360 
Digger Indian any less heritable? Ad- 
mit to the full the influence of training, 
especially of subconscious training, and 
still it seems we must believe that 
qualities of intellectual ability and of 
disposition are inherited and that moral 
stamina and moral weakness are not 
wholly matters of education. Indeed 
one is inclined to believe that at bottom 
these qualities, when strongly present, 
are less affected by training during the 
life of the individual than has long been 
thought, and of course their inheritance 
is not at all so affected. 
MENDELISM IN THE MIND 
But if we grant that psychic qualities 
are heritable, and not merely racial 
qualities but individual qualities as 
well, we are still without satisfactory 
evidence of the presence of Mendelian 
units in psychic inheritance, and of the 
manner of their behavior in transmis- 
sion. If there be units of psychic 
inheritance, their interrelation may be 
too complex for analysis. There is no 
certainty of completely satisfactory solu- 
tion of the problem even in the distant 
future. 
Leaving out of account for the 
moment all social considerations and 
viewing the problem of human eugenics 
as we would that of animal breeding, 
could we, if free to do so, so manipulate 
human beings in marriage as to control 
psychic as well as physical qualities? 
Is analysis into Mendelian units neces- 
sary to success in breeding? 
Thorough analysis is surely the 
greatest aid, but some result is possible 
without it. Burbank never analyzed 
his problems, but he got results, as did 
all the breeders before his day who 
produced our diverse breeds of domes- 
ticated animals and plants. To be sure 
they met many failures, but they had 
some successes. Galton, Pearson, and 
their followers in the British school, 
show little interest in Mendelian analysis 
and are approaching problems of human 
inheritance from a very different angle. 
How far we could go by their uncritical 
method is a question, but something 
we could surely gain. We could elim- 
The Journal of Heredity 
inate the undesirable and advance the 
race nearer to its present best. 
But under conditions as they are 
can we do this? How much hampered 
are we by social limitations? 
Looking far into the future I have 
entire confidence that we shall in time 
almost banish physical, mental and 
moral* invalidism, which today are 
most prominent characteristics of the 
human species. Negative eugenics, the 
elimination of the clearly unfit from 
parenthood, has come and with more 
knowledge, will be more important, 
whether the unfitness be physical or 
psychical. To be sure it may be a 
thousand years or two before we ap- 
proach this goal, but to a biologist this 
is but tomorrow. For the sociologist 
who thinks in decades there is less 
comfort in the prospect, though there 
is much to justify a hope that progress 
is to be really rapid, a few centuries 
accomplishing much. 
How is this to be? What is the 
method of approach? f7zrst—promote 
the study of the science of genetics by 
great foundations richly endowed. 
Second—gather with thoroughness and 
the greatest possible completeness data 
as to the now existing human stocks. 
Third—educate to ideals of eugenics. 
Fourth—legislate. A few words about 
each of these four exhortations. 
Study of the Science of Genetics —There 
is work here for many students for 
many decades. It must be unham- 
pered, purely scientific work. There 
must be no necessity of producing 
“practical” results in order to appeal to 
the popular imagination and gain finan- 
cial support. Get good men, then let 
them alone, don’t pester them, and in 
time there will be gathered a great body 
of carefully scrutinized data upon 
which to found intelligent practice of 
eugenics. 
Gather Data as to Existing Human 
Stocks.—The state should at once 
gather the fullest data as to matters of 
possible importance for eugenics (and 
perhaps as to other things of interest in 
connection with inheritance) for all 
families represented in our public insti- 
.) i) AMD 
4 This is used as a conventional, not a strictly scientific classification. 
