East: Hidden Feeblemindedness 



217 



greater Anieriea. There is one sugges- 

 tion, however, at which no one will 

 cavil. We have assumed that a normal 

 mentality is completely dominant over 

 a defective one. Is this true? Com- 

 plete dominance is rare among those 

 characters commonly studied by animal 



and plant geneticists. Is it not likely 

 that the Binet-Simon or other proper 

 tests would show that carriers of mental 

 defects exhibit a lower mentality than 

 pure normals ? Would it not be wise to 

 start some investigations along this 



Marriage Rate of Iowa State College Women 



In the Journal of Heredity for 

 January, 1917, are brought together 

 figures of several western co-educational 

 colleges, showing the proportion of 

 married w^omen graduates in comparison 

 with certain eastern women's colleges. 

 The figures here added are for Iowa 

 State College, as taken from the Alumni 

 Directory issued June, 1916. During 

 the period from 1872 to 1905, inclusive, 

 315 women graduated, and 229 of these, 

 or 72.7%, married. During the five- 

 year period 1900-1904, 39 out of the 56 

 w^omen graduates married, or 69.6%. 

 For both periods, the figures are higher 

 than for any other college given. Earlier 

 and later periods compared as follows : 



The decline is not regular, as for seme 

 reason the second decade shows the 

 lowest record. But even this is high 

 compared with eastern figures. The 

 rather remarkable fact appears from the 

 record of the first nine classes that 

 graduated, from 1872 to 1879, and also 

 that of the class of 1885, that all of the 

 forty-eight women graduates of these 

 ten early classes married. 



J. C. Blumer, Tucson, Ariz. 



The Lethal Factor in Yellow Mice 



Yellow mice are familiar to fanciers, 

 but none has been found which breeds 

 true. This has been explained by the 

 assumption that all living yellow mice 

 have received their color from only one 

 parent. If a mouse receives yellow 

 from both parents, it is supposed, he 

 receives necessarily, at the same time, 

 a lethal factor which prevents develop- 

 ment of the embryo; or technically, the 

 homozygous zygotes which should 

 heoretically exist are for some reason 

 not viable. All breeding facts bear out 

 this hypothes s, nor is this the only 

 known ca^e where a lethal factor seems 



to be inherited, which prevents the 

 development of all individuals with a 

 certain genetic constitution. But it 

 has been desirable to have embryological 

 evidence, and Prof. W. B. K rkham, of 

 Yale, reported on it at the last meeting 

 of the American Society of Zoologists. 

 He found that many degenerated em- 

 bryos resulted from every mating of 

 yellow mice, but only a few when other 

 colors were mated. The hypothesis 

 that a double dose of yellow coat-color 

 means death for the embryo that 

 receives :t, is therefore substantiated to 

 some extent. 



The Cost of Defectives to the Nation 



The annual cost of the socially 

 inadequate in the United States is 

 approximately $100,000,000, according 

 to the Eugenics Record Office, which 

 has recently completed a survey of the 

 subject. The States pav out everv 

 year $73,000,000 for the support of their 

 defectives, degenerates and delinquents, 



and the counties, municipalities and 

 private institutions account for the 

 other $27,000,000. This hundred mil- 

 lion dollars of annual expense represents 

 a part of the price paid for lack of 

 eugenics; but it is only the direct price. 

 The indirect one is much larger. Details 

 will be published by the Census Bureau. 



