Abstracts of Papers Read at the First International Eugenics Congress: University of London, July, 1912International Eugenics Congress (1st : 1912 : London)
Science
Abstracts of Papers Read at the First International Eugenics Congress: University of London, July, 1912
International Eugenics Congress (1st : 1912 : London)
Eugenics -- Congresses
The second husband of the half-breed daughter was a Welshman
(Generation B, W). By him she had seven children. The last was a baby
at the time my informant saw it, and we may leave it out of account.
The penultimate child was a son (Generation C, 12), and his nose was
sunken, and my informant found it difficult to say whether it was
European or Indian in type. I rather suspect from an inspection of some
photographs of Indians which I have seen that it resembles a very
concave flattened Indian type. Of the remaining five children, four had
an European type and one an Indian type of nose.
Assuming that my informant's observations and memory are accurate--and
I feel sure they are quite reliable since he spent many years among
the Indians and half-breeds of North America in company with other
Europeans, and he is a man of naturally sharp discernment--this family
shows clear evidence of the segregation of nose type. It is shown more
particularly in the children of the half-breed daughter who married
twice, since among her offspring (Generation C, 5-13) both types of
nose appeared. The re-appearance of the European nose was manifested,
not only when she was mated back to an European in her second marriage,
but when she married a half-breed like herself. This latter marriage,
however, did not constitute, as we might at first sight regard it, an
experimental mating in every way analogous to a Mendelian cross of DR
x DR; because although she was a half-breed her nose was not like her
brother's of the Indian type, but European.
It thus appears as though the Indian nose was dominant in one case,
and the European in the other. Too much stress must not be laid on
this point. So many half-breeds are indistinguishable from full-blood
Indians, that the possibility is to be borne in mind that this woman's
mother, who was married to the Scotchman, was not really a full-blood
Indian, and that tradition was in error. I am, however, making further
inquiries.
But Mendelian segregation is shown in this pedigree in another way. The
granddaughter (Generation C, 6), by the first husband, manifested, as
already indicated, an European type of nose and European eye-colour.
She also manifested other European characters, with which I do not
now purpose dealing. But her cheek bones were decidedly Indian and
the shape of her eyes were also Indian. Thus we have the segregation
in the same individual of the characters of two distinct races of
men. In other words, there has been segregation of racial characters
followed by their recombination in a hybrid race. That is a fact of
some importance, in what we may designate as anthropological Eugenics,
or, if we prefer it, as the Eugenics of Anthropology. For it turns our
thoughts to the possibility of calling into being a more perfect type
of men by the recombination of the better alternative qualities of two
less perfect races.
[Sidenote: K 2b]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account