212 



The Journal of Heredity 



types — the cerebral, respiratory, mus- 

 cular and digestive. These are said to 

 be hereditary, and so constant that 

 they are disting-uishable even among 

 nurslings. Naturally, intermediate 

 forms are also to be found ; cerebro- 

 muscular, and so on. It has been 

 stated that the French military au- 

 thorities make use of this classification 

 for some purpose. 



Numerous other classifications are 

 proposed ; the hypothenic (asthenic) 

 contrasted with the hypersthenic, for 

 example, and perhaps a dozen others 

 of similar style and, it would seem, 

 similar limitations. 



Several chapters are devoted to dis- 

 eases and abnormalities, and much in- 

 formation about human heredity is in- 

 troduced ; indeed, the somewhat bald 

 outline of this review does not ade- 

 quately suggest the large amount of 

 information that Dr. Gunther has 

 packed into his scheme. Several nov- 

 elties are brought in ; thus the author 

 holds that when a recessive character 

 (albinism, for instance) appears in a 

 pedigree, the cases are not distributed 

 haphazard but are governed by a 

 rhythm which will result in, let us say, 

 every third child being affected. This 

 is inherently improbable, and would re- 



quire more abundant proof than Dr. 

 Gunther gives. 



A bibliography of nearly a hundred 

 titles shows that the study of the con- 

 stitution does not lack exponents in 

 modern Germany. Dr. Gunther's book, 

 despite numerous points of excellence, 

 does not seem to the reviewer to jus- 

 tify such a study. So far as theory 

 is concerned, the attempt to embrace 

 all human traits in a given constitution 

 is likely to lead only to confusion and 

 mysticism. And in practice the first 

 thing that is done is to forget about 

 the constitution and deal directly with 

 the individual traits. To establish 

 enough correlations among these traits 

 to justify dealing with constitutions 

 would require (assuming- that it is pos- 

 sible at all) exhaustive statistical 

 work, which has not yet been done. 

 Much of the trustworthy research in 

 this field has been unfavorable — the 

 correlatipns expected on the basis of 

 popular beliefs were found to be ab- 

 sent. To take a simple example, it 

 has been shown that there is not a 

 close relation between high intelligence 

 and large skulls. At present the "Kon- 

 stitutionslehre" appears, at the very 

 best, to be well ahead of its time. 

 Paul Popenoe. 



The Care of the Child 



Heredity and Child Culture, by 

 Henry Dwight Chapin, M. D., 

 with a fore ward by Professor Henry 

 Fairfield Osborn. Pp. 219. Price 

 $2.50. New York, E. P. Dutton & 

 Co. 1922. 



To trace, in a practical handbook for 

 parents, the outlines of genetics and 

 their relations to the training of the 

 child, is a task well worth while. Dr. 

 Cha])in has undertaken it, but is not 

 qualified to succeed in it because of lack 

 of knowledge and lack of sympathy 



with eugenics. Having set out to deal 

 with heredity, he naturally has to drag 

 the subject in, and in a few early 

 chapters gives an undigested mass of 

 quotations, some facts, and some mis- 

 statements of fact ; but by the time he 

 reaches his last chapter, on the adop- 

 tion of children, he has apparently for- 

 gotten all he ever knew about heredity. 

 The bulk of the book is made up of 

 the kind of material on the care of 

 children, which appears in all other 

 handbooks for jiarents. P. P. 



