SELECTION OF UNTRIED MEN. 33 



The foregoing tables lead to the conclusion that, on the whole, male 

 relatives of naval officers who are related to the propositus through females 

 are somewhat (40 per cent) more apt to be naval officers than those re- 

 lated through males. Since this is the method of inheritance of nomadism, 

 the excess is probably due to an inheritance of nomadic instinct in some 

 naval men. 



IV. CONCLUSIONS. 



In making selection of untried men for naval commissions advantage 

 may well be taken of the assistance that is afforded by the facts of juvenile 

 promise and family history. Naval fighters are chiefly hyperkinetics. 

 In their youth they were nomadic, thalassophilic, adventurous. Future 

 strategists have in more than one instance arisen from boys who succeeded 

 in carrying out their plan of leaving homes to go to sea. Administrators 

 have been rarely quarrelsome. The adventurous type of admiral was 

 markedly adventurous in his youth. The juvenile history gives a precious 

 indication of future success in the navy. 



It is probable that if there is not a history of love of the sea in close 

 male relatives on at least one side the youth will not become a great sea 

 captain or naval officer. It is usually true that one of the parents should 

 be a hyperkinetic, especially if the son is to be a successful naval fighter. 

 Since naval officers are frequently nomadic, and since nomadism is sex- 

 linked, an untried candidate whose family history shows naval men on the 

 maternal side only is more apt to be successful than one showing instances 

 of naval men on the paternal side only. 



In general, unless a candidate shows a history in youth of adventur- 

 ousness and thalassophilia, it is improbable that he will make a great naval 

 officer. Unless he has a hyperkinetic temperament it is not probable that 

 he will make a successful naval fighter. Unless a love of the sea appears 

 on at least one side of the house, hyperkinesis in at least one parent, or 

 a case of an eminent naval man among the male relatives of the mother, 

 one is justified in doubting if the applicant for a naval commission will 

 become an eminent officer. 



V. APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES TO SELECTION OF UNTRIED MEN. 



Admitting that a knowledge of juvenile promise and family history 

 might assist in the selection of untried men for commissions, the practical 

 question remains: How can such knowledge be obtained promptly enough 

 to aid in officering a new army? Every new undertaking requires methods of 

 its own. The acquisition of facts of juvenile promise and of family history 

 requires the use of persons trained in this work. A body of such workers has 

 already been organized and has been doing work of this sort since 1910. They 

 are the eugenics field workers of the Eugenics Record Office. These field 

 workers constitute a body of about 130 picked women and men, mostly col- 



