... We are, in our inheritance, exactly what our ancestors
made us by the work they performed before reproducing. Whether our
descendants are to be better or worse than we are will depend upon
the amount and kind of work we do before we produce them."
The question of the influence of parental age on the characters of the
offspring is one of great importance, for the solution of which the
necessary facts have not yet been gathered together. The data compiled
by Mr. Redfield are of value, but his interpretation of them can not be
accepted for the following reasons.
1. In the light of modern psychology, it is absurd to lump all sorts of
mental ability under one head, and to suppose that the father's exercise
of reasoning power, for example, will store up "energy" to be manifested
in the offspring in the shape of executive or artistic ability. Mental
abilities are much subdivided and are inherited separately. Mr.
Redfield's idea of the process is much too crude.
Moreover, Mr. Redfield's whole conception of the increase of
intelligence with increase of age in a parent shows a disregard of the
facts of psychology. As E. A. Doll has pointed out,[196] in criticising
Mr. Redfield's recent and extreme claim that feeble-mindedness is the
product of early marriage, it is incorrect to speak of 20-, 30-, or
40-year standards of intelligence; for recent researches in measurement
of mental development indicate that the heritable standard of
intelligence of adults increases very little beyond the age of
approximately 16 years.
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