ibe )ugentcs Ebucation 5octetb. 11, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C. 2.- OpeWbent: MAJOR LEONARD DARWIN. lbon. Menberse Tus RT. HON. A. 1. BALoui, P.C., F.R.S. Sit ARCHIBALD GEIIEm, K.C.B., F.R.S. HzR GRACE, THE DucHEss or MARLBOROUGH." VticesVreeizbents: DR. RICHARD ARTHUR, M.L.A., Presidchit, New South Wales Branch. SIR JAMEs BARR, President, Liverpool Branch. DR. BENHAM, President, Dunedin Branch. MR. H. W. BISHOP, S.M., President, Christchurch Branch. SIR JAMES CRICHTON.-BROwNE, F.R.S., Ex-President, I908 to I9o9. BIsHoP' D'ARcY, President, Belfast Branch. PROF. STARR JORDAN, President, Eugenic Section, American Genetic Association. PROF. H. B. KIRX, M.A., President, Wellington Branch. MR. W. C. MARSHALL, M.A., President, Haslemere Branch. THE RIGHT HON. LORD MOULTON, P.C., F.R.S., President, Birmingham Heredity Society. L SIR J. L. OTTER, J.P., President, Brighton Branch. M. EDMOND PERRIER, President, Soci&t6 Fran9aise d'Eug6nique. PROF. E. B. POULTON, F.R.S., President, Oxford Branch. PROF. SERGI, President, Comitato Italiano per gli Studi di Eugenica. PROF. SEWARD, F.R.S., President, Cambridge Eugenics Society. -e BIsHoP WELLDON, President, Manchester Branch. lbon. Secretar)2: lon. t;reasurel: 0eneraI Secretar2: _- MRS. A. C. GoTTo. - MDI LW --mv MISS CONSTANCE BROWN. Aftenibere of aounictl: 1918491fW9. MAJOR SIR ROBEzRT ARMSTRONG COLONEL, HILLS, F.R.S. MR. G. P. MUDGE. JONES, M.D. THE VERY- REv. W. R. INGE, MRS. G. PooLEY. LADY BARETT, M.D., M.S. Dean of St. Paul's. DR. ARCHDALL REID. MR. CROFTON --BLAcK. Miss KIRBY. MR. F. CANNING SCHILLER, D.SG. LADY CHAMBERS. MR. ERNEST LANE, F.R.C.S. PROF. ARTHUR SCHUSTER, F.R.$ MISS E. CORRY. PROF. DOUGLAS LAuRIE. CAPT. EDGAR SCHUSTER, D.Sc. ML. R. NEWTON CRANE. PROF. MACBRIDE, F.R.S. DR. C. G. SELIGMAN. DR. LANGDON DOWN. MR. W. MACDOUGALL, M.A. PROFESSOR SPEARMAN. MR. HAVELOCx ELLIs. LADY OWEN MACKENZI. MR. C. S. STOCK. PROF. J. FINDLAY. SR BERNARD MALLET, K.C.B. PROF. J. A. THOMSON. MR. R. A. FISHER. MR. W. C. MARSHALL, M.A. MR. A. F. TREDGOLD, F.R.C.S. MR. E. G. WHELER GALTON. DR. KILLICI MILLRD. MR. W. C. DAMPIER WHETHAM4 MR. M. GREENWOOD, JUNIOR, MR. ROBERT MoND. F.R.S. F.R.C.S. SIR MALCOLM MORRIS, l.C.V.O. CAPT. DOUGLAS WHITE, R.A.M.C.- MRS. HENDERSON. DR. F. W. Morr. F.R.S. :Kfrmninaham 1tverpooI: MR. HUMPHREY HUMPsREYS. MRS. JORDAN LLOYD. MR. R. T. BODEY. baelenvere: MfEicbester: Yelfazt: MR. W. C. MARSHALL. Di. MUMFORD. PROF.- J. A. LINDSAY. Iew Zealant): torto: T}r. THnO. T. A. MACIUNzIz. DR.- E. SCHUSTER. 1Reeearcb ¢omniittee: Z£bucation %Cornintttee: Summer ScboolCommittet: DR. E. SCHUSTER, ChiMaXn. MR. J. RUSSELL, Chairman. MR. ALEX. FARQUHARSON, Chairman. MR. A. M. G&RR-SAUNDh.RS, MR. T. CHAMBERS, SeCretary. Mu. CUAQ- S. aRRRN. Ala. TrzasUrv Secretary. Miss BoNwicCK. LADY CHAMBERS. DR. GREENWOOD. ML- HOPE-JoNrs. MAjoR L, DARWIN. MRS. MACKENZIE. MR. LIDBRTTER. MR. NICHOLS. MR. FHIRSCHL. Miss N. MARCH. Miss TRENCH. MRS. A. C. GOTTO. DR. H. E. PIGGoTT. DR. TREDGOLD. PROF. MACBRIDE. ML GEORrE A. SMITH. IubItcatton Conimittee: This Committee consists of the Executive Officers of the Society, Chairmen snd Secretaries ot Sub-Committees and the Branch representatives. N.B.-Other Committees are appointed from time to time for special purposes. Eugenics is the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally." OBJECTS. 2.-Persistently to set forth tbe National ImportanceofEugenics in order to modify public opinion, and create a sense ofrespo. sibility in the respect of bringing all matters pertaining to human parenthood under the domination of Eugenic ideals XI. -To spread a knowledge of the Laws of Heredity so faras they are surely known, and so faras that knowledge may affect the improvement of the race. xx.-To fuirther Eugenic Teaching, at bome, in the schools. and elsewhere. SUBSCRIPTION. Membershlp One Guinea per Annum. Associate Membership Five Shillings per Annum. PRIVILEGES. Attendance at Lectures, Discussions, and General Meetings, Use of Library. Members only receive THz EUGENICS REvIEW free. Forms of Application for Membership and Associate Membership and full particwlar: of the Society can be obtained of the General Secretary, OFFICES: 11, Lineoln's Inn Flelds, W.C. 2. OFFICE HOURS: 1.80 a.1n. to 5 p.m, Saturdays 10.80 a..m to 1 p.m. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. ENGLISH. "The oly 'Wealth is Life." INFANT WELFARE LEGISLATION, by R. Newton Crane. In all countries the theory that " children are the capital of the State " is now being translated anto laws and customs. From the Children's Bureau of *the Department of Labour of the United States information with regard to the care of infants and young mothers is -being scattered broadcast, and a Bill for extending this work was brought before the Senate in June, I9I8. In Missouri a Bill was passed, in April, I9I7, awarding sums varying from ,3 3s. to Z8 a month to mothers without mean.s to enable them to look after their own children at home. For the protection of illegitimate infants importantt l,aws were passed in Queensland in I905, Victoria in I915, and Norway in 1915. The last-mentioned law is a revival of the old Folk Law of the country, and it transfers the responsibili.ty of proving who the father is and of maintaining the child from the mother to the State. According to the Queensland legislation the father is bound to pay the expenses of the confinement, and affiliation orders can be obtained before the birth. Nursing homes and the adoption of childxen are also, provided for. The Victoria "Infant Life Protection Act" makes the child a ward of the State if the father fails to pay the necessary weekly allowance for four weeks. In many countries the mother can claim support from the father before the child is born, but in England she cannot do so. Hence the father commonly escapes responsibility. In 191 only 6,914 affiliation orders wee made, although 37,909 illegitimate children- were born. According to the Affiliation Orders Act of July, 1914, the cost of the proceedings may be borne by the State. As far as sterilisation and the prevention of disease are concerned, Indiana is leading the way. The State Board of Health collects par. ticulars of all persons affected by tuberculosis within its jurisdiction, an,d disseminates information with regard to the treatm-ent of the patients; and since 1907 the officials of certain public institutions have been com- pelled to sterilise persons whose children would be dangerous to the community. The results have been so good that sterilisation laws have been passed in 22 other States. The marriage of persons afflicte.d with certain heritable diseases has been, forbidden, recently, in Wisoonsin, Minneso-ta, New Jersey and New York.