xii, D,4 Reviews • 265 



never been got rid of" by those whom we class as defectives, 

 and who in many cases are merely instances of arrested or im- 

 perfect development. The universal processes of evolution 

 tended to eliminate those individuals who . were not adapted to 

 their environment, and so society gradually freed itself from un- 

 social strains by the simple process of the imprisonment or execu- 

 tion of those individuals who were a menace to the welfare of 

 their fellows. The author faces the situation with courage and 

 does not hesitate to say (p. 263) : 



We are horrified by the 223 capital offenses in England less than a 

 century ago, but though capital punishment is a crude method of grappling 

 with the difficulty it is infinitely superior to that of training the feeble- 

 minded and criminalistic and then letting them loose on society and per- 

 mitting them to perpetuate in their offspring these animal traits. Our 

 present practices are said to be dictated by emotion untempered by reason; 

 if this is so, then emotion untempered by reason is social suicide. If we 

 are to build up in America a society worthy of the species man then we 

 must take such steps as will prevent the increase or even the perpetuation 

 of animalistic strains. 



The deductions of heredity give little support to those philan- 

 thropists who think that all criminals are merely the victims 

 of social injustice and that the children of criminals will always 

 make good citizens if placed in a proper environment. The pedi- 

 gree of the Juke family, which up to 1877 had cost New York 

 State over 1,250,000 dollars, and is still multiplying, and those of 

 the "Ishmaelities," Owens, and many other families show that 

 defective parents will almost inevitably have defective offspring. 

 Many instances are given of children with defective ancestry, 

 but with excellent surroundings from an early age, who have 

 proved incorrigible. 



In support of these various conclusions, Davenport gives a 

 logical and well-arranged discussion — though it is possibly too 

 condensed — illustrated by many tables of the method and 

 mechanics of heredity, covering the fertilization and multiplica- 

 tion of the germ cells, the transmission of determiners and unit 

 characters, and the Mendelian theories of the inheritance of 

 dominant and recessive characters. 



One of the best bases for the study of the interaction of these 

 factors is the inheritance of family traits, since we have here 

 available a considerable number of facts regarding the trans- 

 mission of the color of the eyes, hair, and skin; the energy, 

 stature, weight, form, and peculiarities of the body ; the appear- 

 ance of mechanical, mathematical, mental, literary, musical, and 

 artistic ability ; and the susceptibility to various diseases of the 



