SOMETHING ABOUT EUGENICS

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 140, 14 June 1911, Page 8

SOMETHING ABOUT EUGENICS

■ By SIR ROBERT STOUT.

(A Lecture delivered at the Leys Institute, Auckland.)

■:.' 4 PART IK. The birth rate in England isrijfouhle amongst the poor and what -at is amongst the well-to-do iand the Many examples may be given -of this. Let ns take the peerage, where it is not the want of means oi subsistence that has forced a lessening of the birth rate. I take my figures from Whetham's book. Of a hundred fertile -marriages between 1331 and 1890, the following is the result. From IS3I to IS4O the average of births was 7.1, to ea-ch fertile couple. From 1841 to 18(30 .'the average was G.l. From IS7I to ISSO ' the average was 4.36, and from ISSI to IS9O the average was 3.10. If this goes on the House of Lords would not require abolition. The peerage is committing suicide. How fares if with what may "be termed the intellectuals? L?t us -"take those who occupy permanent positions in the University of Cambridge— the officers, heads of colleges, fellows, tutors, professors, etc. In 1909 there were (17 men bavinosufficient means to maintain a family who were unmarried. There were 40 childless married couples, who had been married for five years and upwards: 70 married couples, whose youngest child was over ten years. They had 199 children, and if only half of their 19'J children became parents; is there not here again the extinction of the fit? Let us take another class—the fairly - well off mechanic who belongs to friendly societies, and is able to make provision for his future. The Hearts of Oak Friendly Society has. a membership of over a quarter of a million, and there is a benefit of 30/ on the birth of each child. From 1556 to 18S0 the claims rose from 2176 to 2472 per 10.000, but from 18S1 to ll'fU they fell to 11(15 per 10,000—more than half. The other friendly societies in England show similar results. Then the birth rate in London has been tabulated from the different districts, and it has been found that in the districts where most well-to-do people reside the drop in the birthrate has been greatest. In Bethnal Green it, fell 12 per cent., but in Hammersmith 30 per cent. The rich suburbs of Hanrpstead, Kensington, Paddington give the rate 20 per thousand, but in the poorest districts it is 30 per thou- '. Eand, The highest birthrate is where the majority of the residents are ; foreigners—Russian Jews and others. In Whiteehapel and Mile End Old Town half the marriages are celebrated according to Hebrew rites. At this rate will London remain an English city? If we go to manufacturing cities the drop is very marked. The fall in such cities as Northampton, Burnley, Glasgow, etc., was from 30 to 40 per cent, in the 20 years ending 1901. Even the returns from the agricultural districts tell the same tale. Cornwall and Rutland fell in the same period from 20 to 30 per cent. The birth rate of the more fit has decreased, and of the less fit it has not varied much. The late Poor Law Commissioners in their report say that the feeble-minded have many children. In one workhouse, out of 229 births 77.1 per cent, were illegitimate, and nearly all the mothers were feebleminded. Is It any wonder that such being the case the Poor Law Commission should put such searching questions as these: "It is very unpleasant to record that, notwithstanding our assumed moral and material progress, and notwithstanding the enormous annual ex- - 'penditnre, amounting to nearly sixty millions a year, upon poor relief, educa- .- tion and public health, we still have a vast army of persons quartered upon us unable to support themselves, and kn army which in numbers has recently shown signs of increase rather than decrease. To what is the retrogression due? It cannot be attributed to lack of expenditure. Is this costly and .elaborate machinery we have established defective, and, if so, where does' it fail to accomplish its end? Is the material upon ■which this machinery operates becoming less amenable to the remedies applied?" There are two causes, it is said, for the drop of the birth rate in Great Britain. First, women work in factories, and second ■women's devotion to study. There is- no- doubt that factory life, long hours, "little-fresh air and sunlight, and unsanitary sorronndings weaken the vitality of women and 'births are fewer. ■And what,-may I ask, -will avail all our manufactures if it means the killing of our race? •But it has to be remembered' that in the County districts there has also been a falL This, it is said, is caused by a migration to the towns. It is doubtful; however, if that fully explains the fall. As to the devotion to study there is no doubt of -what has happened. Whetbam says that out of 3000 women who had a University education, excluding those who have left college within ■three years or less, we find only 22 per cent, have subsequently married. In New Zealand we have the same problems as to birth rate as they have in IkiglanrL In 18S3-1596 our birth rate was 35.40 per 1000. It fell gradually till 1599. when it Teached 25.12 per 1000. That is the limit it reached in 27 years. Since then it has risen to 2759. Let us put it in figures another way. Taking the birth rate in ISB2 to 1896 as 100, it fell to 71 and is now 77. I have not time to deal with the suggested causes of this decline in New Zealand. There is the fact, and if we are to be a living, active and progressive nation it needs our careful consideration. Is l*ew Zealand to be a white man's country? Not if it remains empty, and our birth rate falls. And I believe so far as the quality is concerned, I doubt if there is much difference between New Zealand and England Nor is this" decline found in one country or nation alone. It is in France—the" births only about balance the deaths; and even in Germany the birth rate in Berlin is not better than in Paris. Let it not be forgotten that the vast increase of population in Germany since 1870 has been almost entirely in urban as distinguished from country population. Is it any Wonder, that the progress of humanity is~sO slow if what I have mentioned is happening. If a sheep farmer kept on breeding from culls, and breeding more from culls than from good stock, what, I -would his flocks -" ~~be-_e?--" ".- -" :'"""". Eugenics is .concerned .about the birth rate, but it; also, considers all those things that tend- ertherrvtp hurt or 4m-1 prove the race. Heredity counts 65 per - eenfc in the life of our-paople/ahd surk- - soundings 35 per cent.. .So,says Ut. Renf'"' "4p_ '" Yb_ may have'heMoTor. read of ra'yyeiy* discussion between ' ' Karl Pearson} "the head of the- Eugenics School in the London University, and Dr. Keynes and- Professor - Marshall, Drs. Eorsley and Sturge about- the influence

