INHERITANCE OF SPECIAL TRAITS: HYPERKINESIS. 29 



Admiral David Dixon Porter married a daughter of a commodore in 

 the navy. Of their 4 sons, nothing was found about Richard. Essex 

 became a major in the United States army; C. P. Porter served in the 

 United States Marine Corps, and Theodoric served 43 years in the navy, 

 retiring when he was a commodore. 



John Ancrum Winslow, whose father was in commerce, married his 

 paternal cousin and of his 2 sons one was a paymaster in the navy and the 

 other became a commander in the navy. 



I add two examples from the Eugenics Record Office files : 



CASE 1. The father was "passionately fond of the sea and of marine sports"; 

 he also liked to travel and became a man of great business ability. His mother's 

 father was a ship captain. The mother was of a retiring disposition and fearful 

 of ships and the sea; but her father traveled widely, especially at sea, had a clear 

 wanderlust and little business ability. The children were 2 sons and a daughter. 

 One son was extremely fond of travel, geography, ships, and the sea, and was with- 

 out business ability. The second son is fond of aquatic sports, but hates travel 

 and has good business ability. The daughter is fond of social activity. (E. R. O., 

 Cor 3.) 



CASE 2. The propositus lived on the sea for many years, served in the 

 Civil War, went out to Missouri, after a year returned to Pennsylvania, and settled 

 down to farming. His mother's brother was a sea captain. (E. R. O., 28: 155.) 



Thus we see that thalassophilia acts like a recessive, so that, when 

 the determiner for it (or the absence of a determiner for dislike) is in each 

 germ-cell the resulting male child will have a love of the sea. Sometimes 

 a father who shows no liking for the sea, like Perkins's father, may carry 

 a determiner for sea-lust recessive. It is theoretically probable that some 

 mothers are heterozygous for love of the sea, so that when married to a 

 thalassophilic man half of their children will show sea-lust and half will not. 



THE HYPERKINETIC QUALITIES OF THE FIGHTERS. 



Studies made on other and more extensive material have led (Dav- 

 enport, 1915, p. 94) to the conclusion that hyperkinesis is a dominant con- 

 dition and passes through the generations without skipping any. The 

 tendency is equally apt to be shown in father or mother, and not commonly 

 in both. Of our 67 naval officers, 31 may be reckoned as primarily fighters 

 and, as such, most are of the hyperkinetic type. This total includes Nelson, 

 who is equally great as strategist and tactician, and Oliver Hazard Perry 

 and David Porter, jr., who are not on our main list. Of these 30 the hyper- 

 kinetic tendency apparently comes from the paternal side hi 15, namely: 

 Blake, Cochrane, Dewey, Foote, Keppel, Lawrence, Macdonough, Morris, 

 Perkins, O. H. Perry, David Porter, D. D. Porter, Smith, Stockton, Tromp. 

 The hyperkinesis apparently comes from the maternal side hi 6 cases; 

 namely, Beresford, Gushing, Keith, Nelson, O'Brien, Wolseley. In 1 case 

 it probably came from both sides, namely, Farragut; in the 8 remaining 

 cases the temperament of neither parent is sufficiently known. There are 



