Improvement of Man in Body and Mind  Read before the Iowa Fine Stock Association  Des Moines. Wednesday. January 8th, 1879  By Pres. A. S. Welch of the Iowa Agril College  Mr. President,  I am confident that,   in marshalling before you the facts   which bear on the "improvement of   man in body and mind," I shall   not be compelled to depart from   the principles so often discussed in   the meetings of this association.    For let me say at the outset that   there is not a single means applied   to the improvement of the lower   animals, whether it be the effect of   food, climate, shelter, treatment,



exercise or inheritance, that cannot   be applied, with tenfold complex-  ity, to that highest of mundane   creatures, the human being.  And   however great the desire we feel to se-  cure the highest excellence in our do-  mestic animals, the supreme ques-  tion overtopping all the rest, is how   to attain the highest excellence in our-  selves, our children, and our race.    For our intense interest in man, in   his origin, his growth, his triumphs,   his progress towards the perfection   which he never can reach, pales all   other interests as the rising sun



pales the stars.  The most promi-  nent influences under which the   race advances or degenerates, are   indeed matters of common knowl-  edge.  That extremes of climate   dwarf both body and mind, that   neither the frigid nor the torrid   zones produce the finest speci-  mens of manhood, that miser-  able and scanty food will, if   continued through generations,   beget a permanent physical and   mental leanness, that excessive   labor and excessive idleness are



alike brutalizing, that man every-  where takes his physical and men-  tal character from his surround-  ings, his yearnings, his struggles,   his faith and his worship, and   then transmits that character,   good or bad, to his offspring,   are propositions the truth of   which, I opine, very few will ven-  ture to question.   	But the object of this   lecture is not to dwell on these   principles in general but to show,   if possible, with the clearness of



sunlight, the special minuteness   with which they apply to the "im-  provement of man in body and   mind", and I will predict, Mr.   President, that nothing will be   found in the discussion, that   can startle our religious convict-  ions or offend the purest taste.    For all the means by which human-  ity struggles upward from want   to plenty, from passion to prin-  ciple, from Earth towards heaven,   are, in the final analysis, only the   laws of the Creator through



which his creatures may reach their   highest growth and development.  	Beginning with the   laws of inheritance and their   effect on the condition of man,   we say, in the first place, that not   one of the elements, whether ma-  terial or mental, that constitute   the body or the soul, is a thing of   accident.  In the contrary every   organ, every fibre even of this phys-  ical form, and every faculty,   feeling and impulse of this think-  ing self, has no solitary existence  but is simply a link in an un



unbroken chain of descent, a gift   from our ancestors near or remote,   to be improved by us a few short   years and then bequeathed to our   posterity.  We may each of us, indeed,   modify the growth of self and prune   it into symmetry but its original   character we cannot control.  That   comes to us by lineal descent bear-  ing the countless effects of a thous-  and lives that lie in long per-  spective behind us, and, in us, it   is only an instance of the per-  petual renewal by which the   Earth is peopled and the innu-



merable generations come and go.   "Man", says Emerson, "is physically   and mentally a thing of shreds   and patches borrowed unequal-  ly from good and bad ancestors   and a misfit from the start."     It is one of the purposes of a gen-  uine life, I add, to reduce this   patchwork to a harmony of   color and texture, to give to it,   by true living and genuine ef-  fort, the qualities of beauty and   strength and then to pass it on.  	But those who have



studied the principles of heredity   as applied to races of animals,   will hardly be surprised to learn   the extreme minuteness with   which they act in the human   family.  Not only does the Eu-  ropean, the Caucasian, the   Malay or the North American   Indian transmit, with unerring   certainty through the generations,   its own type but all the pecul-  iarities of the tribes, or nation-  alities into which each of them is   divided, are perpetuated by sure



descent.  The nobler form and the   higher intelligence that distinguish   man from the brute, the charac-  teristics that mark his race, his   country, his family, together   with the special traits of mind   and particularities of figure   and feature by which we recog-  nize him, as Peter or Joseph, or   Thomas, are all bequeathed   through paternity to the gener-  ations that follow.  So that if our   individual acquirements of   muscle and mind and all the  



defects and diseases which we have   originated by excess or exposure,   were subtracted, the residue   would have its exact counter-  parts in the lineage from which   we sprung.  And these original in-  herited proclivities, which, whether mental or   physical, form the basis of individu-  al character, will be found to have   been most numerous in one or both   the immediate parents, less numer-  ous in any one of the grandparents,   decreasing as we go backward un-  til finally they run entirely out in   some remote ancestor, leaving only



the characteristics of nationality, race   and species.  The reasons are obvious.    The first one lies in the fact that the   number of our progenitors doubles as   we step backward, giving to each   of us two parents, four grand-  parents, eight great-grand-parents,   sixteen great-great-grand-parents   and so on until the inherited qual-  ities that converge in one of us, di-  verge behind us until they are lost   by minute division.  The second   reason is revealed in the fact that   acquired qualities or powers in



