CHAPTER XI 



THE APPLICATION TO MAN 

 1. The Application of Genetics to Man 



Human civilization goes hand in hand with the 

 degree 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 prog- 

 ress fundamentally depends. The degree of civiliza- 

 tion 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 contribution to human progress. 



In 1900 the National Association of British and 

 Irish Millers, as Kellicott points out, being dissatis- 

 fied 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 



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