of alcohol on the race. You will see the discussion in the journal of the Royal Statistical Society, which, arose out of a paper by Miss Elderton and Professor Karl Pearson, published from the Galton Eugenics Laboratory. The matter is further discussed in a little book recently published by Dr. Victor Horsley and Dr. Mary Sturge, with a ' chapter by Dr. Newsholme. It was published this year by Maemillah and Co. I That alcohol is a drug and a poison few ; medical men now dispute. Let mc read to you one or two sentences from a | placard issued by the -administration of j the Government of Paris: "Alcoholism is chronic Ttesuuting from the ' habitual use of alcohol, even when this is i not taken in amounts sufficient to produce drunkenness. It is an error to state that alcohol is necessary for workmen who are engaged in arduous manual labour, that it gives energy for, work, or that it renews strength. The artificial excitement which it produces quickly gives place to nervous depression and weakness; in truth, alcohol is useful to nobody; it is harmful to all. The hygienic faults of parents are visited upon their children: if the latter survive the first few months <?f life, they are i threatened with idiocy or epilepsy or still woTse, are a little later carried off by tuberculous, meningitis, or consumption. Alcoholism is one of the most frightful scourgps—whether it be regarded from the point of view of the health of the individual, or the existence of the family, or of the future of the country." Perhaps the best proof of the changed attitude of the doctors to alcohol in disease is what we find in asylums and hospitals. In the London County asylums its use fell from 255.486 gallons in'lßß9. with 8000 patients, to 1281 gallons in 1905, with 19.000 patients, or to take another comparison, in the treatment of 19.937 patients by the Metropolitan Asylum Board in* 1594. £ 13S8 was paid for stimulants: in 1909, £251 for the treatment of 27,570 patients. If we desire a vigorous and healthier race we shall have to get rid of stimulants and drugs. And now what is the message of Eugenics? Is it not this? We must pay attention to the future of our race. We must breed from the most fit and we must see that the environment or surroundings are of the best. Pure water, pure air, open air. sunshine, good drainage, cleanliness, healthy amusements, everything that can make human life better, the minds of the people to be trained, their physical health looked after, and social life in its highest aspects encouraged. We dare not neglect any of these things—if our race is to be preserved. We can have hope. People in towns are healthier than they used to be. The diseases of dirt are rare. Typhus has, I believe, never been in New Zealand, and is rarely seen in London. Thousands in my youth used to die of it. Professor Ray Lankester, in his "Science from an Easy Chair." tells us much about it. The plague is now unknown where people are careful and the cities are kept clean and pure. A sporadic case may occur, but it never gets a foothold if people recognise their responsibilities. Tubercular disease is lessening, and typhoid decreasing. Under proper care •and treatment they should be as rare as cholera, typhus, or plague. Two hundred years ago the death rate was often 100 per 1000. It is now in England about 15, and with us it is about 9i. There has, it is true, been an increase in lunacy. The increase in England has been 92 per cent, in 50 years— a proof that degeneracy is present and increasing. In Puritan America few Puritans will be left. The majority of the Massachusetts population is not now cf Puritan descent. Will this great race be obliterated? The Jewish people and the Catholics of Lower Canada and of Southern and Eastern Europe are increasing in the New England States at a very much greater rate than the Puritans or the Protestants, and the time may come, should religion descend like "physical characteristics, when Protestantism will be obliterated The French Canadian birth-rate in Montreal was, according to the latest returns, 43.5 per 1000 and the Protestants 23.7 per 1000. If I have succeeded in showing you what Eugenics mean, and that ■it is really the important science on which all advancement in human life depends, I shall be gratified. I hope that some present may take an interest in the subject, and when I visit your Institute again, I shall be able to congratulate you that in Auckland an Eugenics Society has been founded.