-The Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, April, 1919; pp- 58-66. Justice for Wives and Children. TESTATOR'S FAMILY MAINTENANCF, IN NEW ZEALAND, by James Christie, LL.M. This legislation dates from I900 and was embodied, with improve- ments, in the Family Protection Act of I9o8. It ensures that no man shall leave his children, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or his widow, wit,hout means. A few examples will show how the Act is applied. In one case an order was issued for an allowance to be made to a bedridden man out of his wife's estate, because his sons were married and had "obligations which would take precedence over the obligation to maintain a father." In another an application was refused on the ground that the applicant was an able-bodied drunkard 44 years of age. In giving his judgment Mr. Justice Chapman said: " The statute does not contemplate assistance to a daughter-in-law or to grandchildren, though the Court PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 89 often considers them when. ascertaining the needs of a son, but it would be a novel use of the powers of the Act to relieve the so-n of his burdens when the only result would be to set free his resource.s to lbe spent in drinking." In another case in which the bulk of the property had been left to the second wife and her child, a larger amount than the will assigned to her was awarded to a daughter by the first marriage, for whom but a meagre provision had been made, because the greater pat of the capital had origina.lly belonged to the first wife, who, together with her daughter, had built up the fortunes of the family by her industry and economy. The guiding principle is the needs of the dependents of the deceased man or woman, and in the estimation of those needs the standard of living to which the family has been accustomed is -taken into account.- The lournal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, December, 1919; pp. 2I6-231. British Monogamy. THE RELATIONS BEWEEN THE ENGLISH LAW AND THE PERSONAL LAW OF INDIANS IN ENGLAND, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE MARRIAGE LAW, by Sir Frederick Robertson, Kt., K.B.E., LL.D. "We have in England no law firamed on the scale of polygamy or adjusted to its requirements." That sentence, which was uttered by a British judge in a case concerning the marriage of two Mormons, contains the essence of the English 'law with regard to the marriage of a man to a woman belonging to a com- munity other than his own in which marital regulations are different. In the Mormo-n case the husband gave up Mormonism, while the wife remained faithful to it and married another man; and the decision was that no divorce could be granted to the first husband, because no valid marriage existed which the Court had the power to dissolve. To an English woman who had married a Sikh a divorce was, granted because the latter had previously maxried a Sikh woman, his union with whom was monogamous according to the personal law and custom of his people. The rigidity of the monogamous law is such that an Indian who marries an Eng-lish girl and at the same time has a wife or wives under the poly- gamous system is in a very precarious position.-The Journal of Com- parative Legislation and International Law, December, I9I8; pp. 242-259. The Secret of Health. PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE INDUSTRIAL AGE, by Patrick Geddes. " Health is the resultant, the habit, of 'the good life,' that is, of normal and full reaction with adequate environment." The medical profession would learn Tnore by studying fine types of health than by struggling in detail with lapses from health. India and the starving peoples of Eu-rope would constitute a fruitful fiel.d for this kind of study, because nearly all the diseases that are raging there are due to famine; and were attention oon- centrated on the production of an abundant supply of food and on all the other general conditions under which human beings thrive, instead of being specialised in medical channels, most of these maladies woul.d dis- appear. It is by the practice of such a policy that the death-rate in Euirope has been diminished, within the life-time of two generations, from about the present rate of India to one-half of that rate. " The only real wealth lies in life-efficient environment," which will cure stupidity as well as disease. The garden city of the future will promote health and intelligence by providing the inhabitants with plentiful supplies of fruit and vegetables, which will simplify the diet of the rich and amplif that of the poor; and by giving the people hopes and interests. Neurasgeni, to-day, is deep-rooted and widespread, not only in India, of which it has so long been characteristic, but also in the Western civilisations. It is go EUGENICS REVIEW. the result of starvation of body and mind, and only by making Utopias can reformers conquer it.-The Sociological Review, Spring, I9I9; PP. 49-6I. Recent Race Lore. RACE, LANGUAGE AND NATIONALITY IN EUROPE, by Humphirey J. Johnson. In very early times there existed two human races-a long- headed African and a broad-headed Asiatic one. The palmolithic races of Europe were all long-headed. There w,as a tall an.d fair type in the North, and a short and dark one in the South. The short-heads who have been sandwiched between probably came from Asia. Reckoning from North to South, the best names foir these three types are Deniker's " Nordic," Ripley's " Alpine," and Sergi's " Mediterranean." The tenms " Aryan," " Teutonic," " Celtic," " Romance," and " Slavonic " should be used with reference to language only. They are misleading if they are employed to denote races, because the race and the language groups by no means coincide. For instance, Celtic languages are spoken by No.dic people in Scotland, Mediterranean in Ireland, an.d Alpine in Brittany; Slavonic ones by Nordic tribes on the shores of the Baltic and Alpine tribes in the Balkans; and Romance ones by peoples belonging to all three races. Teutonic speech was probably introduced to Alpine peoples by Nordic hosts migrating to the West and South. The Romance tongues originated from those of a mixed population of Alpines and Mediter- raneans in the middle of Italy, and the Celtic ones were brought into Western Europe by Alpines; but no one can determine, ast present, whether the Slavic dialects were spoken, onginally, by Nordics or Alpines. The original Aryan-speaking people were probably tall and fair and lived round the basin of the Baltic. "In the history of Europe the races appeared first, t.he languages second and the nationalities last. The three great European races have been established roughly in their present position since the Bronze Age, perhaps even since the Neolithic. The great linguistic divisions, Romance, Celtic, Teuttonic, Slavonic and Finno-Ugrian, occupy approximately the same geographical areas which they occupied a thousand years ago, but nationality is a phenomenon which scarcely existed before the Renaissance. Political accidents have determined why certain linguistic areas have attained to the dignity of -independent States, while others have been divided between two or more States and others, again, are in the position of submerged nationalities."