Early death is not necessarily an
evidence of physical weakness; but long life is a pretty good proof of
constitutional strength.
Dr. Bell has elsewhere called attention to the fact that, longevity
being a characteristic which is universally considered creditable in a
family, there is no tendency on the part of families to conceal its
existence, as there is in the case of unfavorable characters--cancer,
tuberculosis, insanity, and the like. This gives it a great advantage as
a criterion for sexual selection, since there will be little difficulty
in finding whether or not the ancestors of a young man or woman were
long-lived.[103]
Karl Pearson and his associates have shown that there is a tendency to
assortative mating for longevity: that people from long-lived stocks
actually do marry people from similar stocks, more frequently than would
be the case if the matings were at random. An increase of this tendency
would be eugenically desirable.[104] So much for the physique.
Though eugenics is popularly supposed to be concerned almost wholly with
the physical, properly it gives most attention to mental traits,
recognizing that these are the ones which most frequently make races
stand or fall, and that attention to the physique is worth while mainly
to furnish a sound body in which the sound mind may function.
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