INTRODUCTION. 21 



to endow each child with a good physical con- 

 stitution, a well formed brain, a mind hungry 

 for knowledge and a soul imbued with the princi- 

 ples of morality; so that in its birth they may 

 give to the world a child of light. 



In order to present with any degree of practi- 

 cability the many factors of heredity in a single 

 volume, I shall have to omit the theoretical and Theories! 

 speculative phases of the subject and confine each 

 paragraph to a concise statement of a fact or law ; 

 referring the reader, from time to time, to such 

 works as give a more extensive 'presentation of 

 the subject under consideration. 



We shall study heredity, largely from the psy- 

 chological point of view, touching the physio- 

 logical in a general way only, and the patho- The View Point 

 logical but incidentally. As this w r ork is intended 

 for the general reader rather than the scientist, 

 all technicalities will be purposely avoided and 

 an effort made to faithfully express the facts of 

 science in the language of the people. 



In presenting the subject of heredity I have 

 no pet theories to sustain. My plan is to recite 

 facts and let others draw conclusions. The facts D a ta From 



used are taken largely from personal observations Personal 



& T - . . , Observations. 



and experiments. In gathering the material for 

 this work I have personally visited all the princi- 

 pal cities of America except Quebec and those 

 of the Gulf States ; have consulted with hundreds 

 of educators, physicians, prison wardens, chiefs 

 of police, superintendents of reformatories, or- 

 phanages and insane asylums and have made care- 

 ful comparison of the facts and statistics obtained. 

 I have examined the psychology and heredity of 