- The Sociological Review, Spring, 1919; pp. 37-46. The Mother as a Paid Public Servant. ILLEGITIMACY AND THE ENDOWMENT OF MOTHERHOOD, by A. Maude Royden. This able article presents the case for endowment very forcibly, if not always convincingly. Focr examp.le, an attempt is made to con.tro- vert the argument that loose sex morality in women is often due to " bad heredity," since many of them are the children of persos. themselves illegitimate. Miss Royden points out that "orphans and children from bad .homes (even where the parents are or were married) also contribute a disproportionate number to the ranks of society's failures." Surely " ba.d heredity" can an.d does exist even amongst the married. The differencre between a "home" and a " Home" is introduced, but it. is forgott,en that it is just from these " homes " (sic) that the " Homes " a-re filled, to the great advantage of the child who certainly in the "home" does not receive the " individual love and care. that childhood craves." Of course, the argument that the death-rate of " illegitimates " is double that of the legitimate children is inmtroduced, but no reference is mad:e to the suggestion that the death-rat-e of these child;ren would still remain high even though their parents had spent a few minutes in a registry office. No detailed investigation has yet appeared giving the causes of PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 9I death of these children, 'but the assertions that "if the unmarried mother were put into a position to keep her child, we should both save the child's life and give it a real home " may be true for a very few, but is emphatically untrue for many more, and i5s not substantiated by any facts. The results of doles to illegitimate mothers in pre-1834 days is skated over very briefly, as well as the facts with regard to the mentally defective Parent. In connection with the latter subject the whole argu- ment is vitiated by the remark, "All I have urged on behalf of the un- married mother applies to the normal and not to the deficient." Surely the latter present essentially the crux of the whole problem.-The Shield, February-March, 1919; P1. 99-I04. Responsibility for Spreading Disease. PENALISING THE TRANSMISSION OF VENEREAL DISEASE is discussed, in view of two draft clauses already put forward, under the heads of (i) " Accidental Infection," (2) " Infection in Ma-riage," (3) " In.fection in promiscuous intercourse," and (4) " Infection of children and young per- sons by culpable neglect or criminal assault," and preferable alternatives are suggested.-The Shield, February-March, I9I9; pp. 68-7I. Who Pays the Heaviest Taxes? THE TAXATION OF THE VARIOUS CLASSES OF THE PEOPLE, by the Right Hon. Herbert Samuel. PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL TAXATION TO INCOME.

EARNED INCOME. UNEARNED INCOME. INCOME. _ 1903-04. 1913-14. 1918-19. 1903-04. 1913-14. I9I8-I9.

50 9I 8-7 - 9!I 8-7 IOO 6-2 6-o 13-8 6-2 6-o 13-8 150 5.0 4 9 II'O 5-0 4 9 I110 200 5-6 4-8 10.3 7-8 7.0 12.4 500 6,6 5-8 13-I 8-8 9 9 I8'I 1,000 74 6-6 194 103 12'2 26-5 2,000 6-6 5-8 25-6 9-8 12 0 33-6 5,000 5 6 6-8 37 2 9-6 I2.4 4335 10,000 5-1 8i 42-6 935 15-1 50'3 20,000 4 9 8.3 47-6 IO O i6 o 58-1 50,000 4.8 8-4 5o-6 102 i8-i 63-9

The poorest classes contribute a larger proportion of their incomes to the revenue than those who are immediately above them in the scale of wealth. The reason is that they spend more, in proportion to their incomes, on tea, sugar, tobacco and alcoholic drinks. The workman with a family of five who buys neitheT tobacco nor beer and spirits pays less 92 EUGENICS REVIEW. in taxation by one-third than the man who does. If he earns more than Z130 a year, and has no allowances for wife and children, -he pays less by one-half than the smoker and dri.n.ker. Between 1903-04 and 1913-14 the sugar duty was reduced. Consequently the proportion of their income which the working classes paid to the Government diminished a little. In that period fresh demands were made upon the larger incomes in the shape of death duties, heavier income tax and the new super-tax. The burden of the death duties on the highest incomes was nearly equal to that of all the other taxes put together. The war ih.as doubled the per- centages of income paid in taxation by the working and lower middle class. It has trebled the taxation on earned incom,es up to £i,ooo a year, and the increase ri:ses gradually up to the largest incomes. The taxpayers who have lost the most through the imposts made on account of the war are those who earn from £2,000 to £5,00o a year. At the p.resent time the labourer with a family of five and /2 a week pays about 5S. a week in taxes if he consumes the customary amount of tobacco and alcoholic beverages; the labourer with /3 a week pays 6s. 6d.., and the man with £4 pays 8s. From an earned income of /50o one- eighth, an-d from an unearned income of £;oo one-sixth, is deducted for taxes. From the millionaire half his income is taken by the income and the super-tax, and two-thirds if death duties are taken into account. lournal of the Royal Statistical Society, March, I9I9; pp. 143-182. AMERICAN. "Balanced Lethal" factors and Oenothera " Mutations." GENETIC VARIABILITY, TwIN HYBRIDS AND CONSTANT HYBRIDS, IN A CASE OF BALANCED LETHAL FACTORS, by Hermann Muller. The peculiar behaviour of the Evening Primrose, (Enothera Lamarckiana, im pro- ducing a small but determinate propoxtion of mutants, has since its de Vries deservedly attracted much notice and research; althoughdiscovero,)yit is far from obvious that, as has been widely assumed, this phenomenon has an important bearing upon the problems of evolution, or,that the mutations of (Enothera are genuine steps in the evotlutionary process. Upon further investigation the mutants appeared to be uncon- formabl-e to Mendelian analysis, for in some cases "constant hybrids " were produced which could be perpetuated like pure varieties. A second peculiarity, that of " twin hybrids," of which one would breed true, While the second would ,throw in every generation a proportion of plants resembling the first, though it sug.gests Mendelian segregation, was not susceptible of any simple Mendelian explanation. The study of the American Fruit Fly, Drosophila, whih has already tbirowu so much light upon the causes of Mendelian inheritance, seems at last to be in a iposition to suggest a Mendelian explanation not only of the behaviour of the mutants on crossing, but of the so-called mutations by which they arise. Among the many lMendelian factors which have appeared, apparently spontaneously, in the Fruit Fly, an interesting class is that of the recessive lethal.s. Of these no less than 17 are known among th,e 87 factors located in the sex-chromosfome. A dominant lethal factor would, of course, escape detection, since every individual in which such a factor first appeared would die before maturity; but a reoessive lethal may survive, like the factor for yellow in mice, in the heterozygous condition, and its presence in the sex-chromosome may be detected by an abnormal sex-ratio. A 'female L 1, bearing the lethal character, whhen crossed with a normal male, 1 , will have two daughters to one son, since the L sons will perish. