the hybrid is more vigorous
than the parents increases with the wideness of
the cross up to a certain point, after which there
is a decrease of vigor in offspring. In wide
crosses the offspring arc abnormally weak, and
if the cross is still wider there is a failure to de-
velop. In some wide crosses, as in the mule,

Disease and Immunity 91

there is a gain in physical strength but a loss in
fertility. In other wide crosses, particularly in
plants, the new individuals are both stunted and
sterile. In extremely wide crosses in some fishes,
there will be a union of germ cells but a break
down in segmentation soon afterwards, so that
the embryo never is completed.

The explanation is simple. Each increase in
load increases the efforts of the individual to
carry the load, and powers are increased in pro-
portion to the extent to which they are exercised.
This is true up to the point at which a load be-
comes an overload, beyond which point each in-
crease of load decreases powers and hastens
death. Increasing the wideness of the cross in-
creases the load upon the cells of the new indi-
vidual until the load finally becomes an overload
and causes a breakdown and a failure to develop.

Pasteur found that the anthrax bacillus could

be raised on an artificial medium, as bouillon at

blood temperature. When so raised the bacilli
do not have to fight for life in a hostile blood
reaction, and because they do not have to fight

they gradually lose their power of fighting, which

is their virulence. He used two cultures, a very

92 Disease and Immunity

weak one produced by a long period of idleness
in life on artificial food, and one not so weak
produced by a shorter period of idleness. He then
inoculated an ox with the weaker culture, and
twelve days later with the stronger culture. An
animal so inoculated was immune to fully
virulent virus. Here we have the progressive
decay of powers in the bacilli by idleness, and the
progressive development of powers in the ox by
exercise.

But Pasteur's experiment went still further
in this matter. By long cultivation on artificial
food he got anthrax germs so weak from the
lack of exercise in fighting for food that they
were unable to survive even in a mouse. But
by taking such weak virus and inoculating a
very feeble animal, as a guinea pig a day old,
and then passing it along by inoculation to
stronger and stronger animals, he found that the
strength of the virus was built up step by step
with each inoculation until it was powerful
enough to attack the strongest animals. Here
we have a case of absolute control over the gain
and loss of powers in the same organism by
controlling the amount of its exercise.

Disease and Immunity 93

When Pasteur got anthrax virus so weak that
it could not survive in the blood of a guinea pig
a month old, the powers of the guinea pig were
an overload for those germs. But when he came
down to something as feeble as a guinea pig a
day old, then those weak germs were an overload
for that young guinea pig.

Now the difference between a guinea pig a
day old and a guinea pig a month old is a differ-
ence in physical powers developed by normal
activity in the interval between a day and a
month, and not a difference in inheritance.
Guinea pigs do not do any inheriting after they
are born. A load is measured by the powers
necessary to carry it, and as powers increase or
decrease in accordance with the extent to which
they are exercised, it is evident that what may
be an overload at one time may not be an over-
load at another. Also, powers may be decreased
by simply shutting off the power supply, in
which case a load which was less than an over-
load might become an overload. For example,
a load which a person could carry with ease and
not even be aware of its presence might become
an overload by reason of an insufficient supply of

94 Disease and Immunity

food, or of some ingredient of food. An animal
weakene'd by starvation is more than normally
likely to fall a victim of some disease.

When a person is worn down or exhausted
from long continued physical exertions he is
much more susceptible to bacterial infection than
when not so exhausted. Also, after a man has
been through a long illness due to some bacterial
infection, he is worn out and weak. These are
facts which show that the same energy used in a
physical struggle is the energy used in fighting
bacterial infection. The burden thrown upon a
man's powers by bacterial infection is called dis-
ease, but the similar burden thrown on the same
powers by an opponent or by some physically
observed and fully understood circumstances is
not disease. But wherein is the difference? In
both cases the physical powers are exhausted by
efforts which expend energy of the same kind.
Does a disease cease to be a disease when the
millions of cells which a man fights are organized
into large bodies instead of being separate
entities ?

