476 



The Jcntrnal of Heredity 



associated characters may not im- 

 jDrobably have different relations of 

 dominance or recessiveness from that of 

 their more obvious correlates. The 

 question which we ha\'e raised can, at 

 least thcoreticalh-, be decided by obser- 

 vation and experiment. However it is 

 decided ^vill make little practical dif- 

 ference with most of the problems that 

 confront the investigator in genetics. 

 But there are certain problems of 

 genetics, I suspect, in regard to which 

 it will be found to have an important 

 bearing, although its chief importance 

 is in the way it influences our views on 

 certain fundamental ]jroblems of onto- 

 geny and evolution. I can here indicate 

 but a few cases in ]joint : 



BEARING ON K VOLUTION 



Since I have come to see more clearly 

 the im])lications of the question I have 

 discussed, I have been surjoriscd to find 

 how many of the difficulties urged 

 against the theory of natural selection 

 disapi^car when we consider variations 

 as organismal instead of limited pri- 

 marily to particular parts. Most discus- 

 sions, I find, consider evolutionary 

 jiroblems from the standpoint of the 

 doctrine of unit characters. How com- 

 mon it is to find sjjcculations as to how 

 this or the other character could have 

 been developed through natural selec- 

 tion, as if each part were somehow 

 separately improved by a series of 

 fortunate survivals. If each character 

 is considered as the summation of a 

 series of variations which ])rimarily 

 concern that character alone, and if the 

 nature of the \'ariations that are 

 integrated is determined by natural 

 selection, we should expect most attri- 

 butes of an organism to be of a useful 

 kind. If, on the otlirr hand, variations 



of any one part invoh'c variations 

 throughout the organism, then the 

 ]3reservation of favorable variations in 

 any one organ would of necessity entail 

 changes in other organs which for the 

 most part would probably have no 

 relation to utility. On this view a 

 con.siderable ingredient of non-adoptive 

 characters would naturally be expected, 

 and it is probable that, through correla- 

 tion, parts might be evolved to a con- 

 siderable degree of complexity without 

 having any imj^ortant use in the life 

 of the organism, ])rovided they did not 

 become positively dangerous to their 

 possessors. Much of the evidence ad- 

 duced for orthogenesis is what we should 

 expect to find if evolution occurred 

 through the selection of organismal 

 variations. Much of the difficulty about 

 the beginnings of structures and their 

 development u]j to the point where they 

 acquire selective value would, I believe, 

 also be removed. The wonder is not so 

 much that selection shoiild produce a 

 large amount of what Haeckel would 

 call dysteleological structures, but that 

 it is able to produce (if we grant that it 

 docs produce) so much that is so nicely 

 coadapted, and especially that it is 

 able to carry on the simultaneous 

 elaboration and perfection of numerous 

 scj^arate systems of organs. 



In these days of attack upon evolu- 

 tionary problems through direct obser- 

 vation and experiment, I hope I may be 

 ]jardoned for presenting anything so 

 atavistic as an academic discussion of 

 the method of evolution. But even 

 with our ])rcs:^nt accumulation of facts 

 bearhig on this much discussed problem 

 there is still something to be gained by 

 reflection, and if our reflection suggests 

 new things to look for it will assuredly 

 not be in vain. 



How to Make a Eugenical Family Study. 



Detailed suggestions to genealogists and others who want to study their ancestry, 

 are contained in Bulletin No. 13 of the Eugenics Record Office, Cold Si)ring Harbor, 

 Long Island, N. Y., which has just been issued under the title, "How to Make a 

 I'^ugenical Family Study," and which will be sent to serious inquirers, ujjon request. 

 It ex])lains and fully illustrates the i)ro])er i)rocedure, and also points out at some 

 length the value of a knowledge of the eugenic quality of one's ancestry. Many 

 j)eople have been deterred from studying their fnmily trees biologically, because 

 they did not know how to begin; this bulletin will prove of great helj) tt) them. 



