74 



The journal of Heredity 



became an idolatrous priest. Aaron 

 [the brother of Moses], on the other 

 hand, married the daughter of Abinadab, 

 and history records the name of his 

 grandson Phinehas as the hero who 

 defended the honor and purity of 

 Israel." 



THE EUGENIC VIEWPOINT 



"A parallel to the 'rough eugenic 

 ideal' of marr\'ing 'health, wealth and 

 wisdom' is found in the words of Rabbi 

 Aldba, who claims that 'a father be- 

 queaths to the child beauty, health, 

 wealth, wisdom, and longevity.' Sim- 

 ilarly, ugHness, sickness, poverty, stu- 

 pidity, and the tendency to premature 

 death are transmitted from father to 

 offspring. . . . Thus the Rabbis 

 recognized the fact that both physical 

 and psychical qualities were inherited, 

 and endeavored by direct precept and 

 law, as well as by indirect advice and 

 admonition, to preserve and improve 

 the inborn, wholesome qualities of the 

 Jewish race. It is true that they were 

 willing to concede that *a pure-bred 

 individual may be jjroduced by a hybrid 

 mated with a inire-bred,' for they found 

 examples of that nature in Ruth the 

 Moabitess, Naamah the Ammonitess, 

 Hezekiah and Mordecai. As a general 



eugenic rule, however, they maintained 

 that one cannot i)roduce 'a clean thing 

 out of an unclean,' and discouraged any 

 land of intermarriage even with pro- 

 selytes. Their ideal was a race healthy 

 in body and in spirit, pure and undefiled, 

 devoid of any admixtiire of inferior 

 human protoplasm. 



"Such an ideal, though apparently 

 narrow and chauvinistic, has its eugenic 

 value, as the following suggestive quota- 

 tion from a well-known eugenist clearly 

 indicates. 'Families in which good and 

 noble qualities of mind and body have 

 become hereditary form a natural 

 aristocracy; and if such families take 

 pride in recording their pedigrees, marr\- 

 among themselves, and establish a 

 predominant fertility, they can assure 

 success and position to the majority 

 of their descendants in any political 

 future. They can become the guar- 

 dians and trustees of a sound inborn 

 heritage, which, incorruptible and unde- 

 filed, they can preserve in purity and 

 vigor throughout whatever period of 

 ignorance and decay may be in store 

 for the nation at large. Neglect to 

 hand on undimmed the priceless ger- 

 minal qualities which such families 

 possess can be regarded only as a 

 betrayal of a sacred trust.' " 



A Treatise on Poultry Breeding 



POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGE- 

 MENT, by James Drydcn, professor of poultry 

 husbandry at Oregon Agricultural College. 

 Pp. 402, illus. New York, Orange Judd Co., 

 1916. Price, $1.60 postpaid. 



Professor Dryden's book contains a 

 fuller and better discussion of the 

 ])rinciples of breeding than is customary 

 in books on poultry. He relates the 

 history of the fowl, Init seems doubtful 

 whether the Jungle Fowl is the sole 

 ancestor, or whether there are at least 

 two. He ix)ints out that the primitive 

 stock lays only 10 to 20 eggs a year, 

 and that ])rize s])ecimens now lay more 

 than 3(X) eggs a year; Imt the census 

 figures showing that the average hen in 

 the United States lays only (SO, indicate 

 that there is still room for l)ree(lcrs. 

 He discusses the inheritance of egg- 



production at length, and says Oregon 

 experiments with W'liite Leghonis in- 

 dicate that fecundity is inherited from 

 both sire and dam. His account of the 

 evils of inbreeding is painted a little 

 blacker than is necessary, and some of 

 the facts he gives in this connection are 

 suscej^tible of other interpretation. The 

 fact that the Black Spanish, once a 

 ix)])ular egg-la>'ing l)reed, has become 

 almost extinct because of insane efforts 

 to l)reed for increased size of white face, 

 indicates that poultr^-mcn have need of 

 cnliglilcnmcnt on scientific animal pro- 

 ( hut ion, and Professor Dryden's book 

 shotild exercise a sound influence, while 

 it will prove interesting reading not 

 only to the ])ractical poultry l)reeder 

 l)ut to all geneticists. 



