Page 16 |
Previous | 81 of 321 | Next |
|
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
|
Loading content ...
16 The Health Bulletin April, 102(1 thing be done in the way of arranging for the greater encouragement of parenthood by the more fit, for the discouragement of parenthood by the less fit, and for the prohibition of parenthood by the notoriously unfit, while we, at the same time, prolong the lives of the biologically less fit and of the wholly unfit through environmental improvement? Unless something definite can be accomplished in this direction is it not possible that the inborn capacities of man may undergo progressive deterioration and contribute to ultimate race extinction? Now that we are becoming familiar with Nature's laws, can we not learn how better to cooperate with nature and improve our race rather than do injury to it? But we shall accomplish more, I feel sure, by education than by any premature legislation. We can see the problems, but their solution will not be an easy matter. Certainly as yet it would be a brave man who would decide in every case regarding the fitness to survive, even though he might be in no doubt as to a decision that certain manifestly unfit persons should be denied the privilege of parenthood. The world needs many varieties and degrees of inborn capacities in its human individuals. It is conceivable that the breeding of people who were nearly alike, even if superior in type, might be less advantageous to human society as a whole than the breeding of races in w^hich hereditary capacities exist in greater varieties than those now existent. Students of human nature have differed in their opinions as to its alterability, either by conscious control of heredity, or by educational or i n s t i t u t i o n a 1 changes. There are optimists who believe in the infinite perfectibility of mankind. There are pessimists, as you know, who assert the practical unalterability of human nature. The medical mind with a knowledge of evolution (as studied by the biologists), and of human customs and institutions (as studied by the sociologists) is inclined to believe in the idea of the possibility of progress notwithstanding the fact that this idea has been challenged by } | some of the world's greatest thinkers. U For, despite the fact that hereditary ^^ transmission by germ plasms is sim- ^ ilar in man to that in other animals, there is a marked difference in the traits that exist at birth. In man the mental equipment is less definite, less fixed, more vague and more plastic than in animals. The chick when hatched can feed itself, can run about, and very quickly become independent of the mother hen The human infant cannot walk until it is about a year old, and requires many years of teaching to secure an independent living. The plasticity of the ability, makes possible the greater variety of adaptation of his later life. If, in the processes of evolution, human heredity has already reached a stage of advantage so far in advance of that in animals, is it not possible that many aeons hence there may be a great gap of advantage be-t tween the hereditary qualities of the||; child of that future and those of the child of today? Or, even if hereditary qualities should in the future undergo but little change, is it not possible that^ human habits, human customs and^j-institutions may become so altered, prevailing types of thought and sire become so changed, that human . life as a whole may become fuller. richer and more beautiful than it is today? I myself am one of those vrho still harbor the idea of progress.: T cherish the hope that, gradually, great reforms will be brought about through the extension of our knowledge of the possibilities of human intercourse, through the steady devising of new social inventions, and through the study of, and persistent experiment in, social engineering. Some time in the far distant future our race may discover even what William James visualized, the moral equivalents of war. Sometime, too, human beings may work out some satisfactory substitute for the faulty economic regime that now exists.
Object Description
Rating | |
Fixed Title * | NCHH-04: The Health Bulletin [1914-1973] |
Document Title | The Health Bulletin [1914-1973] |
Subject Topical | Public health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Contributor | North Carolina. State Board of Health. |
Publisher | Raleigh, North Carolina State Board of Health. |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1926 |
Identifier | NCHH-04-041 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 41 |
Health Discipline | Medicine |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-04/nchh-04-041.pdf |
Document Sort | all; group-b; nchh-04 |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-04-041 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-04 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb1296443 |
Description
Fixed Title * | Page 16 |
Document Title | The Health Bulletin [1914-1973] |
Subject Topical | Public health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Contributor | North Carolina. State Board of Health. |
Publisher | Raleigh, North Carolina State Board of Health. |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1926 |
Identifier | NCHH-04-041-0086 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Page Type | all; article |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Filename | healthbulletinse41nort_0086.jp2 |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 41 |
Issue Number | 4 |
Page Number | 16 |
Health Discipline | Medicine |
Full Text | 16 The Health Bulletin April, 102(1 thing be done in the way of arranging for the greater encouragement of parenthood by the more fit, for the discouragement of parenthood by the less fit, and for the prohibition of parenthood by the notoriously unfit, while we, at the same time, prolong the lives of the biologically less fit and of the wholly unfit through environmental improvement? Unless something definite can be accomplished in this direction is it not possible that the inborn capacities of man may undergo progressive deterioration and contribute to ultimate race extinction? Now that we are becoming familiar with Nature's laws, can we not learn how better to cooperate with nature and improve our race rather than do injury to it? But we shall accomplish more, I feel sure, by education than by any premature legislation. We can see the problems, but their solution will not be an easy matter. Certainly as yet it would be a brave man who would decide in every case regarding the fitness to survive, even though he might be in no doubt as to a decision that certain manifestly unfit persons should be denied the privilege of parenthood. The world needs many varieties and degrees of inborn capacities in its human individuals. It is conceivable that the breeding of people who were nearly alike, even if superior in type, might be less advantageous to human society as a whole than the breeding of races in w^hich hereditary capacities exist in greater varieties than those now existent. Students of human nature have differed in their opinions as to its alterability, either by conscious control of heredity, or by educational or i n s t i t u t i o n a 1 changes. There are optimists who believe in the infinite perfectibility of mankind. There are pessimists, as you know, who assert the practical unalterability of human nature. The medical mind with a knowledge of evolution (as studied by the biologists), and of human customs and institutions (as studied by the sociologists) is inclined to believe in the idea of the possibility of progress notwithstanding the fact that this idea has been challenged by } | some of the world's greatest thinkers. U For, despite the fact that hereditary ^^ transmission by germ plasms is sim- ^ ilar in man to that in other animals, there is a marked difference in the traits that exist at birth. In man the mental equipment is less definite, less fixed, more vague and more plastic than in animals. The chick when hatched can feed itself, can run about, and very quickly become independent of the mother hen The human infant cannot walk until it is about a year old, and requires many years of teaching to secure an independent living. The plasticity of the ability, makes possible the greater variety of adaptation of his later life. If, in the processes of evolution, human heredity has already reached a stage of advantage so far in advance of that in animals, is it not possible that many aeons hence there may be a great gap of advantage be-t tween the hereditary qualities of the||; child of that future and those of the child of today? Or, even if hereditary qualities should in the future undergo but little change, is it not possible that^ human habits, human customs and^j-institutions may become so altered, prevailing types of thought and sire become so changed, that human . life as a whole may become fuller. richer and more beautiful than it is today? I myself am one of those vrho still harbor the idea of progress.: T cherish the hope that, gradually, great reforms will be brought about through the extension of our knowledge of the possibilities of human intercourse, through the steady devising of new social inventions, and through the study of, and persistent experiment in, social engineering. Some time in the far distant future our race may discover even what William James visualized, the moral equivalents of war. Sometime, too, human beings may work out some satisfactory substitute for the faulty economic regime that now exists. |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-04/nchh-04-041.pdf |
Document Sort | all; group-b; nchh-04 |
Article Title | Heredity and Environment from the Medical Viewpoint |
Article Author | Barker, Lewellys F. |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-04-041 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-04 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb1296443 |
Tags
Comments
Post a Comment for Page 16