556 



The Journal of Heredity 



minded means imbecile or idiot as is 

 known in the community. This is not 

 the fact. The moron is a ])erson of 

 mental level of from 8 to perhaps 12 

 years. He is capable of earninj^^ a livinj^ 

 under favorable circumstances. He 

 many times gets along in the com- 

 munity because someone looks after him 

 and manages his affairs for him, and 

 sees to it that the competition with 

 others of the community is not too severe 

 for him. It must be understood that 

 we are not claiming that we have 

 proved that 40% of these immigrants 

 are morons, but we do feel that the 

 foregoing consideration to a considerable 

 extent removes the absurdity which 

 stood in our way of accepting as fact 

 that a surprisingly large percentage of 

 immigrants are of relatively low men- 

 tality." 



THE PROBLEM OF HEREDITY 



What of the eugenic aspect? 

 "Morons beget mornons, and while 

 these people themselves, as we have 

 already said, have been trained in their 

 own countrv through the \-icissitudes of 



their life and environment so that they 

 are fairly safe people in our community, 

 yet when they marry and have chil- 

 dren the case may be entirely different." 

 "Here then is a vital question which 

 obviously our investigation does not 

 answer. Are these immigrants of low 

 mentality cases of hereditary defect or 

 cases of apparent mental defect by 

 deprivation?" There are no data on 

 the point, but Dr. Goddard thinks that 

 to a considerable extent the second 

 explanation may hold good. "To men- 

 tion only two considerations: First, we 

 know their environment has been poor. 

 It seems able to account for the result. 

 vSecond, this kind of immigration has 

 been going on for twenty years. If 

 the condition were due to hereditary 

 feeblemindedness we should properly 

 expect a noticeable increase in the 

 proportion of feebleminded of foreign 

 ancestry. This is not the case." While 

 the low intelligence of immigrants is not 

 a cause for national rejoicing, it may 

 therefore be less dangerous racially 

 than it appears at first sight. 



No Meeting of the Association to be Held This Year 



Although there will be no meeting of 

 the American Genetic Association this 

 year, for the presentation of papers, 

 members of the A. G. A. will find much 

 to interest them in the programs offered 

 by other societies during the holiday 

 meetings in Pittsburgh. The Botan- 

 ical Society of America will place the 

 genetical papers of its ]3rogram on 

 Monday morning, December 31, and 

 in the afternoon will present an invita- 

 tion program including the address of 

 the retiring president of the Society, 

 Professor R. A. Harper, of Columbia 

 University, an address entitled "Plant 

 Breeding for Disease Resistance," by 

 Dr. W. A. Orton, of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industr\', and an address on 



"Homoplasy and Longevity," by Dr. 

 G. R. Wieland, of Yale University. 

 Thus the entire ])rogram of Monday 

 will be of great interest to geneticists 

 generally. Plant breeders, members of 

 the A. G. A., but not of the Botanical 

 Society of America, may present paj^ers 

 at the morning session if introduced 

 by a member of the latter society. 

 Any member of the Plant Breeding 

 Committee of the A. G. A. will be glad 

 to arrange for the presentation of 

 papers. The i:)rogram of the American 

 Society of Naturalists includes a group 

 of invitation papers in genetics on 

 Tuesday morning, and in the afternoon 

 a symjiosium on "Factors of Organic 

 Evolution." 