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 93 In other chromosomes lethals are not so easy to detect, since they tend naturally to disappear from a stock, especially under inbreeding. Nevetheless, in some instances, as in that of yellow mice, the hetero- zygous lethal is distinguishable by some external feature, the diominance of the wild type being in such cases incomplete. In some cases the wild type is said to be recessive, though it is- always incompletely so. Such a nant mutants. are rarely viable in. the 'homozygous phase. Out of II instances two seem to be oompletely viable, three more show low fertility, in a sixth (Deformed Eye) the viability is low, and, the males are infertile, while in the remaining five the factor is completely lethal when homozygous. It will thus be seen that lethal factors are of frequent occurrence, and are possibly more numerous than all other large mutations. The peculiar case of Beaded Wings, which is so fully worked out by Hermann Muller (Genetics, September, I9I8), seem,s to have attracted special attention, because it manifests several peculiarities suggestive of factor inconstancy, a belief in which runs counter to the great mass of work on Drosophila. The character is irregular in its manifestation. For several years beaded strains invariably threw a number of normal flies, which in their turn produced offspring in which a larger proportion were normal. Flies bred in mass culture steadily reverted towards the normal type. By selection the in.tensity of breeding was found to be increased, and at a certain point a pure beaded stock was suddenly pro- duced. Such a case might well seem beyond the powers of Mendelian analysis, and its elucidation is certainly a triumph for the method and for its exponents. Nevertheless, its hearing upon the behaviour of (Enothera is probably of more permanent interest than its controversial value on the rather hazy issue of factor constancy. The solution of the problem is complex, but appears to be fully substantiated by the experiments which Muller records. Ordinary beaded flies are heterozygotes of a lethal factor. They theTefore throw a pro- portion of nnormal flies. In the "-pure" beaded stock this tendency is balanced by a second lethal factor situated in the homologous chromo- some. The constitution may, therefore, be represented, if we may for the moment discard the elaborate but concise notation which is used for Drosophila, by b L On inbreeding, the types B-X and bL perish by reason of the lethal factors, and except for crossing over, only the parental type survives. In this instance crossing over is pxevented by an additional *factor C', which is located in the chromosome b L, and which when heterozygous in.hibits crossing over in a large part of the chromosome. A small percentage, about two in a thousand, of cases of crossing over may occur near the margin of the influence of Cl, and such a small proportion of new types occurring in an otherwise constant stock would certainly be styled mutations in such a plant as (Enothera. The produc- tion of a small but constant proportion of mutations may -thus be simulated by a stock heterozygous for a pair of balanced lethal factors. These factors may, as in -the above instance, both exert their fatal effect when. homozygous; or one of them may do so, while the other is fatal to gametes of one sex, but not of the other, which contain it; or each factor may be fatal to the gametes of one sex. These latter types may be used to explain the different effects of reciprocal crosses. Some idea of the variety of genetic phenomena to which the balanced lethal oondition may give rise may be acquired in considering the effect of crossing two varieties in which the same pair of balanced lethals are present. Representing these by b L X y and b L X Y where X and Y represent the factors or groups of factors in which the two varieties are 94 EUGENICS REVIEW. respectively dominant, and wh.ich come within the scope of the factor C1, x Y the result of the cross would beBL a constant hybrid resembling one present in the factors represented by X, and the other in those represented by Y. If the second of these vaxrieties had been heterozygous in any of the factors represented by Y, and this, owing to the inhibition of crossing over, would not be incompatible with the stability of the variety, a pair of constant hybrids would appear; and if thefirst variety also contained heterozygous factors, four constant hybrids would be produced as the result of a first cross. " Mass mutation," the continuous throwing of one type by another, has already been explained by a single lethal. A "mutating" variety must usually be heterozygous, and when crossed with its mutants, may be expected to produce offspring of two distinct types. The establishment of the balanced lethal condition may be ascribed simply to the selection of a heterozygous lethal type. So long as no balancing lethal appears this type will not breed true. After a-time a second lethal appears fortuitously, and the strain in which it appears breeds "true." It is therefore selected, and the lethal oombinatioxn per- manently established. The selection of the heterozygote alone, indeed, is sufficient to account for the ultimate productiono.f the condition, for the first lethal, which becomes associated with it, will not have its ordinarily harmful effect while hetewozygosis is mainted; and if, as it woulId seem, the spontaneous production of lethals is common, such heterozygotes would in time come to contain one or more. The same argument applies to all harmful recessive characters which may be allowed to creep into the race by the selection of heterozygotes, or by continual outcrossing. The e.volutionary consequences of the condition of b.alanced lethals is elabo,rated by Muller, and forms a section of much interest. The important part played by the factor C', however, deserves special a*tten- tion, for by its presence a large group of factors are made to act as one. If such ankylosing factors axe of normal occurrence, it may appear that the " simple" Mendelian factors are themselves, in some cases, ankylosed groups. The process of evolution would seem to require that selection should act separately upon many minute variations, but as soon as mutual adjustment and adaptation is obtained, it might theTeafter be advantageous if the whole .group were cemented into a single factor.