How to Live Part 28

[T] _Koniglich Statistisches Bureau in Berlin Preussische Statistik_.

Hft. 184, p. iv. ff., Berlin.

[U] _Zeitschrift des Koniglich Preussichen Statistichen Landesamts_, Berlin, 1912, p. xvii.

DEATH RATE PER 1000 IN DENMARK BY AGE GROUPS 1880-1889--1890-1900 --------+-------------------++------------------- 1880-1889 1890-1900 Ages +---------+---------++---------+--------- Males Females Males Females --------+---------+---------++---------+--------- 0-5 53.1 46.0 48.5 40.8 5-10 7.2 7.7 5.6 6.0 10-15 4.4 5.6 3.6 4.6 15-20 4.9 5.8 4.5 4.7 20-25 7.0 6.1 6.0 4.9 25-30 6.5 7.4 5.5 5.6 30-35 6.8 7.9 6.1 6.5 35-40 7.8 8.4 7.7 7.5 40-45 9.8 9.3 9.3 8.2 45-50 12.6 10.2 11.6 9.1 50-55 16.8 12.2 15.7 11.8 55-60 22.6 17.0 22.0 16.4 60-65 33.3 26.1 30.7 24.2 65-70 46.9 39.2 44.7 36.7 70-75 70.0 58.3 74.5 65.0 75-80 104.9 92.9 115.0 98.9 80-85 178.7 157.4 169.4 151.6 85-90 246.7 210.9 250.1 226.5 90-over 392.3 350.1 425.6 373.2 --------+---------+---------++---------+---------

Note the improvement in mortality at nearly every age period of life, in both s.e.xes.

_Befolkningsforholdene i. Denmark_ i. 19. Arrhundrede, p. 125. Denmark _Statistiske Tabelvaerk_, Ser. 5, Litra A. no. 5.

DEATH RATE PER 1000 IN SWEDEN BY AGE GROUPS[V]

1801-10 to 1891-00 -------+------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+-------+------- Ages 0-5 5-10 10-15 15-25 25-35 35-45 45-55 55-65 65 over -------+------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+-------+------- Years 1801-10 79.0 12.1 7.2 8.5 11.0 14.9 22.7 40.8 111.4 1811-20 76.0 9.7 5.6 7.2 9.9 14.3 21.0 37.6 102.9 1821-30 63.1 7.6 4.5 6.1 9.4 13.6 20.1 35.4 96.9 1831-40 60.3 7.5 4.7 6.0 9.8 14.3 20.8 35.6 102.1 1841-50 56.8 7.8 4.4 5.5 8.0 12.2 18.1 31.8 97.1 1851-60 60.5 10.9 5.5 6.1 8.4 11.9 17.9 32.1 91.6 1861-70 57.3 9.1 4.4 5.4 7.2 10.1 15.1 28.7 87.2 1871-80 52.3 8.5 4.2 5.3 7.4 9.3 13.1 23.6 79.4 1881-90 43.6 7.7 4.0 5.2 6.6 8.2 11.5 21.1 71.4 1891-00 36.9 6.0 3.6 5.4 6.5 7.8 10.9 19.7 71.3 -------+------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+-------+-------

Note the p.r.o.nounced fall in the death rate at every age period during the past century.

[V] _F. Prinzing Medizinische Statistik_, Verlag von Gustav Fischer in Jena, 1906.

[Sidenote: The Remedies]

The remedies, however, are plainly indicated:

1. Eugenics, to improve the stock.

2. Periodic physical examinations to detect the earliest signs of disease, and especially infective foci in the head, such as diseased gums, tooth sockets, tonsils, nasal cavities, etc.

3. The practice of personal hygiene along the lines of ascertained individual needs.

Cancer, another disease heavily on the increase in all civilized countries, may be combated by similar measures.

SECTION IX

EUGENICS

"How to Live" deals mainly with personal hygiene, that is, the proper care of the individual. Hygienic improvement is limited, however, to the attainment of the best of which an individual is capable. Eugenics deals with the even more vital subject of improving the inherent type and capacities of the individuals of the future. It has been but briefly touched upon in this volume.

Eugenic improvement is attainable through the control of heredity. By heredity is meant the action of elements which control the development of the individual, and determine his const.i.tution or makeup. The laws of Nature governing this action are now known in part, so that advantage can be taken of them to bring about the hereditary improvement of the race, generation by generation.

[Sidenote: What Eugenics is Not]

Eugenics is not simply s.e.x hygiene, as many have come to consider it, owing to the liberal use of the word Eugenics by the s.e.x hygienists.

s.e.x hygiene is, of course, one of the considerations in eugenic improvement.

