DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS. 139 



Heredity in Cacogenic Families. 



Dr. A. H. Estabrook has continued his researches on the "Ishmael- 

 ites" of the central States. His work this year has been mainly the 

 finishing of the history of the families that had been previously studied 

 and the compilation of hospital and other official and private records in 

 Indianapolis and the counties \Yhere Ishmaels are found. In the latter 

 work, which involved much travel, he was assisted by Miss Corinne 

 S. Eddy, of Indianapolis. Dr. Estabrook's investigations were some- 

 what disturbed by the migrations that occurred during the recent war 

 and which had an economic basis. He reports that his final report on 

 the Tribe of Ishmael is approaching completion. 



In collaboration with two workers from the State university, a mental 

 survey was made of the children in two white orphans' homes in 

 Indianapolis. Mental age determinations were made for each child 

 over the age of 5; about 200 children were studied, some of these 

 being Ishmaels. A brief report of this work was read at the December 

 meeting of the Indiana Academy of Science and is being published in 

 the proceedings, December 1920. 



A few days were spent by Dr. Estabrook in visiting the Indiana 

 Hospital for Insane Criminals and the Indiana Colony for the Feeble- 

 minded at Butlerville to make a brief study of all the feeble-minded 

 men convicted of crime in these institutions, for the purpose, with 

 what family history was available, of making recommendations as to 

 whether or not these men should be placed in colony care as feeble- 

 minded. This was done at the request of the Committee on Mental 

 Defectives. 



Since December 1920, on each Monday morning of the past year, at 

 11a. m., a conference has been held in Indianapolis of representatives 

 of all social agencies dealing with mental cases. Mental cases have 

 been presented by such agencies for discussion and suggestions for 

 treatment and follow-up work. Dr. Estabrook served as chairman 

 here because of his knowledge of the State, its institutions, and its 

 laws concerning the defective classes. This conference has been of 

 value to him in his researches. 



At each meeting of the Indiana Committee on Mental Defectives, 

 Dr. Estabrook has been asked to meet with them in the consideration 

 of their problems, and has done so. 



Inheritance of a Tendency to "Cancer" in Man. 



The question as to the inheritance of a tendency to the formation 

 of malignant tumors has long been an open one. Medical men have 

 held divided opinions, and statisticians have reached contradictory 

 or inconclusive results. The work of Murray, Tyzzer, and Slye 

 appears to have established independently the fact of inheritance of 

 a tendency or tendencies to ''cancer" formation in mice. The method 



