32Section III.C. Gini.
History and genealogy both speak unmistakably for heredity. Men
of genius have as many eminent relationships as the expectations of heredity
demand. The same is true among the highest aristocratic classes, and is
equally true under democratic government, as is proved by a study of the
family history of those Americans whose names are in the Hall of Fame.
History shows that about half of the early monarchs were not cruel or were
not licentious. Alternative heredity can well account for that. Virtuous
types have only slightly increased in numerical proportion. Environment
cannot be very effective; but there are biological factors of a more hidden
nature which are silently making for progress. Mental qualities are cor
related with moral; and in the European dynasties the survivors have been
generally the descendants of the morally superior.
Physical differences can also be demonstrated, coming in the course of
generations. A study of the portraits of royal, noble, and other historical
personages shows that the bony framework of the face, especially about
the nose and eyes, has changed rapidly since the beginning of the sixteenth
century. In explaining the rise and fall of nations, gametic and personal causes
can be measured and marked. All the evidence of history points to the
power and importance of a very few great personalities—they themselves
the product of inborn forces. These have been the chief causes of political
and economic differences, but non-gametic (environmental) causation can be
occasionally detected, and separated out; as, for instance, the modern scientific
productivity in Germany and the proportionate intellectual activity among
women in America. It is estimated that there are four hundred thousand
books on history. These form an almost unworked mine of information,
easily available to every student of eugenics. It is high time that the human
record, so ancient in its beginnings, should be used to contribute to that most
modern of sciences, the improvement of the human breed.
DEMOGRAPHICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS
OF EUGENICS.
(Abstract.)
By Dr. Corrado Gini,
Professor of Statistics in the Royal University of Cagliari, Italy.
Tables of mortality relating to human beings with classification as to age,
when compared with similar statistics relating to the equine species, show
that man during the period of development has a much heavier death-rate.
It is not possible to say whether in their natural state the higher kinds of
animals possess a higher or lower death-rate during the period of develop
ment than when under domestication, but the second of the alternatives seems
