Rats, man, and the welfare state.

The possible relationship between social securities and the incidence of various noncurable diseases is discussed. Paralleling the development of the welfare state there is a great incidence in the occurrence of a variety of physical and mental diseases. Sometime between 1840 and 1850 albino forms of the Norway rat were introduced into the research laboratory; it thus was subject to domestication. Comparisons between the domesticated and the wild Norway rat are summarized; typically the differences favor the wild rat. In the domesticated animals adrenal glands are smaller and less effective, the thyroid less active, the brain smaller and perhaps less effective as indicated by evidence of greater susceptibility to audiogenic seizure. In the protected environment it is the tamer, more gentle, that survive; "'natural selection' does not always operate to eliminate weaker individuals." In the domesticated state "a greater variety of abnormal strains may appear and propagate themselves." Parallels in man are cited: as a consequence of legislation, increased energy resources and medical advances, less strong and less vigorous individuals are aided to survive and perpetuate their special defects in increasing numbers of individuals. It is possible that "the process of evolution can be influenced, that man has reached the state at which he can do something about his destiny." 60 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)