We can convert work fully and completely into
heat, but we can make the reverse trans forma-

Disease and Immunity 93

tion only in part. As a consequence, heat is
called the degraded form of energy, and is al-
ways a product of work performed. When a

person takes violent exercise, as in a foot race
or a wrestling match, his temperature increases
and may rise to 105° F., or more, and such ap-
pearance of extra heat is evidence of the exer-
tion he makes. A fever represents an increase
in the heat form of energy and is evidence of a
physical struggle of some kind which is invisible
because it is within the body. The invisible
struggle which produces a fever is said to be
disease, and the visible struggle of a foot race
which correspondingly raises temperature is not
disease. Is a question of disease to turn upon
the degrees of visibility? Is a bacterium to be
considered as the cause of disease because he
can be seen only with a microscope, and an oppo-
nent in a wrestling match not the cause of disease
because he can be seen with the naked eye?

Resistance to disease consists of power to
fight off whatever it is that causes disease. All
persons are more or less resistant to diseases of
all kinds. If they were not, then they would die
the instant a disease touched them. Even in case

96 Disease and Immunity

of terrible scourges, the actual deaths are only a
small fraction of the entire population, a fact
which shows that the average resistance is greater
that the average powers of attack by whatever
parasite it is that causes the disease. It is well
known that some races of men have greater re-
sistance to certain diseases than have other races,
and that some members of any group have
greater resistance to certain diseases than have
other members. It is also known that the same
person has greater resistance at some times than
at others, as is evidenced by the fact that he
will contract a disease at one time and not at
another, even though exposed.

When the resistance to a particular disease is
of a high order, it is called im.munity. Thus,
the negroes of the West Indies are practically
immune to yellow fever and malaria, the Chinese
are said to be immune to cholera, the buffalo and
Texas cattle are relatively immune to the disease
caused by the Texas fever tick, the native Ameri-
can grape-vines are highly resistant to the
phylloxera, which has played such havoc with
European vineyards, and Asiatic chestnuts are

Disease and Immunity 97

resistant to the fungus which is destroying our
American chestnut trees.

During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries
smallpox was a terrible disease, the mortality
from which is said to have been "almost incred-
ible." With the introduction of vaccination about
a hundred years ago, the disease decreased both
in frequency and mortality. The disease is still
present, but as compared to the virulence of the
past, it is mild in form, even among the unvac-

cinated. The reason why a person suffers
only slightly from such a disease as smallpox is

because he has powers of resisting that disease.
The only way in which a person can come into
possession of such resistance is either by inherit-
ing it, or by acquiring it through vaccination, or
by having the disease itself. But a person can
inherit such resistance only from an ancestor
who had it, and that ancestor could get it only
by acquiring it or by inheritance.

Now it happens that this notable inherited re-
sistance to smallpox begins only after the prac-
tice of vaccination became general. That in-
herited resistance cannot be due to "selective
death-rate," because smallpox is known to have

98 Disease and Immunity

been a periodical plague from the 9th century on,
yet ''smallpox was probably never more prevalent
than during tlie 18th century," and never more
deadly. Recently previous generations acquired
resistance by vaccination, and observable in-
heritance of resistance comes first in the imme-
diate descendants of those v^^ho acquired it. The
offspring inherited the exact thing that the
parent acquired, and there is no appearance of
such inheritance until after the acquirement be-
came general by repeated vaccinations. Nine
hundred years of selective death-rate applied to
the entire population of a v^^hole continent pro-
duced a minus quantity. Less than one hundred
years of acquirement before reproducing has
brought forth something very definite.

When a person suffers from the measles, he
does so because he did not have the power neces-
sary to resist the attack. But in fighting the
disease and overcoming it he develops a power
he did not have before, and thereafter he is
immune from attack. The same thing is true
of many other diseases. The thing to be noted is
that by exercising the powers which he had there

Disease and Iininiinity 99

are developed (acquired) powers which he did
not have.

