When the principles of breeding and of inheritance are better understood, we shall not hear ignorant members of our legislature rejecting with scorn a plan for ascertaining by an easy method whether or not consanguineous marriages are injurious to man.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Better understanding of breeding will stop legislators from rejecting plans to check if related marriages harm humans.
- In plain terms
- When people understand inheritance better, they will accept plans to see if marrying relatives is harmful.
- What can you take from it?
- Science should guide public policy on health.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who should decide marriage laws?
- How does science inform policy?
Another view
The focus on legislating private marriage choices is ethically fraught.
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