152
Art. XII.?LAWS OF HEREDITARY DESCENT. BY NATHAN
ALLEN, M.D.,
Lowell, Massachusetts, Commissioner in Lunacy to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
When Jeliovah issued His commands in the Decalogue, not only to the Israelites, but to His creatures in all coming- time, ? saying ; I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the
of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and it was intended that there should be some visitation. When the laws of the human in that meaning system are correctly and fully understood, it will be seen that this ordinance is not all a dead letter. The term " iniquity," as here used, has a broad signification, including the consequences or penalties of each and every violated law, whether that law be expressed in the revealed command of God, or stamped by the same Almighty power upon the human constitution. In the fulfilment of this command or decree, whatever divine influences or agencies may be brought into operation in other respects, it is positively certain that by the fixed laws of hereditary descent, the iniquities of the fathers, in a variety of forms, are visited upon the children, even to the fourth generation. We might speak of the effects of a bad example, of evil instruction, and a train of corrupt influences in a great variety of ways, whereby the iniquity of the parents comes upon their children* but there is another channel in which the effects of this visitation are more direct, positive, and powerful than these outward agencies. The former may be more easily overcome or corrected but the latter are far more difficult to change, at least for better. While we have had instructions on this subject for thousands of years, and still have from the pulpit, from the press, and in many other ways, but little, comparatively, is said or written on the direct 'physical relation of parent and child. When the laws of physiology are fully and correctly understood in this respect, they will throw new light upon the duties and responsibilities of the parental relation. In fact it is impossible to realise or conceive at present the value or the amount of knowledge which will yet be brought from this source to bear practically upon all the relations&of life. Only a few suggestions can be made in a short article?that, too, bearing simply on one relation. No language can express
iniquity fourth
generation,"
the'
LAWS OF HEREDITARY DESCENT.
153
the importance of transmitting a sound healthy body. It is the Lest capital which any human body can possess. It can be used or turned to more valuable account than any other possession. A large proportion of the weaknesses and diseases of the body are transmitted?that is, the liabilities, the preWhat multitudes go through dispositions, the seeds of disease. and crippled and disabled in sufferings, life racked with pains all their efforts by reason of inherited weaknesses! Many, too, an early grave ; while to others on this account, sink down into is allotted, perhaps, a long life of feebleness and suffering ! The more thoroughly the primary causes of disease, together with the laws of birth and life, are understood, the more the mainsprings are the starting-points, the original sources, the body itself. As pathology is of disease, found to exist in difficult to determine with is it new science, comparatively a thus originates, but it exactness what proportion of disease one-halt can be traced or one-tliird if would not be
surprising
to this source. 1 is a large class of So well established is this fact, that there first inquiries made disease called hereditary, and one of the is what were the coma new patient to called a by physician e ac should ancestois. plaints or diseases of his parents or aie very difficult diseases be stated, too, that these hereditary to cure, and when apparently cured they frequently return, source m the constitution having their seat or originating effects are most transmitted these direction itself. In one mental in derangement. striking as well as afflicting-viz. or one third of The fact is well established that in one quarter instances or traces of all cases of insanity there may be found the of patient. And if the the disease among the ancestors believe we that, m a much ascertained, exact truth could be some abnorfound be would larger proportion than that, there or strong proclivities that way. malities-predisposing causes There is another direction where these transmitted qualities bent on crime. In become very striking, viz. in propensities a time that for known been 0?8" has it jails and penitentiaries a bad parental or desperate criminals had, generally speaking, crime were transand vice of seeds ancestral record; that the So well understood is mitted from one generation to another. this fact that the saying has become proverbial that the children of such-and-such pal'ents will become bad chaiacteis, criminals, noted fact of this kind has lately go to jail, or be hung. A ]\Iaigaret, the been going the newspaper rounds, headed these: An were facts The agent of the Mother of Criminals." New York Prison Association, in visiting a certain jail in that state, found six persons bearing so striking a resemblance, it
directly
or
indirectly
?
