Cook and Doyle: Germinating Coconuts 
The total weight of the cotyledon 
increased from 19 grams in the un- 
sprouted nut to 228 grams in the nut 
with the longest sprout. 
The cotyledon weighed 19 grams in 
a nut that still had no sprout, increasing 
to 288 grams in the nut with the 
longest sprout. With the growth of 
the cotyledon there was a decline in 
the percentage of sugar, although not in 
the total quantity, but more sugar was 
found at the stage when the foot com- 
pletely filled the nut. It would be 
expected, however, that the amount of 
sugar present at any particular time 
would depend upon temperature, sun- 
light, moisture, or other conditions that 
would control the rate of growth of the 
young plant, or influence the process of 
digestion of the endosperm. With rapid 
erowth the sugar would be used, while 
checking of growth would enable new 
supplies of sugar to be accumulated. 
Tae 
SUMMARY 
The unique habit of the coconut of 
preserving a supply of water in the 
interior cavity of the seed, the very 
large amount of stored material or meat, 
and the very thick, tougH, fibrous husk 
are features that afford an extremely 
interesting example of specialization to 
assist in the germination and growth of 
the young plant. 
The cotyledons of the germinating 
nuts show considerable variation in 
shape, and also in the markings on the 
surface. Some of them ‘have rather 
shallow, parallel ridges, while others are 
deeply and irregularly furrowed. 
The formation of a soft, watery, 
superficial layer on the endosperm after 
germination begins indicates the pres- 
ence of an active fat-splitting principle 
in the milk, which partly digests the 
meat and transforms it into such a 
condition that it can be readily absorbed 
by the growing cotyledon. 
Eugenics Research in Bohemia 
An institution for research 1n eugenics 
was founded in Prag, Bohemia, on 
aly t2, -1913)— by. Drs. icarl Herfort 
and Arthur Brozek, who propose to 
make studies of the family history of 
school and hospital children in that city. 
Announcing their work in Eos (X, 3, 
161-173, July, 1914) they report the 
preliminary study of fifty-six cases of 
feeble-mindedness, none of which was 
congenital. In almost all cases, how- 
ever, the family stock was neuropathic. 
They conclude that from the marriage 
of two individuals, each of whom is 
neuropathic but neither of whom is 
feebleminded, one or more of the 
children is likely to be feebleminded. 
Discussing the Mendelian heredity of 
feeble-mindedness, they conclude it is 
not a unit character but that it is due to 
multiple factors. The neuropathic con- 
stitution, they conclude, is a complex 
made up of a large number of inherited 
dispositions; and as the different parts 
of this complex are inherited separately, 
there is naturally wide variation ob- 
served in the character of neuropathic 
individuals. 
Encouragement for 
Discussing the methods of construc- 
tive eugenics, leading to an increase in 
the number of highly gifted individuals 
in the race, Dr. von Gruber (in Archiv 
far Frauenkunde und Eugenetik, II, 1, 
109) favors grants for education of 
children and pensions for parents. To 
give money to parents for the education 
of superior children would, he thinks, 
make such children regarded as an 
asset, and inferior children as a lia- 
Superior Parents 
bility; not only would this lead parents 
to have large families, if they came of 
superior stock, but it would lead young 
people to regard the pedigrees of their 
prospective life-partners with more care, 
if they realized that intelligent choice 
in marriage was of distinct economic 
importance. The attention of citizens 
would thus come to be directed to the 
fact that superior children are of real 
value to the state and to their parents. 
