64 



The Journal of Heredity 



Sliapc of Grains : Grains with such 

 a pronounced point or beak are rather 

 unusual except in the pop corns. The 

 resemblance to pop corn varieties in 

 the shape of the grains probably is 

 accidental, a closer relationship being 

 with the large-seeded, soft varieties 

 with beaked grains common in South 

 America. Although very sharp, the 

 beak is less pronounced than in some 

 of the Bolivian varieties and these 

 prehistoric forms may represent the 

 beginning of this specialization. 



There are no characters of these 

 early ears that suggest the pistillate 

 spike of teosinte, the nearest wild 

 relative of maize, more closely than 



existing varieties of maize. The small 

 ear stalk, the irregular arrangement of 

 the grains and the soft endosperm as- 

 sociated with small grains are the only 

 characteristics not included in the range 

 of modern varieties. 



While the Arica specimen may not be 

 said to throw much light on the de- 

 velopment of maize it serves to link 

 the fossil specimen more closely with 

 existing forms and gives added proof 

 of the great permanence of the germ 

 plasm of maize. It further emphasizes 

 the fact that all the important steps 

 in the domestication of maize took 

 place at least as early as the period 

 represented by the fossil ear. 



Medical Eugenics 



Die Pathglggisch - Anatomischen 

 Grt'^ndlagen der Frauen-Krank- 

 HEiTEN, 24 Fortbildungsvortraege 

 aus dem Gesamtgebiet der Gynaek- 

 ologie. by Dr. Wilhelm Lahm, 

 Director of the Laboratories of the 

 Municipal Woman's Clinic of Dres- 

 den. Pp. 301 ; 71 illustrations. Price, 

 $1.40. Dresden und Leipzig, Ver- 

 lag von Theodore Steinkopff, 1923. 



The increasing prevalence of child- 

 lessness among American married 

 women has often been remarked. 

 Frederick S. Crum found that the per- 

 centage, in the old native-born stock. 

 increased from 1.8 in the last half of 

 the 18th century, to 8.10 in the decade 

 1879; while J. A. Hill, analyzing the 

 figures of the 1910 census, showed that 

 one in eight native-born wives 

 is childless, as compared with one in 

 five negresses and one in nineteen of 

 the foreign-born. Much of this child- 

 lessness is voluntary, but an important 

 part of it is not. Every reader will 

 know, in his own circle of acquaint- 



ances, a number of married couples 

 who desire children, and who, from 

 a eugenic point of view, ought to be 

 parents, but are not. The cause in 

 many cases is wholly a mystery, and 

 efforts to clear up this mystery form 

 a very definite contribution to prac- 

 tical eugenics, just as does all progress 

 of obstetrical science toward more pain- 

 less childbirth. Neither of these lines 

 of research has received as much at- 

 tention as, from a eugenic point of 

 view, it deserves, but in recent years 

 a number of competent men have pub- 

 lished books throwing some light on 

 the causes of childlessness ; the work 

 under discussion is an admirably or- 

 ganized and clearly written one. While 

 the study of sterility in the male is 

 relatively simple and easy, gonococcus 

 infection being the usual cause, investi- 

 gation of barrenness in the female is, 

 for obvious reasons, exceedingly com- 

 plicated and difficult. Every step for- 

 ward in this investigation should be 

 welcomed by eugenists. — P. P. 



