BOOK REVIEWS 293 



Being Well Born. Michael F. Guyer, Pp. 374. Bobbs-Merrill 



Co., $1.00. 

 Eugenics. Edgar Schuster, Pp. 264. Warwick & York. 



These books are both able presentations of some of the best data 

 regarding eugenics, and the viewpoint respectively of the Ameri- 

 can and English schools. The books are intended for the average 

 person, not for the scientist, although many of the facts are nec- 

 essarily expressed in more or less scientific terminology. 



Dr. Guyer's book discusses hereditary characters and some gen- 

 eral phases of the subject, then devotes considerable space to cell 

 structure and the elements that are usually considered bearers of 

 the heritage. Chapter three deals with Mendelism and the next 

 chapter applies Mendel's Laws to man in so far as the data are 

 available. Chapter five takes up the mooted question of the in- 

 heritance of acquired modifications, and concludes that such mod- 

 ifications are not heritable. Chapter six deals with prenatal 

 influences and states the recently adduced evidence to show the 

 deleterious effects of alcohol and venereal diseases upon the de- 

 veloping embryo. Three chapters are then devoted to a dis- 

 cussion of the inheritance of mental and nervous effects, and their 

 structural foxmdation, while the final chapter gives the outlook 

 and the eugenist's constructive programme. Dr. Guyer has ac- 

 cumulated a mass of fact bearing on the problems of eugenics 

 which will be welcome to the average reader who desires to form- 

 ulate an intelligent opinion upon the subject, and he shows quite 

 clearly that there is abundant data now to justify a programme 

 of education, some conservative legislation, and a hopeful outlook 

 on racial improvement. 



Mr. Schuster's book is a smaller volume, very readable. It 

 does not present the matter with as great a wealth of fact. It re- 

 ports naturally the English investigations and leaves out many of 

 the American data. Otherwise it covers much the same ground. 

 This book has an exceedingly interesting chapter, also, on the sub- 

 ject of eugenics in ancient times, showing that the idea is by no 

 means new. Chapter three follows up the historical presentation 

 with a brief biography of Sir Francis Galton, the founder of the 

 English Eugenic Laboratory which bears his name. Chapter six 

 is devoted to the statistical evidence of inheritance of which branch 

 of the science Galton was an enthusiastic supporter. 



