Bell: Kith and Kin 



365 



first kith, c and d second kith, e and / 

 third kith, etc. 



Under this terminology husband and 

 wife become first kith when they have 

 a child, P. All of the four grandpar- 

 ents of the child P would be second 

 kith, the eight great-grandparents 

 would be third kith, the sixteen great- 

 grandparents fourth kith, etc. 



The word "kith" would thus mean 

 more than mere "acquaintance." It 

 would indicate a sort of indirect blood 

 relationship. In the case of persons 

 who are kith their blood mingles in their 

 common descendant. 



These definitions of kith and kin 

 seem to me to be satisfactory as far as 

 they are used to express the relation- 

 ship of persons belonging to the same 

 generation. The case changes, how- 

 ever, when you are dealing with persons 

 in different generations, as "uncle and 

 nephew," "first cousin once removed" 

 etc. In such cases it may be necessary 

 to specify the individual degree of re- 

 lationship to the common ancestor or 

 descendant. For example, uncle and 

 nephew, a and d Fig. 1, are first and 

 second kin through the common ances- 

 tor P, and first cousins once removed, 

 c and / are second and third kin 

 through the common ancestor P. 



In the case of persons who are kith it 



would be the same thing reversed, the 

 blood relationship would be through a 

 common descendant. In Fig. 2, a and/ 

 would be first and third kith through 

 the common descendant P, a relation- 

 ship for which there is at present no 

 name whatever. 



Our terms for ancestors and descend- 

 ants are also very clumsy and become 

 impracticable of use when we get a few 

 generations from the individual stud- 

 ied. The relation of ancestors is more 

 quickly apparent if we speak of first 

 parents, second parents, third parents, 

 fourth parents, etc., than if we say 

 parents, grandparents, great-grand- 

 parents, great-great-grandparents. The 

 advantage is more and more obvious 

 the farther we go from the propositus, 

 P; for it is certainly simpler to speak of 

 his sixth parents than of his great- 

 great-great-great-grandparents. 



The same terms could be used for 

 descendants and instead of speaking of 

 children, grandchildren and great- 

 grandchildren we could say first chil- 

 dren, second children and third children. 



In a subject of such general interest 

 as this it seems to me important that 

 the terminology should be easily under- 

 stood, and I hope that these suggestions 

 will be of use in starting a discussion of 

 the whole subject. 



Foundations of Human Genetics 



Grundriss der Menschlichen Erb- 



LICHKEITSLEHRE UND RaSSEN*- 



Hygiene, Band I, Menschliche 



Erblichkeitslehre, von Prof. Dr. 



Erwin Baur, Prof. Dr. Eugen Fischer, 



u. Dr. Fritz Lenz. Mit 65 fig. im Text. 



J. F. Lehmanns Verlag, Muenchen, 



1921, pp. 305. 



Three scholars of recognized standing 

 have united to put out this comprehen- 

 sive work on eugenics and social hy- 

 giene. In the present volume Dr. 

 Baur outlines the general principles of 

 heredity and variation in the first part, 

 while Dr. Fischer in the second part 

 discusses racial differences in mankind. 



The third and fourth parts, by Dr. 

 Lenz, are respectively devoted to the 

 inheritance of tendencies to disease, 

 and to the inheritance of mental traits. 

 It is stated that the concluding volume, 

 not yet published, will be entirely the 

 work of Dr. Lenz, and will be 

 devoted to "race hygiene." The 

 present volume, which is compiled 

 principally from continental sources, 

 gives a good general picture of the 

 subject. Dr. Fischer and Dr. Lenz 

 confine themselves mainly to stating 

 that certain traits are inherited, with- 

 out discussing in detail the manner of 

 inheritance. — P. P. 