-Genetics, September, I9I8. R. A. F. The Prevention of Insanity. THE STATE AND THE INSANE, by Richard H. Hutchings, M.D. This article is a vigorous attack upon the present attitude of the State towards the insane. " The State, in the exercise of its monopoly of the treatment of the insane, says who shall be treated and when the treatment may begin. He must be dangerous, he m.ust be suicidal, the public peace and welfare must be menaced by his presence, therefore in the majority of cases he must be incurable. It mattered not that the patient ;himself felt that something was going wrong with his mind, and fearful for his sanity knocked at the door of the asylum and asked for help. 'No, indeed,' he wa.s told. ' We only take in, lunatics; the fact that you ask for admission indicates thiat you have reason and judgment. Go away until you 'be- come certifiable."' This picture, if not strictly accuraite, as voluntary admissions to institution.s are permitted in some of the American States and in the British Islands, is hardly a caricature of the 'state of things in times comparatively recent, and even now provision for the care of borderland cases is everywhere miserably inadequate. The whole subject needs re-thinking. The State, the Law Courtp,, popular opinion long thought that a lunatic was simply a lu.natic saits phrase, dangerous to himself and to others, needing incarceration, probably incurable. This is PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 95 a travesty of the facts. The public was partly to blame, because it was felt to be a disgrace to have a relative in an asylum, and recourse to such institutions was regarded as a dernier ressort. The curable stage of mental affliction was generally allowed to pass without effective treat- ment. Now we know better. Psychiatry has established its right tto be regarded as a recognised branch of science. Mental affections present every grade of severity and many of them are curable. Our whole machinery needs re-casting. Some means must be devised for dealing with the many cases which are hovering on the line-always difficult of demrarcation-which separates the sane from, the insane. War neuroses have accentuated the necessity of dealing effectively with sucih cases. Dr. Hutchings says forcibly: " If we could stop thinking about insanity and provide hospitals, dispensaries and clinics for the treatment of mental illness of all degrees, we should, for a time at least, have more work to do, but we should make some real progress whe.re now we are marking time." General hospitals will find it necessary in the not distant future to provide psychiatric clinics, where patients who present signs of mental instability could be examined and advised. The word "asylum," with all its opprobious connotation, should be dropp-ed and the. tit-le "mental hospital " substituted. Voluntary admissions should be permitted and regularised. Mental ailments should cease to be regarded with ignorant aversion or superstitious fear. We have in large measure reformed the treatment of insane patients wi'th immense benefit to the insane. We look back with horror to the strait waistcoats, the solitary cells and the flagell.ations of former epochs. But we have not yet cleared our minds upon the whole subject of mental affections. Here, as always, progress can only be gained by clear thinking.-The Chicago Medical Recorder, Atrit, 1I9; pp. 143-150. J. A. L. A Disease of Civilisation. THE EFFECrS OF CIVILISATION ON THE MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY OF TUBERCULOSIS, by S. Adolphus Knopf, M.D. In this valuable article Dr. Knopf discusses one of the most important sociological problems. Civilisation and tuberculisation seem to go hand in hand. Before the Indians came in touch with civilisation tuberculosis was unknown amongst them. Now they are dying fast of the disease. The negro, in his. uncivil-ised state, was almost free from the disease. Now this race presents the greatest morbidity and mortality from this malady. The Italian labourer in America, working hard and living in congested tene- mnent houses, often falls a victim, and the same is true of the Irish immigrant. Alcoholism plays an important part in predisposing to tuberculosis. On the question of the direct inheritance of tubercle Dr. Knopf remarks, " whether we believe in the direct hereditary transmission of tuberculosis or not, there is no doubt that if a tuberculous mother is ill enough to secrete tuberculous toxins, these toxins will affect the cell- life o.f the fcetus, with the result that a child will be born with a physio- logical poverty and a strong predisposition to; tuberculosis." Chi-lid labour is an important factor in exciting to activity an- infection which may have taken place in infancy or early childhood. Schooling, especially under bad hygienic conditions, plays a part in causation. Insufficient ventilation in factories, workshops, stores and offices must be considered one of the most important indirect causes of tuberculosis in our present 'state of civilisation. Underfeeding is an important factor. Of a million children' attending the public and parochial schools in New York i6o,ooo are known to be underfed. Bottle-feeding of infants, often due to the employment of mothers, plays a part. Dusty occupations, accumulations of rubbish, imperfect cleansing of streets, have a similar ten,dency. War conditions have led to a rapid increase in tuberculosis. As the result of 96 EUGENICS REVIEW. war privations there are said to be now no less than 400,000 or 500,000 active open tuberculosis cases in France alone, an.d the plight of Poland, Serbia, Roumania and other warring countries is as bad or worse. The above facts suggest the natural remedies, viz., an active educa- tional propaganda, the discouragement of procreation by tuberculous paren-ts, the encouragement of breast-feeding, the prohibition of child labour, reform of our educational methods, including the provision of open-air schools, the regulation of fiactories and industries, the suppres- sion of sweated labour, the provision of sanatoria, hospitals, and tubercu- losis colonies. Civilisation, which is largely responsible for tuberculosis, must supply the remedies. Victory is within, our reach if we take the requisite measures. It is well known that in the half-century before the war the incidence of tuberculosis in many countries had declined by nearly 5o per cent. The war has arrested this movement and has thrown back remedial and pTeventive works. The great French historian Michelet thought that tuberculosis would ultimately destroy the human race. In this view he was certainly mistaken. Homo safiens will ulti- mately rout the bacillus of tubercle, as he has almost routed the bacillus of leprosy. He cannot plead that he is ignorant of the conditions of the warfare. Medical science has made thiese conditions plain. The question is, are we willing to pay the price of victory?