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Show ( Will EUGENICS Put an End to GENIUS ? 1 i TJGENICS, the practically modern and Interesting trl science of perfecting mankind physically, threatens to wipe out genius if there ever comes a time when all mankind shall become a perfect anl-Some anl-Some of these writers base their claim to this on the ground that a man possessed of an unusually able intellect has an abnormal brain and that when man becomes be-comes quite normal he will cease to be any more Intelligent In-telligent than, the stolid bovine. It all sounds rather absurd and perhaps a bit daring to make such a claim, but, nevertheless, several foremost fore-most thinkers of the day are beginning to doubt whether eugenics, if rigidly carried Into execution (were such a thing possible), would really benefit the human race, or whether, in ridding humanity of all shortcomings and diseases, euegnics would not actually be depriving mankind of blessings in disguise. The science of eugenics, dealing with the betterment of the human race through breeding and selection, is still in ita in- fancy, and it is well that the question should be dis cussed now. One of the principal writers whose opinion must be cited as an arraignment againBt eugenics is Dr. Reed, writing in, the Forum and the London Guardian. Dr. Heed calls particular attention to the Debt of Genius to Disease- He makes the astounding statement that many a writer of genius has attained eminence not in spite of his affliction, but because of It, Certain toxic poisons, produced by diseases, act as powerful stimulants stimu-lants to the brain and nervous system. Stevenson, suffering from tuberculosis, found that he was able to do his best and most fluent work when his congh was most troublesome. While 111 in bed suffering suf-fering from a pulmonary hemorrhage, ho wrote out the first draft of his famous "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" In three days. The list of other famous writers who fall Into the same category are Milton, Dryden, Fielding, Gibbon, Macauley. Steele and the German poet Heine. Nelson, the great sea commander, waB a weakling. Other names must be added to the list. Napoleon in childhood was a cretin, that Is, very nearly an imbecile, and it was only due to the skill of a physician, much In advance of hiB age, who understood under-stood the delicate connection between thyroid gland and efficiency, that one of the world's greatest intellects intel-lects was saved. Then there was Alexander Pope, the English poet, who was so weak and feeble that when ho went to' court it was necessary to swathe strong bandages around his entire body to insure ability to walk erect. If eugenics then were to succeed In obviating all Ills of the flesh, would mankind relapse Into a state of stolid stodginess? Stimulants of some sort seem necessary nec-essary to all adults. Tobacco is the average man's stimulant, yet a writer in the "Century" recently denounced de-nounced tobacco as more dangerous to the oommunity at large than opium. Women frequently use coffee as a stimulant. There are innumerable women brain-workers brain-workers who could no more got through the day without with-out their coffee than the average man can get through 1 his day's work without his cigar or pipe. They are coffee topers as surely as the man dependent upon whiskey for inspiration Is a whiskey toper, the caffeine contained In the coffee being the stimulating essence. Tea drinkers depend upon the theine contained In the tea to oil tho grooves of their brain. Even so harmless harm-less a drink as chocolate contains a stimulant, theobro- mine, which communicates exhlllration to fatigued and' weary brain cells. J Then, If the adult organism craves and requires a stimulant in order to get through with the clay's work.j is it judicious to attempt to cut out the Internal stimulants stimu-lants which nature supplies as a compensation for the suffering entailed by disease? Dr. Reed slates that five per cent of sufferers from gout are engaged in literary work, gout being due to a disturbance of the bodily metabolism and producing an enormous, patient intel-luctual intel-luctual force, while sufferers from bacterial diseases are filled with feverish eagerness and optimism. The average brain worker, it is safe to allege, if given tho preference between perfect bodily health accompanied ac-companied by a sluggish brain, and the discomfort arising from physical suffering alliod to a bright, active brain in good working trim would doubtless choose the latter. j |