each parent constantly tend to   modify or supplant the inherited   ones and are themselves liable to   be transmitted to the child.  Of   course this implied uniformity of   transmission is varied beyond  measure by reversion wherein the   transmitted peculiarity lies latent   in our generation to reappear in   the next, and by prepotence where-  in is found some powerful an-  cestor who, to the exclusion of   others, projects himself, so to speak,   down through the generations



that follow him.  	But we must not pursue   the intricacies of heredity so far as to   forget our main purpose which is   to show, by a few striking examples,   that every power, characteristic, quality, or   habit that cleaves to us as individ-  uals, is naturally reproduced in   our children so that every parent   lives again in his offspring and that   consequently the first and most vital   step in the improvement, in body   and mind, of the generations that   follow us, lies in the improvement of   ourselves.  	But let us scrutinize this



marvelous power of self-reproduction   with a little more minuteness of   detail.  Glance first at the parts and   organs of the body.  We all know   with what uniformity in families   the color of the eyes, complexion   and hair is derived from one or   both the parents.  If both the father   and mother agree in the color of   these features, there will result a like   agreement in the features of the   children, but where the father is   dark and the mother light or   vice-versa, there will be exhibited



a curious and interesting variety of   blondes and brunettes among the   little ones.  We have indeed an oc-  casional instance of an urchin   who differs from both his parents in   the matter of complexions and who   consequently must find his proto-  type in a black-eyed or blue-eyed   grand-parent.  Very rarely will there   be seen such a mingling of these   elements that the same person will   display the dark hair and skin   of one parent and the blue eyes   of the other.    	The nose also furnish-



es ample testimony to the persist-  ency of an inherited type.  Special   forms of it from the aquiline to   the pug, have been passed on by   lineal descent down through suc-  cessive generations.  The famous   Bourbon nose was a family   appendage projecting into space,   which was bequeathed by father   to son with more certainty than   the royal honors and the royal   authority which belonged to the   name.  Some years ago while   attending a teachers' convention



I found myself sitting beside a   gentleman - a book-agent - whose   face terminated in a proboscis   so astounding that I could not   but regard it with amazement.    Some months after I was intro-  duced to a man with the identi-  cal face crowned with that iden-  tical organ.  I at once asked   "if I had not met him in Michi-  gan" to which he replied "No. I   have a brother there, a book a-  gent whom I am said to resem-  ble."  In like manner the length



size and shape of the hands, their   plumpness or leanness, the length   of the arm, the breadth of the   shoulders and indeed the whole   body from sole to crown, are   all minutely subject to the laws   of descent.  	But the marvellous ex-  actness with which physical pe-  culiarities are wont to reappear   in succeeding generations, is re-  vealed most strikingly in the   transmission of diseases, mal-  formations and other defects.



Left-handed parents have sometimes   bequeathed this peculiarity to   some of their offspring.  Everybody   knows that a host of chronic   ailments and maladies are prop-  agated by descent.  That dread-  ful scourge tubercular consump-  tion as carried down from gene-  ration to generation in the fam-  ily line, is a marked example.    Gout, rheumatism, the scrofulous   taint, are legacies received through   the ancestral lineage.  Palsy,



appoplexy, Epilepsy, show a strong   hereditary tendency.  Periodical   maladies, heart disease, sick-head-  aches, and the whole legion of   nervous disorders, are the terrible   evils which "flesh is heir to."  Dr. Hol-  land  describes an instance of   hereditary corpulency  whose excess   produced death to four individ-  uals in two generations.  	But the most remark-  able fact in hereditary ailments   is the precision with which visual   defects are handed down from   parent to child.  I have myself



taken note of many instances of   near-sightedness which were certain-  ly inherited.  Dr. Townshend is near-  sighted and so is his daughter.  Dr.   Beaumont of Michigan was near-  sighted and three of his children   have a similar defect.  One of our   college graduates could not dis-  tinguish red as a color and   neither as he informed me could   his mother.  Dr.  Holland affirms   that he knew two parents who were   squint-eyed and every one of six   children were squint-eyed like   wise.  The same author gives us



an instance wherein five children   went blind from amaurosis , a dis-  ease which was the fatal gift, by   reversion, of a remote ancestor,   who lost her sight by the same cause.    You are acquainted with   the fact that in mutes their misfor-  tune is frequently repeated in   their children.  The same liability   to transmission holds with all   the human deformities.  	Mr. Sproule declares in   the British Medical Journal   that a hare lip with a cleft   palate, had been hereditary in his



family for more than a century.    The faces of Charles V. of Spain,   Philip his son, and other members   of the Royal Family, were remark-  able for a projection of the lower   jaw which amounted almost to   a monstrosity.  Judge Stacy of   Tecumseh, Mich. a former ac-  quaintance of mine and a lawyer   of considerable distinction, has   club feet and deformed hands   with only two fingers all of which   he has transmitted to three sons   now men grown.  An only daughter   has however escaped the deformity.