-fournal of Sociologic Medicine, February, 1919; pp. 5-15. J. A. L. Nature's Choice of Leaders. EMPLOYMENT OF PSYCHOLOGISTS, by J. M. McCallie, Ph.D. The first experiments in determining promotion in the American Army by means of psychological tests were ini,tiated by Mr. Joseph Byers, of the Com- mittee on the Care of the Feeble-minded of the United States, and carried out with the help of Dr. H. H. Goddard, of the Vineland Research Laboratory. In Camp Lee the order of merit among the v.arious divisions of officers, of whom there were 2,000, proved to be: Engineers, artillery, infantry, quartermaster, medical officers. Marks were assigned to the various grades. The maximum was 412, of which 280 were gained by 5 per cent. of the exam,ninees, 230 by io per cent., I90 by 55 per cent., 130 by 55 per cent., Ioo by 55 per cent., 5o by 20 per oent., and o by zo per cenit. The first class were recommended as superior officers, the second as commissioned, and the third as non-commissioned officers, and the rest as privates or labourers. Nurses ranked between officers and white enlisted men. Members of the Cornell Aviator School scored I4 more points, on the average, than the Camp Lee officers. Negroes came into a much lower category t.han the lowest white companies. Intelligence varied hardly at all between the ages of 21 and 31, bu-t a decline was noted in men who were past 5o. It was found that most of the men who had to be punished for misdemeanours occupied a low place in the scale of intelligence. One good example is given of the use of the examina- tions. A captain who failed to achieve good results with his company was about to be placed in a lower rank when it occurred to the superior officer -to have fthe intelligence of the men tested. It was then discovered that they were very inferior, and a set of more intelligent men was put un-der the command of the captain, who -then proved him-self to be quite worthy of his position.--Training School Bulletin, March-April, 19I9; pp. 28-3 I. Family Snares. HEREDITY IN FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS is a very able article, by Dr. George Ordahl, dealing with so families known to contain one ot more children reported to be defective in intelligence. Un- fortunately, the examination was incomplete, 20 fathers and' three mothers not being examined, as also a considerable number of PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 97 childkdn repoted nonmal by officials and teachers. These omi's- sions definitely minimise the value of the report. The findings are cuaious. Of the nine idiots recorded in nine families i5 parents were examined and only two were found to be defective, yet of -the 25 imbeciles in i8 families 20 parents (number examined not stated, but apparently 26) were defective. Of the children 59 out of 219-note the high propor- tion-were dead. In I3 families where both parents were defective- type of -defect not being stated-eight children are classified as " normal," but no statement is made as to the source of the information. In view of the repeated suggestion .that two parents ment-ally defective by heredity and no-t by disease or accident always have mentally defective children, a more definite and thorough examination of this very important group shou,ld have been made. The xesult is that, interesting as the study is, the results are suggestive rather than determinative. The final conclu- sion is that the " histories of the 5o families i-ndicate that such persons as are represented by the parents studied can be detected by expert means in the early years of their school life." Yet Table II. shows nine families where both. parents were normal.-Training School Bulletin, Marck- April, I9I9; Pp. 2-I6. Is Drug-taking Inevitable? NARCOTIC ADDICTION CAN BE CORRECTED, by Wm. R. McLaughlin, M.D. " It is only fair to users of drugs to state that anyone who has been cured of his desire for opiates or other drugs can again take up h,is old habit if he wants to do so. It has been my experience that those of unstable character, those often referred to as neurotics or neurasthenics are apt to lapse after treatment. They have not enough mental stamina to carry on and never did have. Another class prone to relapse are syphili-tics. It is worthy of note that there are a larger n,umber than generally known of those well endowed mentally, physically and financi- ally, who for one reason or another have a drug habit fastened upon them. There nreed be no relapses in this class after having had the correct treatment."-The Chicago A!edical Recorder, May, I919; Pp. 177-I80. The Creation of a New Species. MUTATIONS IN THE JIMSON WEED, by Albert F. Blalkeslee an.d B. T. Avery, Junr. "The Jimson Weed possesses characters inherited in simple Mendelian manner. In addition, numerous mutations have arisen in our cultures. These mutations transmit their characters as a complex, usually to only a part of their offspring, and the inheritance is chiefly through the female sex. In a sin,gle instance a mutation has arisen which seems to have established a distinct race or new species, breeding true but seemingly unable to cross with the species from which it had its origin."Z-ournal of Heredity, March, I919; pp. 107-120. Is Immigration Eugenic? IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION AND WORLD EUGENICS, by Prescott F. Hall. Immigration tends to sterilise the people on the higher social and economic levels who are 'already in the country. The population of the United States would have been larger to-day if there had 'been. no immiigration since 1820. The low-class immigrants have not only diminished the numbers of the n.atives, but have also dissipated the energies of the latter by introducing elements of conflict into the nation, and thus prevented the development of many of those kinds of ability which are most worth cultivation. Left to themselves in their own habitat the inferior stocks would naturally decrease, while the superior ones would promote institutions which would! be of the greatest advantage to 98 EUGENICS REVIEW. the former, who, as far as their natural endowments allow them, progress mainly by imitation and emulation.-Journal of Heredity, Marck, 1919; Pt. I25-127. DISEASE AND NATURAL SELECTION. The report of H. C. and M. A. Soloman in Mental Hygiene for January, i9i8, contains interesting evidence of the selective effect of syphilis. Of 747 families 34 per cent. had no chilidren. In additioU 20 per cent. had abortions, miscarriages and stillbirths, and dead children occurred also in 20 per cent. As a result the average number of living children is only I.3. I-t is not here stated whether this refers to completed families, but the figure is com- pared to the average of 4.4 for the same vicinity obtained from the U.S. census report.