RECORDS OF MEETINGS 349 



reasonably expect that the condition of the brain tissue may be a quality 

 that is transmitted and could be eliminated through the study of mode 

 of transmission; or, in other words, we could determine to what extent 

 the differences in memory are due to acquired factors. 



It would seem equally possible that sensory conditions may be traced 

 through families, just as peculiar eyes or eyesight, peculiar hearing, 

 kinesthetic sensations, taste, or smell may be dependent upon organic 

 conditions which may be found to be directly transmitted. The inborn 

 habits or instincts are so bound up with acquired habits that it makes a 

 very complex problem. It seems quite possible that a study of the in- 

 stinctive activities of members of different generations might reveal to 

 us a good deal about the nature of instinct and its transmission which 

 would have very important bearings upon many of our problems of in- 

 stinct and emotions. Even the study of such a complex problem as the 

 inheritance of mental deficiency may possibly yield us some most im- 

 portant results. 



It seems hardly likely that mental deficiency is due to the absence of 

 any one characteristic, but of several, and that it may be pictured more 

 as though normal mentality is the result of a hundred factors of which 

 a person must have, say, seventy-five in order to have what is called nor- 

 mal mentality. ISTow the twenty-five that are lacking may be any 

 twenty-five, perhaps, in the whole list and a tracing of the hereditary 

 traits might lead us eventually to determine some things about the re- 

 sulting mentality when the missing factors belong to different groups. 



We shall work on these problems at Vineland as rapidly as possible, 

 but they should be studied in normal people as well. It is perhaps true 

 that it would not be possible to go back farther than the living genera- 

 tions; but even so, if careful studies and tests were made of the mental 

 traits in living persons, it would be possible to get the records of two 

 and sometimes three generations, and these records could then be kept 

 and supplemented as the years go by and the newer generations come 

 on. There would thus be laid the basis for most valuable studies 

 later on. 



The family histories, that we have secured in connection with our 

 children at Vineland, suggest two or three interesting questions. For 

 instance, there are several families in which alcoholism is strong in sev- 

 eral generations. It is possible that we have in these families an un- 

 usual appetite for alcohol, which appetite has been transmitted. It 

 looks as though it would not be impossible to eliminate to quite an ex- 

 tent the environmental factor, and so be able to determine whether this 

 was hereditary or not. The same is true of the sexual life. A great 



