National Deterioration 69 



of national deterioration is placed on one 

 side in order to emphasize the obvious, but, 

 I believe, far less permanent effects of urban 

 crowding on the individual, and they called 

 forth the following letter, published in the 

 Times of August 25 : 



* In a recent address reported in the Times 

 of Friday last, Sir J. Crichton- Browne cited 

 a sentence from my Huxley Lecture of two 

 years ago with regard to our present national 

 dearth of ability. That same sentence was 

 placed by the chairman of the Committee on 

 Physical Deterioration before, not its author, 

 but Professor Cunningham, and he was asked 

 what my reasons for such an opinion might 

 be ; he replied that he knew none whatever. 

 Neither Professor Cunningham nor Sir James 

 Crichton-Browne have ventured to criticise 

 directly the detailed statistics which I have 

 published to support my conclusion, nor, as 

 far as I am aware, have they published any 

 mass statistics of their own in the least con- 

 futing those advanced by me. There are 

 several stages in the argument necessary to 

 establish my point, and perhaps, sir, you will 

 permit me space to restate them. They are 

 as follows : 



1 1. What is the quantitative degree in 

 which the physical characters are inherited 

 in man ? This problem was solved by the 

 measurement of some 1,100 families father, 

 mother, and adult offspring. The measure- 



