The Social Direction of Evolution: An Outline of the Science of EugenicsKellicott, William E. (William Erskine)
Science
The Social Direction of Evolution: An Outline of the Science of Eugenics
Kellicott, William E. (William Erskine)
Eugenics
Schuster examined the class lists of Oxford covering a period of 92
years and found that first honor men had 36 per cent first or second
honor fathers; second honor men had 32 per cent first or second honor
fathers; ordinary degree men 14 per cent first or second honor
fathers. These percentages are far in excess of that to be
expected--perhaps 0.5 per cent--on the assumption that ability is not
inherited. Schuster also determined the coefficients of heredity
between fathers and sons as regards intellectual ability, the evidence
being class marks in Oxford and Harrow; these he found to be about .3
for the parental relation and .4 for the fraternal. The intensity of
heredity in many forms of insanity has been determined and this runs
up much higher--.57 parental and .50 fraternal.
It is clear I take it, that the fact of human heredity does not
concern only physical traits but extends to psychical traits as well,
and with about the same intensity. This fact has been found true also
for still less analyzable characters such as length of life, fertility
or infertility and the like, and again about the same intensity of
resemblance is found.
Human heredity is a fact then just as human variability is a fact. We
have truly the raw materials and the means for racial improvement. The
ability to direct the evolution of the human race makes this our
supremest duty.
The facts of human heredity can more easily be brought home to us by
the examination of some actual pedigrees and family histories. We may
look at a few representative cases which will serve to bring out some
additional aspects of the significance to society of the demonstrated
fact of heredity. In the examination of single family histories we
should remember that a single pedigree may not accurately illustrate a
general law of heredity--again, an individual case may belong to a
group of cases without representing them fairly. Even in observing
illustrations of Mendel's laws allowance has to be made for the
variability due to "chance" meetings of germ cells. It is only when
large numbers of individuals are observed that the typical Mendelian
fractions and ratios can be strictly observed. It must be borne in
mind then that the histories given below illustrate the nature of the
facts of heredity rather than the laws of heredity. Some special
cautions in the interpretation of certain pedigrees will be suggested
in particular cases. Many of the figures are taken from the extremely
valuable "Treasury of Human Inheritance," now being published by the
Eugenics Laboratory of the University of London. In these figures and
some others a uniform series of symbols is used. Successive horizontal
lines designated by Roman numerals indicate generations; within a
single generation the individuals are numbered consecutively simply
for purposes of reference. The meaning of the more common symbols is
as shown in Table IV. We may first consider a few pedigrees showing
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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