33 



even though one's heredity has been well looked after by pre- 

 ceding generations, one's environment also needs careful con- 

 sideration if one desires to make the most of life. So the far- 

 seeing human being must consider the laws underlying inheritance 

 as applied to his food crops, his meat animals, his pleasure plants 

 and his pleasure animals, for after all, these make up much of 

 his environment. 



And it is certain phases of these problems of heredity in plants 

 and animals, including man, which Professors East and Jones 

 have set forth in very interesting, simple, clear and trustworthy 

 fashion in their "Inbreeding and Outbreeding." " Historically," 

 say the authors, "these are old, old problems, practical problems 

 of considerable significance bound up with man's gravest affairs, 

 his marriage customs and his means of subsistence." The value 

 of inbreeding and outbreeding in the establishment and creation 

 of new breeds of domestic animals is still a much discussed 

 question among breeders of live stock. How to produce the 

 largest yields of certain staple grains, such as corn, from an 

 acre of land, is one of the pressing problems of the present and 

 of the near future, since it has a direct bearing on questions in- 

 volving labor, food supply and increase in population. That 

 more fruit is obtained per unit area from tomato plants grown 

 from certain kinds of outcrossed seed is probably unknown to 

 most truckers, seedsmen, canning-factory managers and home 

 gardeners. Over laws regulating the marriage of first cousins 

 and other near relatives, our lawmakers still dispute. And 

 of the effects, good and bad, of immigration, the "melting pot" 

 and the intermingling of races through marriage, even the intel- 

 ligent public is still largely uninformed from a biological stand- 

 point. Much light is thrown on these fascinating and important 

 questions as well as upon many others, such as heredity and 

 disease, reproduction in animals and plants, the increased vigor 

 of hybrids in many animals and plants over that of their parents, 

 the mechanism of heredity, sterility, and the inheritance of 

 genius in man. While this book is designed especially for those 

 interested in general biolog>^ the authors had also in mind the 

 farmer and the live stock breeder, and especially the physician. 



