Eugenics, euthenics and love : how they go hand in hand / editor: Henry Smith Williams, M.D., LL.D.
- Date:
- [1914]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Eugenics, euthenics and love : how they go hand in hand / editor: Henry Smith Williams, M.D., LL.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![their tangible influence on the next generation, ac- cording to the combinations that are made with the hereditary factors of the other parent. We have seen, for example, that factors for mental deficiency or for susceptibility to con- sumption, even though present in the germ-plasm of an individual, may be utterly unable to make themselves tangibly manifest if that individual mates with one in whose germ-plasm the factors for normal mentality only and for resistance to consumption are present. Thus the mandate that seemed to condemn the offspring may in many cases be rendered nugatory by the right selection of marriage part- ners. Here, then, is a specific instance in which a definite knowledge of the laws of heredity might serve to determine whether the offspring of an individual should be normal or defective; where, in a word, the principles of eugenics might be prac- tically applied with benefit to a fraternity of indi- viduals. And if it be objected that such an appli- cation of cold scientific principles seems to rob marriage of all romance, it is perhaps an adequate and comprehensive answer to point out, as I have been moved to do on various occasions, that there is nothing appealingly romantic about a brood of epileptic or neurotic or imbecile children. [3]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33628439_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
