CHAPTER XIV 



THE APPLICATION TO MAN 

 1. THE APPLICATION OF GENETICS TO MAN 



HUMAN civilization goes hand in hand with the de- 

 gree of successful interference which man exerts upon 

 the natural forces surrounding him. 



Primitive man was overwhelmed and outmastered 

 by his environment, but civilized man harnesses nature 

 to do his will. Savages are not proficient in the arts 

 of cultivating plants and domesticating animals, while 

 these are the very things upon which human progress 

 fundamentally depends. The degree of civilization of 

 any people is closely correlated with the degree of their 

 success in exercising a conquering control over plants 

 and animals. Any knowledge of the laws of heredity, 

 therefore, as applied by man, either directly to himself 

 or indirectly to animals and plants, is a distinct con- 

 tribution to human progress. 



In 1900 the National Association of British and 

 Irish Millers, as Kellicott points out, being dissatisfied 

 with the quality and quantity of the annual wheat 

 yield, engaged Professor Biffen to apply his knowledge 

 of heredity to the practical problem of improving their 

 wheat crop. The characters desired were a short full 

 head, beardlessness, high gluten content, immunity to 



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