THE INHERITANCE OF FAMILY TRAITS 31 



Table IV 



Table IV supports the following conclusions: 



1. When both parents have pure blue eyes all of the chil- 

 dren will have piu-e blue eyes (the discordant case is prob- 

 ably due to an error). 



2. When one parent has pigmented iris while the other 

 has blue, either the fraternity of children will show no 

 blue eyes or else half of them will be blue-eyed. The sum 

 of the latter class, the second case, gives 654:712 or 48 per 

 cent to 52 per cent. 



3. When both parents have brown iris either all the 

 children will have brown iris (last case in Table IV) or else 

 about a quarter will lack brown pigment and so will be 

 blue-eyed. 



The eugenic value of the inheritance of eye color lies in 

 the consideration, advanced by Major Woodruff, that pig- 

 mentation of the eye, skin, etc., better fits a child for Ufe 

 in the tropics or in a country, hke the United States, of 

 bright sunUght. Brown-eyed children can be secured from 

 blue-eyed stock by mating with pure brown-eyed stock. 

 We have heard of two blue-eyed parents regretting that 

 they had no brown-eyed children. They wished for the 

 impossible. 



1 Eight hundred and sixty-six additional cases collected subsequently are not included be- 

 cause unchecked. 



2 A number of these blues are doubtless destined to become pigmented in later life. 



