Notices ami Bihliogr(q)hy 
445 
Mental and Moral Heredity in Royalty. A Statistical Study in History and 
Psychology, by Frederick Adams Woods. New York (Holt), 1906. 
Pp. viii + 312. 104 portraits. 
In spite of its somewhat tardy notice in these pages this is a book of some interest to bio- 
metricians. Tlie worlf is a painstaking attempt to apply to certain material of history modern 
biometrical methods, with the view of reaching an adequate scientific basis for the analysis and 
interpretation of such material. It is suggestive of the possible usefulness of modern stati.stical 
methods in the field of history. The author's general plan in the investigation was as follows : 
Having as his general problem the determination of the intensity of inheritance of intellectual 
ability and of moral character, he proceeded to form the "ancestral tree" of twenty-two of the 
royal families of Europe, using Lehr's and von Behr's genealogies as primary sources. In these 
family trees there were 832 individuals, not counting repetitions. Each of these characters was 
graded (on a scale of 10 points) in respect to (a) intellectual ability, and (6) moral character. 
The basis of the grading was an objective treatment of statements i-egarding these persons found 
in standard historical and biographical reference works. A great deal of care was taken to make 
the grading accurate, and Dr Woods' decisions are probably as near to the truth as it is now 
possible to get. The major portion of the book is given to a summarized statement of the 
detailed evidence on which the grading and the dependent conclusions are based. The last two 
chapters are given over to the analytical treatment of the graded statistical material, and to the 
discussion of the conclusions to which this biometrical analysis leads. As the point of perhaps 
greatest interest to readers of Biometrika, it may be mentioned that Dr Woods holds that 
(a) there is definite evidence of the inheritance of intellectual ability and of moral character in 
royal families, and {h) that he considers the coefficients of correlation measuring this inheritance 
are in close accord with the expectation based on the law of ancestral inheritance. 
R. P. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
Anderson, K. (Study of Prevalence of Cancer at Different Ages in Relation to its 
Etiology.) Norsk Magazin for Laegevidenskaben, Vol. lxviii, No. 6. June, 1907. 
Studies from various points of view the records of 12,179 ca.ses of cancer reported 
in the collective inquiry in Germany, October 15, 1900. 
Beddoe, J. The Estimation of Skull Capacity by a Peripheral Method. Zeitschr. f. 
Ethnol., Jahrg. .39, H. 4/5, pp. 695—701. 1908. 
The author continues to assert that his empirical formulae are suitable for a 
problem which admits of really scientific treatment. 
Berg, W. Die Verainderungen des Volumens und Gewichtes des Gewebes bei der histo- 
logischen Fixation, dem Auswiissern, der Hartung und der Paraffineinbettung. Vorl. 
Mitth. Anat. Anz., Bd. xxxr, pp. 252—268. 1907. 
A thorough study from the quantitative standpoint of an important matter. 
BiRKNER, F. Die Dicke der Gesichtsweichteile bei verschiedenem Alter, Geschlecht und 
Rasse. Sitzungsber. d. Gesellsch. f. Morph. u. Physiol. Miinchen. Bd. xxiir, pp. 140 
—146. 1908. 
(5) Broker, A. Ueber die Variabilitat und Localformen bei Palaemonetes varians Leach aus 
vier verschiedenen Localitaten. Sitzungsber. kgl. bohm. Qes. Wiss. II Classe. Prag, 
1907. Pp. 1—27. 
Local race constants. 
(1) 
(2) 
(3) 
(4) 