-/ournal of Heredity, December, I9I8. SOME PRESENT ASPECTS OF IMMIGRATION. In the fourth report of the Committee on Immigration of the American Genetic Association, that body expresses itself as heartily in favour of the provisions of the new Immigra,tion Bill, for the more effective exclusion and deportation of unfit aliens. The immig,ration of inferior individuals or sons is of great importance to the United States, into which the annual immigration before the war amounted to nearly a million and a half. It is no less important to the British Empire, and it is sinoerely to be hoped that measures at least as strong as those of the United States will be -taken to prevent the contamination of our own race.-journal of Heredity, Februatry, 1919. BETTER AMERICAN FAMmIES, II., by Wilhelmina E. Key. This interesting series of family histoories shows well the conti-nuity of ability through various membeTs of mixed fam.ilies. The different branches of the same family show immense diffeTences according to the segregation of hereditary factrs, and the qualities of those with whom they intermarry. -Journal of Heredity, February, I9I9. GOOD QUALITIES ARE CORRELATED, by F. A. Woods. This article summarises a number of researches and opinious all tending to show that desirable qualities in mankind are in fact naturally correlated; and that there is thereforre no ground for the suspicion that eugenic measures designed toe further one group of qualities might inadvertently injure others equally desiTable..-Journal ot Heredity, February, I9I9. RACE MIXTURE IN HAWAII, Second Series, by Vaughan McLangley. Detailed statistics are given of marriages between the numerous distinct races inhabiting these islands. The un,desirable effects of race mixture, especially on the part of Europeans, is strongly emphasised.-Journal of Heredity, February, I919. R. A. F. FOREIGN. The Wane of Populations in War-time. L'INFLUENCE DE LA GUERRE SUR LE MOUVEMENT NATUREL DE LA POPULA- TION, by F. Savorgnan. In this important article Professor Savorgnan continues his studies of the demographic consequences of the war. The facts are very striking and will prove of much value to the future historian. A. Marriages. France. Italy. Engl-and & Wales. I913 ... 248,000 ... 264,000 ... 287,000 1914 ... 84,000 ... 252,000 ... 294,000 1915 *- 28,000 ... I86,ooo ... 36I,000 I9I6 ... - ... i06,000 ... 280,000 19I7 ...... 258,000 In France the number of marriages in the first half of 1915 was only one-fif-th of the number in the first half of 19T4. In Italy the number of marriages in 1916 was about two-fifths of the average of 1913-14. In PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 99 England, on-the contrary, there was a large increase in I915, largely due to the fact that under the Derby scheme of enrolment the unmarried were called up, bu.t in i9I6, when conscription was applied both to the married and the unmarried, the number fell to about an average, and in 1917 there was a further decline in the rate of nuptiality. War weddings were stimulated by the favourable terms accorded to married soldiers and their wives-a policy natural in the circumstances, but with some undesir- able sociological consequences. B. Birt-rates. Firance. Italy. United Kingdom. 1914 ... 594,000 ... 1,114,000 ... 1,102,000

1915 ... 252,000 ... I,109,000 ... 1,024,000 (first ha:lf of year) I9I6 ...... 882,000 ... 987,000 19I7 ...... 852,ooo C. Death-rates. In France the number of deaths (apart from those killed in battle) in 1914 was 6o,ooo in excess of the total for 1913. In Italy in 1915 an,d I9I6 the number of deaths was 70,000 in excess of the average. In the Uni.ted Kingdom there was a considerable rise in the death-rate in 1915, but in 1917 the -rate had almost returned to the normal average, largely in con- sequence of a reduced infant mortality, this reduction being attributable, in part at least, to the fewer births. Hungary h.as been one of the heaviest sufferers by the war. In the first year of hostilities the marriage-rate fell by considerably more than one-half. The births in I9I6 were considerably less than one-half the number for 1914. In Germa-ny the births i.n the third year of the war were 6o per cent. under the number of the year preceding the war. Amongst the nations of the Entente France is the only one which has suffered an actual decline in population. during the war. It is reckoned that in three years of war France lost half a million of its population in addition to, those killed in battle. Italy an.d the United Kingdom show an increase of population. Germany shows a decline, and Austria likewise. The United Kingdom comes out most favourably from these comn, parative figures, a result attributable -to its favourable geograph.ic posi- tion, the gradual nature of the enlistments, and the general industrial prosperity. According to Professor Savorgnan, England and Italy may regard the future with 'confidence, so far as population is concerned, but " Ils ont cepend-ant un devoir sacre d remplir: celui de contribuer de toutes leurs forces d la reconstitution demographique de l.a France, qui h verse gen&eusement et copieusement le plus noble sang pour la cause communie."-Scientia, May, 1919; pp. 38I-39I. J. A. L. Eugenic Facts from Germany. The research worker will find many fascinations in the Zeitschrift fuir induktive Abstammungs- und Vererbungs-lehre (Bd. XVI.-XIX., 19I6-I8). On-e of them consists in attempts -to disentangle Mend-eli.an factors, some of which, V. Haecker suggests (Bd. XVIII., Heft i, 1917, and Bd. XIX., Heft 1-2, I9I8), are so bound up with others, as the V comb is with the high nostril in the Houdan fowl, that their reappearance in future ge.nerations is uncertain. Are mesenchymatous elements more active in these complex cases, he asks, and eipidermic elements moe active in the simple ones, or are th'e gametes impure, or are modifying factors at work? K. Classen (Bd. XIII., Heft I, I9I8) shows that the disen- tanglement is impossible, at present, in the case of scwliosis of the IOO EUGENICS REVIEW. vertebral column, feeble-minidedness and cerebellar ataxy; and L. Adametz (Bd. XVII., Heft 3, 1917) gives data for judgment as to whether one factor or two are concerned in the production of curly hai. W. Schultz (Bd. XX., Heft x, I9I8) describes a method of discovering how constitutional characteristics reproduce themselves which consisted in pulling hairs from a rabbit's coat and seeing how these were replaced. E. Iwanow and J. Philiptschenko (Bd. XVI., Heft 1-2, I9i6) s,et forth the results of matings between the American bison with European cattle and the European bison respectively; J. Sei-ler discusses the generation of the psychid moth in connection with the theory that the female is heterozygous and the male homozygous for sex; and F. Wolff (Bd. XIII., Heft i, I9I8) demonstrates how syndactyly appears, apparently without a cause, and then reappears in about half of the des1endants of the affected person for many generations. J. Paulsen (Bd. XIII., Heft I, I9I8) writes on the transmission of tuberculosis, H. W. Siemens (Bd. XVIII., Heft 2, 1917) on