The First International Eugenics Congress / by Edgar Schuster.

  • Schuster, Edgar.
Date:
[1912]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The First International Eugenics Congress / by Edgar Schuster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A third speaker deals with education in England, and proposes ways in which it might be made more effective eugenically. Reasons for including eugenics in the medical curriculum are given in a fourth contribution, and the systematic inspection of children is advocated in a fifth. Other papers treat of methods for the prophylaxis of syphilis and the taxation of alcoholic beverages according to their strength, as preventatives of two dysgenic agencies. I. Heredity. (a) The Inheritance of Epilepsy, Feeble-mindedness and Insanity. The data discussed by Dr. Weeks and Professor Davenport in their joint paper, “ A First Study of the Inheritance of Epilepsy,” have been supplemented by further researches of their “ field ” workers and form the basis of Dr. Weeks’ contribution1 to the Congress. The collection of pedigrees on which it is based appears to be a most valuable and reliable one and it is to be hoped that it will eventually be published in full, with all descriptive notes necessary to make it intelligible. The author’s theory as to the inheritance of epilepsy and feeble-mindedness can be briefly stated as follows : — The presence in the zygote of a particular factor or determiner is necessary to ensure normal development. If it is absent feeble-mindedness or epilepsy will be the result. Individuals in whom it is absent are called ” nulliplex ” ; according to the older terminology they would be styled pure recessives, or homozygous with regard to the absence of this particular factor. The term “ Simplex ” is used to describe the heterozygote. Simplex individuals are said to possess an intermediate mental status, though some are apparently normal. It is nowhere precisely stated what are the symptoms of the “ intermediate mental status.” But the majority of persons classified in the tables as simplex are either alcoholic or neurotic. 1 The Inheritance of Epilepsy, by David Fairchild Weeks, M.D., Medical Superin. tendent and Executive Officer, The New Jersey State Village for Epileptics, Skillman, U.S.A.