206 READINGS IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE 



human genetics. The necessity for a thorough understanding of the unique 

 problems involved in the genetics of man must be appreciated before 

 further progress can be made. 



Among the problems facing the student of heredity in man, are the 

 following: to test the linkage relations of known human genes and to con- 

 struct maps of the human chromosomes by the use of the newly elaborated 

 paired-sib technic; to search actively for new genes in man; to further 

 elaborate the gene-frequency technics and other statistical methods for the 

 analysis of hereditary human factors; to determine the phenotypic fre- 

 quency of various traits in the population — in other words to take a census 

 of human traits; to establish and maintain twin chnics in qualified hospitals; 

 to study intensively the genetic and environmental influences interacting 

 in the production of "mental" characters; to obtain relevant facts about 

 the genetic and environmental backgrounds of socially significant traits 

 of all sorts; and finally to create an awareness of the importance of the 

 genetic viewpoint among physicians, social workers and the general public. 



It is the hope of the student of human genetics that such a coopera- 

 tive line of research may eventually give rise to a social edifice, the founda- 

 tion of which is made up of substantiated facts about the development, 

 both from a genetic and an environment standpoint, of human character- 

 istics, and the superstructure of which is a tower of eugenic strength 

 which can be defended against any attack. To this end we bespeak the 

 cooperation of biologists, physicians, anthropologists, psychologists, soci- 

 ologists, legislators and social workers, and we ask the continued faith and 

 support of the pubUc. 



WHAT WILL YOUR CHILD LOOK LIKE * 

 AMRAM SCHEINFELD 



Given certain facts about you and your mate, we can make some fairly 

 accurate predictions as to w hat your children would look like. 



Were we able to breed people as the geneticists breeds flies, we could 

 make many more predictions, with greater accuracy. By constant breed- 

 ing and inbreeding, geneticists have established strains of Drosophila, 

 ranged in rows of bottles in their laboratories, whose genes they know 

 almost as well as the chemist knows the make-up of his various com- 

 pounds. In fact, with almost the same precision that the chemists mix com- 

 pounds, the geneticist can "mix," by mating, two flies of any strains and 

 predict the types of off^spring that will result. 



We cannot, of course, ever expect to do anything like that with human 



• From You and Heredity. Copyright 1939, by Amram Scheinfeld. Published by 

 J. B. Lippincott Co. 



