PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 



THE following pages had their origin in a course 

 of lectures upon Heredity, given at Brown University 

 during the winter of 1911-1912, which were amplified 

 and repeated in part the following summer at Cold 

 Spring Harbor, Long Island, before the biological 

 summer school of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 

 Sciences. 



An attempt has been made to summarize for the 

 intelligent, but uninitiated, reader some of the more 

 recent phases of the questions of heredity which are at 

 present agitating the biological world. It is hoped 

 that this summary will not only be of interest to the 

 general reader, but that it will also be of service in 

 college courses dealing with evolution and heredity. 



The subject of heredity concerns every one, but 

 many of those who wish to become better informed 

 regarding it are either too busily engaged or lack the 

 opportunity to study the matter out for themselves. 

 The recent literature in this field is already very large, 

 with every indication that much more is about to 

 follow, which is a further discouragement to non- 

 technical readers. 



It may not be a thankless task, therefore, out of 

 the jargon of many tongues to raise a single voice 

 which shall attempt to tell the tale of heredity. There 

 may be a certain advantage in having as spokesman 

 one who is not at present immersed in the arduous 



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