In the second generation it ran to another
island, and when the data gave out, at the fourth generation, there was
not a single case of consanguineous marriage involved.
Another fraternity was then picked out consisting of two men, both
idiots and congenitally blind, and a woman who had married and given
birth to ten normal children. In the fourth generation this pedigree,
which was far from complete, went out of the islands; so far as the data
showed there was not a single case of consanguineous marriage. There was
one case where a name was repeated, but the author had failed to mark
this as a case of intermarriage, if it really was such. It is difficult
to share the conviction of Dr. Penrose, that the two pedigrees
investigated, offer an example of the nefarious workings of
intermarriage.
Finally a fraternity was traced to which the author had called
particular attention because three of its eleven members were born
blind. The defect was described as "optic atrophy associated with a
pigmentary retinitis and choryditis" and "this condition," Dr. Penrose
averred, "is one stated by the authorities to be due to the effects of
consanguineous marriage."
Fortunately, the pedigree was fairly full and several lines of it could
be carried through the sixth generation.
Pages:
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342