374 



The Journal of Heredity 



necessary that genealogy go into partner- 

 ship with genetics, the general science 

 of heredity : that it do not consider itself 

 cheapened by an alliance with the 

 plant and animal breedfTS. If a spirit 

 of false pride lead it to hold aloof 

 from these experiments, it will make 

 slow jjrogress. The intcri)retation of 

 genealogy in the light of modern research 

 in heredity through the experimental 

 breeding of plants and animals is full 

 of hope; without such light, it will be 

 discouragingly slow work. 



Genealogists are usually proud of 

 iheir pedigrees; they usually have a 

 right to be. But I beg of you, do not 

 let your pride lead you to scorn the 

 pedigrees of some of the peas, and corn, 

 and snap-dragons, and sugar beets, and 

 bulldogs, and Shorthorn cattle, with 

 which genetists have been working 

 during the last generation; for these 

 humljle ])edigrees may throw more 

 light on your own than a century of 

 research in jjurely human material. 



BIOLOGY NECESSARY 



Your science will not have full 

 meaning and full value to you, unless 

 you bring yourselves to look on men and 

 women as organisms svibjcct to the 

 saine laws of heredity and variation as 

 other living things. Biologists were 

 not long ago told that it was essential 

 for them to learn to think like genealo- 

 gists. It is excellent advice and if I 

 were speaking to biologists I would 

 repeat it. As I am speaking to genealo- 

 gists, I say with equal conviction that 

 it is essential for genealogists to learn 

 to think like biologists. For the pur- 

 jKJse of eugenics, neither science is 

 eomi)lete without the other; and I think 

 it is not invidious for me to say that 

 biologists have been quicker to realize 

 this than have genealogists. The 

 Golden Age of your science is yet to 

 come. 



(4) In addition to the correction of 

 these faulty methods, there are certain 

 extensions of genealogical method which 

 could advantageously be made without 

 great difficulty, I think. 



(a) More written records should be 

 kept, and less de])endcnce jilaced on 

 oral communication. The obsolescent 



famih- Bible, with its chronicle of 

 births, deaths and marriages, is an 

 institution of too great value to be given 

 up, in more ways than one. In the 

 United States, we have not the advan- 

 tage of much of the machinery of 

 State registration which European gen- 

 ealogy enjoys, and it should be a matter 

 of pride with every family to keep its 

 own archives. 



(b) Family trees should be kept in 

 more detail, including all brothers and 

 sisters in every family, no matter at 

 what age they died, and including as 

 many collaterals as possible. This 

 means more work for the genealogist, 

 l3ut the results will repay him. 



(c) More family traits should be 

 marked. Those at present recorded are 

 mostly of a social or economic nature, 

 and are of little real significance after 

 the death of their possessor. But the 

 traits of his mind and body are likely 

 to go on to his descendants indefinitelx'. 

 These are the facts of his life on which 

 we should focus our attention. How 

 this can be most convenienlh- done, 

 I shall discuss later. 



(d) More pictorial data should be 

 added. Photographs of the members 

 of the family, at all ages, should be 

 carefully preserved. They are often 

 of inestimable value. Measurements 

 equally deserve attention. The door 

 jamb is not a satisfactory place for 

 recording the heights of children, par- 

 ticularly in this day when real estate 

 so often changes hands. Complete 

 anthropometric measurements, such as 

 every member of the Young Men's 

 Christian Association, most college stu- 

 dents, and many other people are ol)liged 

 to undergo once or ])criodically, should 

 be placed on file. 



(e) Pedigrees should be traced ujjward 

 from a living individual, rather than 

 downward from some hero long since 

 dead. Of course, the ideal method 

 would be to combine these two, or to 

 kee]j du])licatc j^cdigrces, one a table of 

 ascendants and the other of descendants, 

 in the same stock. This ])lan is not too 

 laborious to use, in many cases; the 

 combined tables, which show all the 

 relatives of an individual, although 

 attractive to the investigator, are tco 