Measles is a common disease of children, and
is normally not serious. But when it is first in-
troduced into tribes or races of men not before
subjected to it, it is a deadly scourge. Measles
is not serious to the white child because he in-
herits a resistance which enables him to overcome
it with small inconvenience. It is deadly when
first introduced among Indians or other tribes
because they do not inherit such resistance. But
resistance to this disease is something which is
acquired by the exertions or efforts used in over-
coming it, and the white child inherits the exact
thing which his ancestors for generations had
acquired. It is quite certain that the child can-
not inherit something which its ancestors did
not have, and it is also certain that ancestors
could not come into possession of powers of
resistance in any other way than by exercising
such powers as they had before.

In Europe prior to the 19th century, smallpox
would ravage a district and then disappear com-
pletely for many years. By the time it came
back again, those who were immune or partly

100 Disease and Immunity

immune before would have lost their powers of
resistance by reason of the fact that there was
no occasion to exercise them. The disease would
again sweep away thousands and again dis-
appear for years. But when vaccination came
into vogue there was no long idle period for an
entire population, or even for a small part of it.
The powers of resistance became inherited as far
as such powers existed at the time of reproduc-
ing.

The difference between measles and smallpox
in this matter is that measles did not come by
epidemics separated by many years in which
there were no cases in a community of consider-
able size. Usually measles has been continually
present, with the result that some part of the
population was continually becoming immune.
The child caught the disease and was thereafter
immune. By the time the next generation came
along, the immunity had declined sufficiently to
leave the child subject to a new attack, but not
enough to make the disease dangerous. The
mere fact that there is a germ between parent
and child does not affect the matter in the least.
In those powers which are built up by exercise

Disease and Immunity 101

and lost by Idleness, the child is what the parents
were at the time of reproducing, and not what
they were at some earlier date or will be at some
later time.

When we examine cases of natural immunity
to specific diseases we find that it exists only in
those animals and plants which have lived for
several generations in contact with the disease
producing parasite. Zebu cattle from India are
said to be immune to the Texas fever, but this
immunity is to attacks by the tick rather than
to the disease as such. This is not the kind of
immunity we have under consideration. What
we want to know is why the range cattle of
Texas, when bitten by the Texas ticks, do not
suffer from the fever as do northern cattle when
taken to Texas. Also, why the West Indian
negro does not get yellow fever when bitten by
the proper mosquito ; why the Balkan Ziginars
are not stricken with typhus fever when bitten
by the Balkan lice; why native American vines
resist the American phylloxera.

In any epidemic, a considerable proportion of
the population appear to escape attacks, and of
those attacked, a considerable proportion re-

102 Disease and Immunity

cover. Assuming that the disease is new to the
community in the sense that it has not been
present for a considerable number of years,
there are three things which enter into the
proposition. The first is the resisting power of
the individual as measured in his general energy
supply which may be called upon to combat the
disease. The second is the virulence of the par-
ticular strain of parasites producing the disease.
And the third involves the magnitude of the at-
tack as represented by the number of parasites
which initially gain entrance or are produced
before the system rouses itself to repel the un-
expected attack.

Those persons who die during the epidemic
are those who have become previously weakened,
and who are subjected to a very heavy attack.
Those who are ill for a time and then recover are
those who are weakened to a less extent or who
became inoculated with fewer bacteria.

In any epidemic, many persons appear to
escape attack entirely, but frequently this must
be more of appearance than of reality. Given a
normally healthy person bitten by a single insect
which inoculates him with only a few pathologi-

Disease and Immunity 1 03

cal germs, his blood reaction easily wipes out
the few germs which did gain entrance, and in
doing that his system develops slightly its powers
of meeting and killing this kind of germ. A
little later he is bitten again, and again is inocu-
lated, but does not know it. In overcoming this
second slight attack his powers of combating this
particular germ are still further developed. If
the disease is continually present in the neighbor-
hood he is continually being attacked, and in
continually fighting such attacks he develops his

powers of resisting this particular disease until
he is fully capable of resisting such attacks, no

matter how great they may be.

