Eugenics Committee: Studies in Human Heredity 



555 



"The Eugenics Research Department 

 consists of two field workers and one 

 stenographer." 



great personalities. 



Dr. Frederick Adams Woods of Brook- 

 line, Mass., states the scope of his 

 present studies as follows: 



"I am continuing my investigations 

 in positive eugenics, the origin and in- 

 fluence of exceptional persons and su- 

 perior stocks, utilizing the easily ac- 

 cessible records of history and genealogy. 



"I have found that in Great Britain 

 the material welfare of the nation dur- 

 ing the last two centuries has been 

 greatly dependent on. the presence 

 of a few very exceptional statesmen, 

 chiefly prime ministers. At least, it 

 may be said that there is a strong corre- 

 lation between politico-economic condi- 

 tions and the character of English 

 political leaders and that under weak 

 and incompetent premiers the country 

 has been visited by relative stagnation 

 or decline. It is already statistically 

 known that the able statesmen, for 

 which England is famous, have been 

 born in the upper classes. Therefore, 

 the greater their influences are proved 

 to be, the greater is the importance of 

 positive eugenics. These questions of 

 the influences of great men over their 

 times, and the comparison of great men 

 with mediocre, are important ones, and 

 have, as yet, been little investigated by 

 suitable statistical devices Such his- 

 toriometric researches as have already 

 been made indicate that the gap is very 

 wide between the average man and the 

 man of genius. 



"The scientific productivity of a 

 country is one measure of its intellectual 

 life, therefore it has been thought worth 

 while to prepare an objective list of the 

 most eminent names in the history of 



science, during all times from the age of 

 the Greeks to the present day. Such a 

 list, with the inferences to be drawh 

 from it, will shortly be ready for publi- 

 cation. 



"All belief in the value of eugenics 

 hangs upon a belief in the value of 

 heredity over environment. Hence any 

 research which brings to the proof a 

 failure on the part of modified surround- 

 ings to make good its claims to strength 

 and merit, is a weapon in the hands of 

 the eugenist. Among exposes of this 

 sort may be mentioned the failure of 

 Am.erican conditions of so-called equal- 

 ity to make success in America any less 

 of a family affair than it is in the caste- 

 ridden countries of Europe. In an 

 article 'Heredity and the Hall of Fame,' 

 published in Popular Science Monthly, 

 May, 1913, the indication of this truth 

 was given. The names in the Hall of 

 Fame can be measured against the 

 eminent Europeans, listed by Gal ton, 

 de Candolle, Ellis, Whetham and others. 

 Now it remains to extend the list of 

 worthies downward from the Hall of 

 Fame, to utilize our history and bi- 

 ography informing a satisfactory work- 

 ing list of reference and appeal, and 

 to bring together our genealogical re- 

 searches in a scientific manner. 



"Some results will very shortly be 

 ready for publication, based upon a 

 tentative objective list of about 3,500 

 of the most eminent Americans, divided 

 into several grades, showing occupa- 

 tions, birth-places by states, and the 

 different degrees of relationship to 

 others within the list. The latter ratios 

 rise rapidly as they approach the 47 

 preeminent Americans who are in the 

 Hall of Fame. The research as a whole 

 strongly indicates the influence of 

 heredity over environment." 



Tables For Biometricians 



Tables for Statisticians and Biometricians is the title of a new pubHcation (pp. 

 Ixxxiv -\- 143), edited by Karl Pearson and published by the Cambridge University 

 Press (1914) at the price of nine shillings. The book is made up of tables needed 

 for reference by workers in the field of advanced statistics, most of which have 

 already been printed in Biometrika. It is preceded by an extensive introduction, 

 describing the particular purposes of the tables, and giving examples of the way 

 in which they can be used in the solution of biological and other problems. 