Eugenics is not, furthermore, the science of improving the physical organism only, as has been erroneously a.s.sumed by certain uninformed publicists, a point of view which has been promoted by cartoonists, who find it good sport for their pens.

Eugenics does not require the old Spartan practise of infanticide, nor does Eugenics propose to do violence in any other way to humanitarian or religious feeling.

Eugenics does not mean, as some have imagined, compulsory or government-made marriages.

Nor is Eugenics the science of improving the human stock by matings that are academically ideal, but which lack the element of individual attraction and instinctive love.

[Sidenote: Discovery of Hereditary Laws]

There was a time when the inherent personality of a man, the color of his eyes, the capacity of his mind, the quality of his character, seemed clearly subject to the caprice of forces beyond the reach of mortal perception. In attempting to trace the source of a personality, hereditarily, no constancy could be detected in its relation to the lives from which it arose. A child was never absolutely like brother, sister, mother, father or grandparent.

An epoch-making discovery in 1865 by an Austrian monk named Mendel,[57]

and later discoveries by a number of other scientists, revealed the subdivisibility of each individual into many distinct units or traits, the hereditary sources of which were clearly traceable, leading to various individuals of the family line, and not to one individual alone.

Furthermore, it was found that the lack of a certain trait sometimes appears as a trait in itself, just as darkness seems like a condition in itself rather than as an absence of light.

These discoveries changed the whole current of thought regarding heredity, and the constancy of its action, as well as its controllability. It also emphasized the fact that it does make a difference whom one marries as to the character of the resulting offspring. Their makeup is not subject to the caprice of forces beyond human perception, but is in some degree subject to control.

Out of these discoveries has arisen the science of Eugenics. Sir Francis Galton, of England, was the first to start a world movement for its application toward conscious betterment of the human stock.

[Sidenote: Rules of Eugenics]

From the known laws governing the inheritability of unit-traits, it is apparently necessary, in the betterment of the race, to follow a few important rules:

1. Learn to a.n.a.lyze individuals into their inheritable traits--physical, mental and moral.

2. Differentiate between socially n.o.ble and ign.o.ble traits, between social and educational veneer and sterling inherent capacity.

3. Do not expect physical, mental and moral perfection in any one individual, but look for a majority of sterling traits.

4. Observe the presence or absence of specific traits in individuals at all ages of successive generations and fraternities of a family line.

5. Learn how to estimate the inheritability of such traits in a family line, upon specific mating with another family line.

6. Join your family line to one which is strong in respect to the traits in which yours is weak.

7. But remember also that injuries can be inflicted on offspring by unhygienic living.

[Sidenote: Inheritable Traits]

Some of the characteristics in Man's complex known to act hereditarily and to be traceable to distinct sources on family lines are as follows:[58]

_Physical Traits._--Character of the facial features, color of the eyes, hair and skin, stature, weight, energy, strength, endurance, quickness, commanding presence, vivacity of manner, general bodily soundness; also defects of many kinds, such as those of the nervous system, of the speech, eyes, ears, skin, also baldness, defects of the muscular system, blood, thyroid glands, vascular system, respiratory system, digestive system, reproductive organs; also defects and peculiarities of the skeleton, etc. This does not mean that all shortcomings are inherited.

It does mean, however, that the type of organism is inheritable which lacks resistance to the germs and other precipitating factors in bringing about the disease.

_Mental Traits._--Among the mental characteristics known to arise from traceable hereditary sources may be mentioned factors in musical ability, artistic composition, literary ability, mechanical skill, calculating ability, inventive ability, memory, ability to spell, fluency in conversation, aptness in languages, military talent, acquisitiveness, attention, story-telling, poetic ability; and, on the other hand, insanity, feeble-mindedness of many types, epilepsy. These are suggestive of the inheritability of many other mental traits not yet studied.

_Moral Traits._--Among the moral traits known to possess inheritable elements are generosity, piousness, independence, industry, will-power, faithfulness, fairness, sociability, reliability, self-reliance, tendency to work hard, perseverance, carefulness, impulsiveness, temperance, high-spiritedness, joviality, benignity, quietness, cheerfulness, hospitality, sympathy, humorousness, love of fun, neighborliness, love of frontier life, love of travel and of adventure.

The same may be said of immoral traits, such as criminality, pauperism, delinquency, irascibility, lying, truancy, superst.i.tion, clannishness, secretiveness, despondency, slyness, exclusiveness, vanity, cunning, cruelty, quickness to anger, revengefulness, etc.

[Sidenote: Distribution of Traits]