262 



The Journal of Heredity 



Russell's book is devoted mainly to a 

 discussion of how the necessary changes 

 might be brought about. State power, 

 private property, education, marriage 

 and religion all receive a searching 

 criticism. One of the factors which he 

 thinks most helpful is political conflict. 

 "Conflicts of party politics, conflicts be- 

 tween capital and labor, and generally 

 all those conflicts of principle which do 

 not involve war, serve many useful pur- 

 poses, and do very little harm. They 

 increase men's interest in public affairs, 

 they afford a comparatively innocent 

 outlet for the love of contest, and they 

 help to alter laws and institutions, when 

 changing conditions or greater knowl- 

 edge create the wish for an alteration. 

 Everything that intensifies political life 

 tends to bring about a peaceful interest 

 of the same kind as the interest which 

 leads to desire for war." 



NO SINGLE PANACEA 



The biologist will not, of course. 

 make the mistake of thinking that there 

 is any one panacea which will abolish 

 war. Neither universal democracy nor 

 an omnipotent League to Enforce Peace 

 will suffice by itself, although lx)th 

 these developments would be highly de- 



sirable. The means for reducing the 

 number of wars in the future may be 

 divided in two classes. First, there 

 must be a reduction in the number and 

 intensity of the stimuli which now stir 

 up the war impulse ; this requires 

 changed methods in teaching history 

 'and patriotism, and doubtless numerous 

 changes in the organization of society. 

 Second, there must be attempts to 

 guide the impulse to war into i)roduc- 

 tive channels. Universal conscription, 

 as William James suggested, would not 

 only aid largely in this, but would also 

 give the nation an immense army of 

 vigorous young men, to be called upon 

 at any time when the backward state of 

 civilization in other nations made it im- 

 possible for this nation to avoid going 

 to war. 



There is no hope of an early aboli- 

 tion of wrir. There is no hope of ever 

 abolishing it by appeals to reason or 

 sentiment. But by the progress of 

 scientific research, and the application 

 of the knowledge thus gained, much can 

 ])c done, if it is always borne in mind 

 that the problem is one of biology and 

 to be solved only by biological methods 

 which take account of the fact that war 

 is a normal state of man. 



Wanted, Photographs of Twins 



The American Genetic Association 

 desires to communicate with twins living 

 in any part of the world. It has been 

 discovered that twins arc in a peculiar 

 position to help in the elucidation of 

 certain problems of heredity. Good 

 photographs at all ages arc especially 

 desired in order to determine the degree 

 of resemblance and its persistence 

 through life. Any information, giving 

 the addresses of twins, who are willing 

 to cooperate with the Association will 

 be keenly appreciated. 



It is known that there are two sorts 

 of twins. (1) The true or "IDENTI- 

 CAL" twins are developed from a single 

 original egg cell which at some very 

 early stage divided t(j form two indi- 

 vidual beings. These "identical" or 

 "duplicate" twins have a nearly (though 

 never an absolutely) identical genu 

 plasm, are always of the same sex and 



resemble each oilier to an extraordinary 

 degree. (2) The other kind, "FRA- 

 TERNAL" twins arc no more alike 

 than brothers and sisters bom at differ- 

 ent times. They are developed from 

 two separate egg cells. 



It is fortunate for our knowledge of 

 heredity that there arc these two kinds 

 of twins, on account of the chance it gives 

 to stud)' the relative imjjortancc of the 

 influence of heredity and of en\'ironment. 



It is for the study of this funda- 

 mental question of the degree of influ- 

 ence exerted by environment as com- 

 pared with that due to heredity that 

 the cooperation of the twins of the 

 world is solicited and any publicity 

 given to this notice by the press will 

 be of great assistance. 



All C\)mmunicati()ns should be di- 

 rected to the American (icnetic Asso- 

 ciation, Washington, D. C. 



