288 



The Journal of Heredity 



deed. This accounts for the appear- 

 ance, on South State Street. Chicago, 

 for instance, of an individual as black 

 as the ace of spades, but with a 

 Caucasian face, straight (even red) 

 hair, w^ith the color, and possibly the 

 mental makeup of a scion of the old 

 South. On the other hand, one may 

 see a lily white individual with ne- 

 groid face, head, and hair, and many 

 stages between these. 



A criticism that comes to us fre- 

 quently is to the effect that genetics, 

 and especially eugenics, deals, for the 

 most part with malformations and dis- 

 orders of various sorts — "albinos, 

 brachydactyls, cretins, dwarfs, freaks, 

 giants, herma])hrodites, imbeciles. 

 Jukes, Kallikaks, lunatics, morons, 

 polydactyls, runts, simpletons, twins, 

 and Zeros ; in a very broad and gen- 

 eral sense, pathological phenomena." 

 The evolutionists particularly make 

 much of this. Is the criticism justifi- 

 able? Morgan who has lately raised 

 this point meets the challenge as fol- 

 lows : 



The genetist knows that opposed to each 

 defect-producing element in the germ 

 plasm there is a normal partner of that 

 element which we call its allelomorph We 

 cannot study the inheritance of one mem- 

 ber of such a pair of genes without at the 

 same time studying the other. Hence what- 

 ever we learn abf)ut those hereditary ele- 

 ments that stand for defects, we learn just 

 as much about the normal partners of 



those elements. In a word, heredity is not 

 confined to a study of the shuffling of 

 those genes that produce abnormal forms, 

 but is equally concerned with what is 

 going on when normal genes are redis- 

 tributed. This method of pitting one gene 

 against the other furnishes the only kind 

 of information relating to heredity about 

 which we have precise knowledge. 



To be sure there is no superman 

 with with the time or capacity for 

 controlling mankind as a herd, in 

 order to make records of reactions of 

 his characteristics in breeding. Yet, 

 as pictured by Karl Pearson : 



Mnn himself makes the experiments 

 which are directly impossible for the eugen- 

 ist. This stock marries kin for six genera- 

 tions ; those parents surfeit themselves with 

 alcohol, there the tuberculous talent meets 

 insanity; here the man of genius marries 

 into his class : there he takes a woman of 

 the people. There is hardly a phase of 

 nurture and of environment, and of parent- 

 age and of ancestry which cannot be fol- 

 lowed up, not in a single experiment, but 

 in repeated experiments, if the time and 

 energy to investigate are forthcoming. 



The science of eugenics does not propose 

 to experiment on man ; it endeavors to lay 

 before us the experiments of man on him- 

 self, and this in such numerous cases that 

 the evidence must carry with it convic- 

 tion. Our object is to form an analytical 

 record of man's experiments on himself, 

 to draw from the history of his successes 

 and failures the biological laws which gov- 

 ern his social development, and upon the 

 basis of the knoweldge thus gained to pre- 

 dict what lines of conduct foster, what lines 

 check national welfare. 



A Guide Book To Health 



Why Die So Young? by John Huber, 

 A. M., M. D. Pp. 313. New York 

 and London, Harper & Bros. 1921. 

 Dr. Ruber's attempt is to outline a 

 course of living for all periods, from 

 infancy to old age, which will result 

 in the best possible health. Logically 

 enough, he begins his book with a dis- 

 cussion of heredity, and this might 



have been made both interesting and 

 useful, for a great deal of material is 

 available on the relation of health and 

 disease to heredity. The author's dis- 

 cussion is superficial and inadequate, 

 however. The rest of the book is made 

 up of common sense advice written in 

 an understandable way. 



P. P. 



