rarely go to this extreme, unless it be in the earliest generations; but it is common enough for them to deal only with the direct ancestors of the individual, omitting all brothers and sisters of those ancestors. Although this simplifies the work of the genealogist immensely, it deprives it of value to a corresponding degree.
(c) As the purpose of genealogy in this country has been largely social, it is to be feared that in too many cases discreditable data have been tacitly omitted from the records. The anti-social individual, the feeble-minded, the insane, the alcoholic, the "generally no-count," has been glossed over. Such a lack of candor is not in accord with the scientific spirit, and makes one uncertain, in the use of genealogies, to what extent one is really getting all the facts. There are few families of any size which have not one such member or more, not many generations removed. To attempt to conceal the fact is not only unethical but from the eugenist's point of view, at any rate, it is a falsification of records that must be regarded with great disapproval. At present it is hard to say to what extent undesirable traits occur in the most distinguished families; and it is of great importance that this should be learned.
Maurice Fishberg contends43 that many Jewish families are characterized by extremes,—that in each generation they have produced more ability and also more disability than would ordinarily be expected. This seems to be true of some of the more prominent old American families as well. On the other hand, large families can be found, such as the remarkable family of New England office-holders described by Merton T. Goodrich,44 in which there is a steady production of civic worth in every generation with almost no mental defectives or gross