RECENT BOOKS ON HUMAN HEREDITY 



Amey Eaton Watson, New York, N. Y. 



Schuster, Edgar — Eugenics; a Science and an 

 Ideal. The Nation's Library. London. 

 Collins, 1913. Price Is.; pp. 264. 



Attempts to give an account of the 

 meaning of the word eugenics, the 

 aims of those who advocate an 

 eugenic poHcy and the more important 

 of the problems which confront them. 

 Endeavors to indicate, not only the 

 conclusions arrived at by those best 

 capable of judging but also the argu- 

 ments on which their opinions have 

 been based. 



Von Hoffman, Geza — Die Rassenhygiene in 

 den Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika. 

 Munich. J. F. Lehmann, 1913. pp. XXI 

 and 237. 



Of great service to all who wish to 

 make a serious study of eugenics, 

 especially of Negative or Restrictive 

 Eugenics. The author has been 

 Austrian Vice-Consul in California 

 and has spent several years in making 

 a thorough study of these subjects. 

 Concludes with a descriptive bibliog- 

 raphy. 



Reed, Charles A. L. — Marriage and Genetics: 

 Laws of Human Breeding and Applied 

 Eugenics. Galton Press, Cincinnati, 1913. 

 pp. 183. 



This book, from the pen of a surgeon, 

 was written with a desire in some 

 measure to overcome the ignorance 

 which keeps people from protecting 

 themselves and their offspring from 

 disease and degeneracy. The founda- 

 tion of its thesis purports to be the 

 natural laws of human breeding in- 

 herent in the individual. While based 

 largely on Dr. Davenport's " Heredity 

 in Relation to Eugenics," this book 

 is by no means vSO careful or scientific 

 in its treatment. 



Roper, A. J. — Ancient Eugenics. O.xford, 

 Blackwell, 1913. Arnold Prize Essay for 

 1913. 



Mainly historical, surveying the pro- 

 gress and practice of eugenic ideals 



from the time of barbarism in Sparta, 

 Germany, Athens, etc. Quoting from 

 the authorities of the times. Plato, 

 Aristotle, Caesar. 



Wormald, John and Wormald, Samuel. Guide 

 to the mental deficiency act, 1913. London. 

 P. S. King & Son, 1913. pp. 145. 



Reviewed in the Eugenics Review, 

 April , 1 9 1 4 . We are told that authors 

 are physicians, having special quali- 

 fications for their task. Sections deal 

 with (1) operation of the Act, (2) 

 authorities under the Act, (3) ad- 

 ministration of the Act, (4) offences 

 against the mentally defective, (5) 

 finance and statistics, (6) conclusions. 



White, W. A. and Jelliffe, Smith Ely, Editors. 

 The modern treatment of Nervous and 

 Mental Diseases. Lea and Febiger, 2 

 volumes, 867 and 900 pp. respectively. 

 Price $6.00 each. 



The contributors to these two volimies 

 include many of the best men in 

 America and England; Havelock Ellis, 

 Ernest Jones, Gordon Holmes, and 

 S. A. R. Wilson. Of especial interest 

 are the chapters on eugenics and 

 heredity, alcoholism, and syphilis. 



Thorndike, Edward L. — Educational Psychol- 

 ogy, Vol. Ill, Mental Work and Fatigue 

 and Individual Differences and Their 

 Cause. Teachers' College, Columbia Uni- 

 versity, 1914. pp. X and 400. Price $2.12. 



Chapter XI deals with the Influence 

 of Immediate Ancestry or Family, 

 summarizing many of the more im- 

 portant studies in human heredity 

 that have recently been made and 

 criticises them from the standpoint 

 of modern psychology. A valuable 

 discussion of Mendelian inheritance. 



Saleeby, C. W. — The Progress of Eugenics. 

 Funk and Wagnalls Co. 



A new book by the English Eugenist 

 promised for the late spring. 



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