February 9, 



1911] 



NATURE 



479 



are so commonly met with in natural history books for 

 the young. For the "Book of Nimble Beasts" 

 addresses itself to children in particular, although it 

 will undoubtedly appeal to their elders as well. 



Mr. English's style is peculiar, and, although the 

 majority of his stories are clearly narrated and read 

 well, he occasionally gets carried away by his enthu- 

 siasm for odd words and still more odd constructions, 

 so as to become almost unintelligible at times, as in 

 " the following passage from the last chapter on the 

 pygmy shrew : — " He missed both shrews, who, dash- 

 ing right and left of him, entangled him in double- 

 minded purpose. Rested the pygmy, shrunk to a rigid 

 wisp of apprehension, ear straining, muscle-tautened, 

 behind a flimsy screen of bark." Such passages are 

 fortunately rare, and the greater part of his text is 

 marked by great lucidit}\ It is difficult to single out 

 any particular story, among the best are " Bunny 

 Rabbit" and " Spinipes the Sand-Wasp." 



Fox Cub. From ''A Book of Nimble Beasts." 



The volume is tastefully bound, and both print and 

 paper good. The " Book of Nimble Beasts " will 

 prove a welcome gift for many a young naturalist. 



ALCOHOL AND EUGENICS^ 



"TOURING the course of the year igio there issued 

 ■*-^ from the Eugenics Laboratory of London 

 University a memoir, entitled ""A First Study of the 

 Influence of Parental Alcoholism on the Physique and 

 -Ability of the Offspring." The conclusion arrived at 

 by the authors (Prof. Karl Pearson and Miss Elder- 

 ton) was, broadly speaking, that parental alcoholism 

 has no such influence. A result so sensational and 

 so opposed to the opinions of many social workers 

 was bound to arouse a storm of hostile criticism. It 

 weakened one of the arguments against the excessive 

 use of alcohol, and was interpreted as being a direct 

 encouragement of vice. 



(i) Prof. Pearson divides his critics into three 



1 (i) "A Second Study of the Influence of Parental Alcoholism on the 

 Ph>-sique and Ability of the Offsprng." By Karl Pearson, F.R.S., and 

 Ethel M. Elderton. Eugenics Laboratory Memoirs, XIII. Pp.35. (Lon- 

 don : Dulau and Co., Ltd., igio). Price ts. 



(2) " A Preliminary Study of Extreme .Alcoholism in Adults." By Amy 

 Banington and Karl Pearson, F.R.S., with ihe assistance of Dr. David 

 Heron. Eugenics Labcrator>- Memoirs, XIV. Pp. 55. (London : Dulau 

 and Co.. Ltd., igio). Price 4J. 



NO. 2154, VOL. 85] 



classes: — (i) Paid officials and platform orators of 

 various temperance organisations ; (2) economists 

 (already answered in a supplement to the original 

 memoir) ; (3) men with medical training who have 

 written on the subject of alcohol. It is the last class 

 who are dealt with in the first of the two papers now 

 under consideration. Their attacks — for one can 

 hardly apply the term criticism to much that they have 

 written — are repulsed with considerable losses. 

 It is shown that many of the errors attributed by 

 them to Prof. Pearson and his fellow-author may be 

 found in an aggravated form in the investigations 

 quoted as evidence rebutting their conclusions. A 

 sample of this evidence is itself examined and its 

 complete worthlessness exposed. It consists of data 

 obtained by Dr. .MacNichoU in America, by Prof. 

 Laitinen in Helsingfors, by Demme in Berne, also a 

 curious piece of statistical work by Bezzola. The 

 defence and counter-attack are adrriirably conducted, 

 the writing is clear, so concise as to make 

 a summary impossible, and as entertain- 

 ing as some of the controversial essays 

 of Huxley. Yet while according this high 

 praise to the memoir, we regret the neces- 

 sity which compelled its production and 

 thus diverted from its proper channel of 

 original investigation any part of the 

 energies of the Eugenics Laboratory 

 staff. 



It is with the greater satisfaction that 

 we turn to (2), in which the relations 

 between extreme alcoholism, mental 

 capacit}-, education, occupation, and re- 

 ligious profession are discussed. The 

 material on which the discussion is based 

 consists of the published reports of the 

 Langho, or Lancashire Reformatory, for 

 the years 1905-10. supplemented by 

 special information from Dr. F. A. Gill. 

 Particulars as to the age, number of con- 

 victions, religion, and education of 333 

 female inebriates were obtained this way, 

 and of the mental condition, physical 

 state, and conduct of 207 among them. 

 As the authors point out, results based 

 on numbers so small are not in an}- way 

 final ; they may, however, suggest a solution of the 

 problems, or at any rate indicate methods by which 

 they can be profitably attacked. They certainly em- 

 phasise the need for the publication of good records 

 of individual cases. 



Perhaps the most pressing of the problems referred 

 -o is the relation of alcoholism to rnental defect. The 

 closeness of the association between the two is shown 

 very clearly in the memoir. In table x. 223 female 

 inebriates are classified with regard to their mental 

 state. Of these only 37 per cent, were of normal 

 intelligence ; 53 per cent, were defective mentally ; 6 

 per cent, very defective ; and 3 per cent, actuallv insane. 

 It is of the utmost importance therefore to determine 

 whether it is the intellectual deficiency which leads to 

 the alcoholism or the alcoholism which causes the 

 deficiency. Light can be thrown on this point bv 

 measuring the correlations between education age and 

 mental capacity, among the alcoholists. If it is the 

 abuse of alcohol which causes a progressive degenera- 

 tion of the intellect one would expect to find a sensible 

 negative correlation between mental capacit\- and agre 

 — mental capacity diminishing as age increases. No 

 such relation has been found, -\llowing for differences 

 of education the correlation between mental capacity 

 and aee is found to be 000610047. or quite 

 negligible. 