With this array of convincing facts   and with innumerable instances   before our own eyes, how can we   avoid the conclusion that all   there is permanently in the hu-  man physique, of strength or   weakness, health or disease, beau-  ty or deformity, is, even in the mi-  nutest particulars, subject to the   all embracing law that "like begets   like."   	And we shall inevitably reach   a similar conclusion when we con-  sider the qualities and faculties   of mind.  That the special instincts



habits and degrees of intelligence   which belong to the lower animals, run   in family lines, is past all question.    Not only are the small size, graceful   form, and black and tan, of the   rat-terrier matters of inheritance   but his remarkable proclivity for   killing rats, is inherited also.  The   ferocity of the bull dog, the sagacity   of the shepherd dog, the pointer, the   setter and the spaniel, each in its   particular line, are the transmissi-  ble characteristics of the breeds. I   once brought home for a christmas   present to a small boy, a diminutive



black and tan 3 weeks old.  Whenever anybody   scratched the carpet near him, he   would instantly become alert with   attention, showing, with erect ears   and flaming eyes, that, as a future   rat killer, he "meant business."  	Now there is abundant   evidence - evidence which is con-  stantly accumulating, that all   the mental faculties, feelings, traits,   habits, passions and appetites   whose endless permutation in the   human being goes to make up   individual character, are as liable   to transmission as the organs of



the body or the features of the face.    Individual mind whether sluggish   or active, strong or weak, guided   by passion or by principle, is, in   its fundamental characteristics,   both gained and given by descent.   In a sense far wider than that ap-  plied to the race course it is beyond   all cavil  that "blood will tell."     Strong earnest workers whose   intellectual grip never relaxes,   will, under the law that "like pro-  duces like", bequeath their tenacity   of purpose as a legacy to their



posterity.  While weakness, vacilla-  tion  and instability are exposed,   under the same law, to like perpet-  uation.  It is in this sense that   if the father eat sour grapes the   "teeth of the children shall be set   on edge."   It is in this sense al-  so that the divine lawgiver "visits   the iniquities of the fathers upon   the children unto the third and   fourth generations of them that   hate him", and it is through the   silent and ceaseless working   of the hereditary tendency, that



treachery and cruelty, drunkenness,   blood thirstiness, remorseless   hate, and every shade of vice that   deforms human character, run   in family lines and are propaga-  ted without stint.  We all know that   fierce family feuds which crop   out in many a bloody encounter,   are handed down from father to   son in the south, and that,   since the plantation is desolate   and worthless, the only sure be-  quest which, in a thousand cases,   the planter can make to his sons



and his daughters is his undying   hereditary hatred he bears to the Yankee.  	Glancing at the illus-  trations of heredity furnished by   savage tribes still left on the   Earth, we find it a matter of his-  tory, that their peculiar ferocities,   their indifference to human suffer-  ing and utter selfishness, are an-  cestral traits which cling to their   lineage.  And it is equally true   that, in the contrasting condition   of civilized life, we find that all the   varieties of intellectual power are



the fruits which hang on the branches   of a genealogical tree.  Galton, a   distinguished English writer, has   published a book on "Hereditary   Genius"  in which he shows that   nearly all the illustrious men   the world has produced, belong-  ed to families whose members   were more or less famous for   natural gifts.  The grandfather   of Macaulay, the brilliant essay-  ist, was a preacher of surpassing   eloquence - his father Zachary, a   very able, lucid and rapid writer -



his uncle, Devlin Macaulay, on the father's   side, was, though a soldier, a wonder of   literary ability; and indeed the whole   family were remarkable for brilliancy.    The father of John Stuart Mill, the   eminent philosopher and political   writer, was himself a distinguished   historian.  The father of Mrs. Trollope   whose book on America we still remem-  ber, was an able preacher.  Her son,   Anthony Trollope, was a novelist whose   books everybody reads and his son a   successful miscellaneous writer. Charles   Darwin, author of the Darwinian   Theory, descended from a long line



of ancestors who were all distinguish-  ed for their attainments in kindred   branches of knowledge.  His sons   also show, with marvellous uniform-  ity, their possession of the same an-  cestral intellect.  Indeed the number   of Darwins in five consecutive gener-  ations that won world wide repu-  tations in Natural History, is a mat-  ter for wonder.  The Bachs of Ger-  many were a musical family   extending through two centuries   and containing more than twenty   eminent musicians and a host   of less distinguished ones.



Thus we see that if each individual should,  by a life of idleness and vice  belittle and degrade the traits of excellence he  enherits from his sire and bequeaths to his son society  would degenerate and soon lapse into barbarism  While on the other hand, if every parent should,  by a life of virtue and effort,  increase the sum total of good qualities and  sound organs derived from his ancestors and descending  to his children, then would society rapidly ascend to the  highest condition and civilization reach its final acme