14 



The Journal of Heredity 



the emigrant has sometimes to be proved 

 several generations to establish any 

 right to arms. In most cases that right 

 cannot be established, whether it exists 

 or not. As the greater portion of the 

 population of any country is not en- 

 titled to bear coat armor, it follows that 

 emigrants from such a country arc more 

 likely to be of the non-armorial popula- 

 tion than the reverse. The average emi- 

 grant to America was no more likely to 

 be of armorial dignity than the people 

 of his class whom he left at home. It is 

 true, however, that the emigrant was 

 superior in energy to the people of his 

 class who remained at home. Most of 

 the early emigrants were yeomen, mer- 

 chants, adventurers, people who were 

 seeking new fields to improve their con- 

 dition. There was a fair proportion of 

 men of good position who were of the 

 landed class, or men of wealth, or mem- 

 bers of gentle families. This propor- 

 tion was as great in New England as 

 in any part of the country. Moreover, 

 fewer indentured serv-ants were sent to 

 New England, or came to New England 

 of their own accord, than to any other 

 part of the country. Hence if one 

 traces one's ancestry to New England 

 there is perhaps a better chance of dis- 



covering the origin of the emigrant than 

 if he went to some other portion of the 

 sea-board. 



The emigration of the Scots settled 

 in Ireland (the so-called Scotch-Irish), 

 that of the Dutch to New York, and of 

 the Germans to Pennsylvania and New 

 York, are all special features in genealo- 

 gical research, and difficulties in tracing 

 American ancestry in the regions in 

 which they settled are somewhat greater 

 than tracing ancestry in other parts. 

 This is due to various factors, such as 

 change in name in the case of the Dutch; 

 and in the case of the Scotch-Irish to 

 the lack of records, both here and in 

 Ireland. 



Whether one confines his work to the 

 American ancestors, or follows one or 

 more particular lines across the ocean, 

 the fact remains that without careful 

 work in checking results the conclusions 

 drawn regarding hereditary charac- 

 teristics will be worthless. The field is 

 a broad one, nor must it be supposed 

 that the characteristics of a remote an- 

 cestor are without interest. They are 

 often so vital, so persistent, that a 

 descendant many generations removed 

 appears more nearly allied to some 

 remote ancestor than to those of im- 

 mediately preceding generations. 



The Origin and Evolution of Life 



THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF 

 LIFE, ]jv Henry Fairchild Osborn. Pp. 322, 

 with 135 illustrations; price S3. 00. Charles 

 Scribner's Sons, New York, 1917. 



Professor Osborn is not satisfied with 

 the current method of studying evolu- 

 tion, because it attempts to reach the 

 causes by working backward from a 

 study of form and function in animals 

 and plants. He proposes to start from 

 the other end and study evolution in 

 terms of energy. The actual problem, 

 he say.s, is the Interrelations of four 

 distinct evolutions of energy: (1) or- 

 ganic envn-onment, (2) organism, (3) 

 heredity-germ, (4) life environment. 

 This is doubtless sound philosophic- 

 ally, but as a method of research it is 

 predestined to failure, for "living en- 

 ergy" is far too elusive a thing for the 

 evolutionist profitably to grapple with. 



Professor Osborn himself does not get 

 far; he brings together a vast and beau- 

 tifully illustraLed compilation of facts, 

 but the critical genetic reader will 

 quickly discover that the inductions 

 drawn from them present more novelty 

 in phraseology than in ideas. The 

 author admits that much more progress 

 in science must be made before the 

 success of his method can be deter- 

 mined; but certainly those who have 

 used it in the past have found it barren 

 and, indeed, essentially mystical. It 

 is doubtful if even the championship 

 of such a weight}- authority as Dr. 

 Osborn will cause many students to 

 revert to the old viewpoint of the 

 "evolution of energy" while the study 

 of forni and function is \-early becom- 

 ing more fruitful. 



