Page:Personal Beauty and Racial Betterment.djvu/80

 of cases merely carried over to later generations if only one parent possesses it.

Instead of inbreeding being a racial evil, it may be a distinctly valuable means of progress. Strong strains are thereby conserved, and weaknesses in other strains are brought to the surface, so that they may be recognized and eliminated. This consideration applies not only to inbreeding, but the general mating of like with like, for the results of conjugation are the same when two persons who mate both possess the same determinant, whether these persons are closely or remotely related in blood. If feeble-minded mate with feeble-minded; if those who carry the determinant but do not show it, mate only with those who also carry the determinant, a large proportion of feeble-minded children will result from these unions. These children may then be institutionalized (if not sterilized) and prevented from reproducing, and their heredity thus eliminated. If, on the other hand, those of feeble-minded heredity mate largely with those of better heredity, the determinant is passed on, to make trouble in a larger degree in future generations, when like mates by chance with like.

For the welfare of the race therefore, like should be encouraged to mate with like, especially in so far as weaknesses are concerned, and inbreeding, in so far as there is no encouragement of