Real but unnoticed attacks by disease produc-
ing bacteria must be quite frequent. Postmortem
examinations show that this is true of tubercu-
losis. The system, in fighting such attacks,
builds up its powers of resisting that particular
disease the same as fighting the virus of cowpox
builds up the powers of resisting smallpox. And
the same thing must be true in the vegetable
world. For example, when phylloxera first at-
tacked the American vines, there must have been
some cases in which the attack was so light as

104 Disease and Immunity

not seriously to injure the vine. In fighting this
light attack the vine would build up its powers of
resistance so that later it would be able to resist
a more severe attack.

Resistance to disease is an inheritable thing
which passes from parent to offspring. But an
offspring cannot inherit from a parent something
which the parent did not have. We know that
a parent can build up his general powers by
general exercise, and that he can build up his
powers of resisting a particular disease by fight-
ing that disease or some modified form of it.
Briefly, the offspring inherits the identical thing
which the parent acquires by his effort and exer-
tion, and there is not a particle of evidence of
any kind that any animal or plant can come into
possession of powers of resisting disease in any
other way than by direct acquirement or in-
heritance of such acquirement. Natural im-
munity is nothing else than an inherited power
coming from an ancestor who acquired that
power by effort and exertion.

INDEX

Acquired character 82

Activity 23

Age of parents x., 30, 45, 54, 66, 72, 11

Amoeba 87

Anthrax 28, 91

Ape 70, 72

Bacteria 27, 95

Binet system 22

Birth control 29, 40, 48

Blood reaction 26, 91

Brain power vii.

..brothers 75, 11

Calmette 20

Chicago 49

Climate 20, 61, 63, 66

Cows 17, 26

Customs 57, 60, 74

Cuttings 20

Darwin vi., 13

Development by exercise 15, 17, 21, 80

Diagram 48

Disease 82, 94

Education ZZ, 82

Endogamy 57

Energy 15, 1Z, 84, 94

"Eugenics viii., 68, 71

Evolution ix., 55, 71, 1Z

Exercise ix,, 15, 21, 27, dZ, 87

Exhaustion 86, 94

Exogamy 57, 74

105

1 06 Index

•** Feeble-mindedness 49

Fever 95

Flagelatta 86

Foot pounds 79, 83

Function xi.

Generations x., 45, 53, 66, 78

^^BCerm cells 89

Germplasm 24, 25

Goldsmith Af aid 16

Grandparents 44, 65

Guinea pigs 92, 93

Henslow 21

Hybrids 90

Idleness 23, 92

Immunity 96, 101

Improvements vi., viii., 55, 65

Increased powers 15, 23

Inheritance xi., 17, 64, 67, 93, 97

Intelligence 62, 70, 83

Ishmaels 52

Jukes 53

Kallikaks 50

Kemble family Z7

Lamarck 38

Learning 22

Lee family 30

Life 79

Load 86, 91, 93

Longevity 70

Marriage customs 58, 60, 74

..—Measles 98, 100

Mendel vii.

Mental power x., 22

Mice X., 92

Milk Ig

Index 107

Mulattos viii.

New England 46

Normal pedigrees 47, 49

Origin of Species vi.

Overload 86, 91

Pasteur 28, 91

Plants 20, 23, 25

Poisons 20

-^Protoplasm 27, 87

Races vi., vii., 59, 72, 74, 96

-Resistance viii., 95, 98, 104

Seeds 21, 24, 25

Selection vii., 21, 24, 55

Selective death rate 98

.-Sexual reproduction 89

r Smallpox 25, 97, 99

Snake venom 20

Speed 16

Spontaneous generation xi.

Stentors 88

Sunflower 21

Tables 16, 18, 19, 47, 49, 54, 11

Training 14, 17, 67, 85

Tribes 56, 67

Trotters 16, 64, 80

Vaccination 27, 97

Variations 13, 14, 1Z

Vigor 90

Vitality viii., 15

War 56, 62, 66, 68

Youngest son 30, 32

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