154
LAWS OF HEREDITARY DESCENT.
led him to inquire who they were. After spending much time in tracing back their history and genealogy for several generations, he found they originated from a woman of bad character, and that in all the families originating from the same source there had been 120 criminals, who had received 140 years' imprisonment. Besides these criminals there had been connected with these families several hundred paupers and offenders of law, all of whom had cost the public near a million of dollars ! If a careful inquiry were made into the history and genealogy of all the inmates of our prisons, jails, houses of correction, and almshouses, we should find a vast amount of poverty, vice, and crime which can be traced back, directly or indirectly, to inherited sources. In fact, the researches of modern physiology a powerful are showing every day, more and more, what The influence inherited qualities have upon these classes. question is beginning to be raised, if we are ever to check the increase of vice and crime, must we not go back to their primary sources?dry up the springs, purify the fountain ; or, in other words, as a means of protection and prevention, make a proper application of the laws of inheritance. It may be said that criminals and the insane compose so small a portion of the community, that the subject is not deserving much attention; but, if the law of inheritance applies to abnormal developments of character, to flagrant wrongs and outrages, it applies equally to all the minor follies, vices, evils, and wrongs. Not a single parental relation takes place but that the seeds of good or evil tendencies are sown. If the animal nature is predominant and most active, or the intellectual or the moral, such will be the prevailing type of character in the offspring. Not only the form of the body, the general features of the countenance, and the temperament, or the particular kind of organisation are communicated; but the leading elements or groundwork of character. If certain propensities are very predominant and active, inclined strongly to sensuality and licentiousness, if an ungovernable temper, or bad disposition, morose, irritable, sullen, exist, the inherited effects will surely be seen. If naturally there is a strong inclination to idleness, to waste and extravagance, or, on the other hand, to acquisitiveness, penuriousness, and meanness, these qualities will be more or less communicated. If the blood has been poisoned or constitution impaired by the use of alcohol, tobacco, or any other narcotic or stimulant, the effects will surely be transmitted. There is no question but much of the dissipation and intemperance so prevalent at the present day may be traced back to this source.
LAWS
OF
HEREDITARY
DESCENT.
155
In canvassing this whole subject it should be borne in mind that it is the real nature, the inner life of the individual, where the law of transmission particularly applies?not to the profession oue makes, or to the outward character, or even what one always thinks of himself. If we are here misled by ignorance or deceive ourselves, the relation between parent and child still exists, and the penalties or effects of violated law If we mistake not there are must necessarily be transmitted. with this relation connected and obligations responsibilities which parents do not begin to realise, and for a better understanding and more enlightenment there is need of gathering up all the lights possible from science and experience. Neither should the pulpit or the press be silent in a matter which so vitally affects human welfare.
Art. XII.?LAWS OF HEREDITARY DESCENT. BY NATHAN
ALLEN, M.D.,
Lowell, Massachusetts, Commissioner in Lunacy to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
When Jeliovah issued His commands in the Decalogue, not only to the Israelites, but to His creatures in all coming- time, ? saying ; I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the
of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and it was intended that there should be some visitation. When the laws of the human in that meaning system are correctly and fully understood, it will be seen that this ordinance is not all a dead letter. The term " iniquity," as here used, has a broad signification, including the consequences or penalties of each and every violated law, whether that law be expressed in the revealed command of God, or stamped by the same Almighty power upon the human constitution. In the fulfilment of this command or decree, whatever divine influences or agencies may be brought into operation in other respects, it is positively certain that by the fixed laws of hereditary descent, the iniquities of the fathers, in a variety of forms, are visited upon the children, even to the fourth generation. We might speak of the effects of a bad example, of evil instruction, and a train of corrupt influences in a great variety of ways, whereby the iniquity of the parents comes upon their children* but there is another channel in which the effects of this visitation are more direct, positive, and powerful than these outward agencies. The former may be more easily overcome or corrected but the latter are far more difficult to change, at least for better. While we have had instructions on this subject for thousands of years, and still have from the pulpit, from the press, and in many other ways, but little, comparatively, is said or written on the direct 'physical relation of parent and child. When the laws of physiology are fully and correctly understood in this respect, they will throw new light upon the duties and responsibilities of the parental relation. In fact it is impossible to realise or conceive at present the value or the amount of knowledge which will yet be brought from this source to bear practically upon all the relations&of life. Only a few suggestions can be made in a short article?that, too, bearing simply on one relation. No language can express
iniquity fourth
generation,"
the'
LAWS OF HEREDITARY DESCENT.
153
the importance of transmitting a sound healthy body. It is the Lest capital which any human body can possess. It can be used or turned to more valuable account than any other possession. A large proportion of the weaknesses and diseases of the body are transmitted?that is, the liabilities, the preWhat multitudes go through dispositions, the seeds of disease. and crippled and disabled in sufferings, life racked with pains all their efforts by reason of inherited weaknesses! Many, too, an early grave ; while to others on this account, sink down into is allotted, perhaps, a long life of feebleness and suffering ! The more thoroughly the primary causes of disease, together with the laws of birth and life, are understood, the more the mainsprings are the starting-points, the original sources, the body itself. As pathology is of disease, found to exist in difficult to determine with is it new science, comparatively a thus originates, but it exactness what proportion of disease one-halt can be traced or one-tliird if would not be
surprising
to this source. 1 is a large class of So well established is this fact, that there first inquiries made disease called hereditary, and one of the is what were the coma new patient to called a by physician e ac should ancestois. plaints or diseases of his parents or aie very difficult diseases be stated, too, that these hereditary to cure, and when apparently cured they frequently return, source m the constitution having their seat or originating effects are most transmitted these direction itself. In one mental in derangement. striking as well as afflicting-viz. or one third of The fact is well established that in one quarter instances or traces of all cases of insanity there may be found the of patient. And if the the disease among the ancestors believe we that, m a much ascertained, exact truth could be some abnorfound be would larger proportion than that, there or strong proclivities that way. malities-predisposing causes There is another direction where these transmitted qualities bent on crime. In become very striking, viz. in propensities a time that for known been 0?8" has it jails and penitentiaries a bad parental or desperate criminals had, generally speaking, crime were transand vice of seeds ancestral record; that the So well understood is mitted from one generation to another. this fact that the saying has become proverbial that the children of such-and-such pal'ents will become bad chaiacteis, criminals, noted fact of this kind has lately go to jail, or be hung. A ]\Iaigaret, the been going the newspaper rounds, headed these: An were facts The agent of the Mother of Criminals." New York Prison Association, in visiting a certain jail in that state, found six persons bearing so striking a resemblance, it
directly
or
indirectly
?
154
LAWS OF HEREDITARY DESCENT.
led him to inquire who they were. After spending much time in tracing back their history and genealogy for several generations, he found they originated from a woman of bad character, and that in all the families originating from the same source there had been 120 criminals, who had received 140 years' imprisonment. Besides these criminals there had been connected with these families several hundred paupers and offenders of law, all of whom had cost the public near a million of dollars ! If a careful inquiry were made into the history and genealogy of all the inmates of our prisons, jails, houses of correction, and almshouses, we should find a vast amount of poverty, vice, and crime which can be traced back, directly or indirectly, to inherited sources. In fact, the researches of modern physiology a powerful are showing every day, more and more, what The influence inherited qualities have upon these classes. question is beginning to be raised, if we are ever to check the increase of vice and crime, must we not go back to their primary sources?dry up the springs, purify the fountain ; or, in other words, as a means of protection and prevention, make a proper application of the laws of inheritance. It may be said that criminals and the insane compose so small a portion of the community, that the subject is not deserving much attention; but, if the law of inheritance applies to abnormal developments of character, to flagrant wrongs and outrages, it applies equally to all the minor follies, vices, evils, and wrongs. Not a single parental relation takes place but that the seeds of good or evil tendencies are sown. If the animal nature is predominant and most active, or the intellectual or the moral, such will be the prevailing type of character in the offspring. Not only the form of the body, the general features of the countenance, and the temperament, or the particular kind of organisation are communicated; but the leading elements or groundwork of character. If certain propensities are very predominant and active, inclined strongly to sensuality and licentiousness, if an ungovernable temper, or bad disposition, morose, irritable, sullen, exist, the inherited effects will surely be seen. If naturally there is a strong inclination to idleness, to waste and extravagance, or, on the other hand, to acquisitiveness, penuriousness, and meanness, these qualities will be more or less communicated. If the blood has been poisoned or constitution impaired by the use of alcohol, tobacco, or any other narcotic or stimulant, the effects will surely be transmitted. There is no question but much of the dissipation and intemperance so prevalent at the present day may be traced back to this source.
LAWS
OF
HEREDITARY
DESCENT.
155
In canvassing this whole subject it should be borne in mind that it is the real nature, the inner life of the individual, where the law of transmission particularly applies?not to the profession oue makes, or to the outward character, or even what one always thinks of himself. If we are here misled by ignorance or deceive ourselves, the relation between parent and child still exists, and the penalties or effects of violated law If we mistake not there are must necessarily be transmitted. with this relation connected and obligations responsibilities which parents do not begin to realise, and for a better understanding and more enlightenment there is need of gathering up all the lights possible from science and experience. Neither should the pulpit or the press be silent in a matter which so vitally affects human welfare.