that of cretinism, and F. Lenz (Bd. XIII., Heft I, I9I8) on sex-limited inherit- ance. The first thinks that tuberculosis may be due to the interaction of two factors, narrowness of the chest and a disposition to wvasting; the second that sporadic cretinism arises probably from heredity and possibly from infection, while endemic cretinism is, perhaps, not hereditary; and the third that the mechanism by which some diseases, like haemophilia and colour blindess, are more commonly transmitted to males, and others, like Basedow's disease, are moreoommonly transmitted to females, cannot be well understood until the crucial mating of affected with noTmal -persons has been studied more closely. H. W. Siemens concludes a paperon sporadic goitre (Bd. XVIII., Heft 2, 1917) with the statement that some forms of the disease, or" symptom," are certainly hereditary. He quotes Klinger, Di-eterle and Hirschfeld to the effect that both boys and girls are subject more and more to goitre every year up to maturity, after which the latter become less and the former muchless liable to it. Matter of sociological interest is contributed by Agnes Bluhm (Bd. XIII., Heft i, xqI8), A. Gregocr (Ibid) and V. Haecker (Bd. XIX., Heft I-2, I9I8). Thelast, in connection with his " epidermis-mesenchyme rule," discusses the disappearance from the Hungarian race of the broad face, flat nose an-d yellow skin that were characteristic of the Magyar invaders of about 800 A.D;, and from the Turkish race of th-e brachycephalism, dark and slit-like eyes, broad nose, thin beard and yellow skin which their oriental ancestors possessed. He does not consider that these features have given place to characteristics belonginz to the women of thecon- quered people.s that were better adapted to the environment. A. Gregor deals with discipline for adolescents, an.d emphasises the need of clubs and classes, and of psychological institutes for determining vocation, such as Col. C. S. Myers is now trying to establish. Agnes Bluhm, states that from 1907to 1914 eight out of every hundred women factory workers in Berlin. produced babies. In 1915 the percentage dropped'to 3.4an,d in I9I6 to 2.6. Only about a third of the mothers bore living children. Abortions appear to have bee.n very numerous. The History of Sex. EVOLUTION ET SEXUALIT*, by E. Rabaud. This able and exhaustive article is well worth the attention of biologists. The significance of sex distinctions in nature, the part played by hermaphroditism, the advantages ofbi-sexuality in the higher organisms, the factors which determine sex- these are large questions which are not yet fully understood. Weismann is of opinion that sexuality is an important factor in the evolution of organisms, and M. Rabaud accepts this view. It appears to operate by increasing the probability of the appearance of variations.-Scientia, April, 1919; pp. 275-287. J. A. L. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. IQO Tuberculous Families. In the Zeitschrift fur Tuberkulkse (I9I8, XXIX., pp. 257-58) A. E. Mayer discusses the difficulty of determ.ining whether tuberculosis is, transmitted by heredity or infection. He considers that good evidence can hardly be obtained from any other source than those rare c.ases in which the child of a tuberculous father is born after his de.ath, and all. the other members of the family are firee from the disease. But from another source he has gathered facts from which a fairly correct judg- ment can be formed. He has studied II2 tuberculous families at Davos- Dorf, and has found that in quite a large propo.rtion of the victims who are related to one another the disease begins at the same point in the lungs. Comparing his researches with the similar ones which have been made by Turban, Finkbeiner, Kuthy and Strandgaard, he .reckons th.at in about 72 per cent. of the families the starting-point of the malady is. characteristic. NOTES AND NOTICES. A War-Stricken Generation.-From all parts of Europe come terrible reports of starvation, accompanied by tuberculosis and rachitis in forms both new and old, smallpox, typhoid, insanity, and the awful and quickly- spread-ing exanthematous typhus. Ihrough lack of food 200,000 persons die every month iin. Petrograd, and since the blockade was instituted 700,000 people have died in Germany from the s.ame cause. I.n Silesia the children swarm round the barracks at me.al times and clamour for leav- ings, and in Austria they besiege all the trains coming from Hungary and beg the passengers for bread. In Austrian Poland, Roumania, the Ukraine, Czecho-Slovakia and the Jugo-Slav States myriads of people are subsisting on a daily portion of water soup with one-third of a potato in it and occasionally a piece of bread. In Petrograd there are practically no children left under two years of age, and in parts of Roumania there are no children under 12. In Prague a few children survive, but they look like spectres and many of them will never be able ,to walk. The hospitals at Vielnna, in which there are no drugs, linen, soap or disinfectants, are full of children who will be cripples all their lives. Can Europe support her People ?-The speech that Mr. Frank Vanderlip, the financier, delivered at the New York Economic Club in May provided eugenists with much material for thought. He stated that since the Napoleonic wars t.he population of Europe h.ad risen from 175,000,000 to, 440,000,000, whose livelihood depended mainly upon industry. Great Britain maintained her suprem.acy and had made -an overdraft on the future by underpaying labour, which was her differential. Her manufacturing towns were peopled by a race of underifed, uneducated, undeveloped persons, among whom the men of military age were so unhealthy that only a third of them could serve in the Ar-my. Ten or fifteen per cent. of th-e people in England were communists who, wi.shed to do away wit.h private property; and according to a prominent member of the British Government starvation was in store for many of the inhabitants if six millions of them did not emigrate soon to foodpro- ducing countries. In Spain society was being undermined by labour conspiracies, and no fewer than 72 employers and foremen had been assassinated within a month or two by murderers who had never been brought to justice. Without American wheat and American credit Europe would starve and become bankrupt. A good comment on some of these "revelations" and warnings has been provided by GeneTal Leonard Wood, who states that ih.alf of the Ameri-can men under 31 were found to be unfit for service on -the battlefields. The Race between the Produetion of People and of Food.-Sir Leo Money calculates that by 1925 the United St.ates will have at least II0,000,ooo people to feed, and, so far from being able to ship wheat to Europe, will be making heavy demands on the co,rnlands of Canada and' Argentina.. He is not dismayed by this prospect, nor by the rise in th.e prices of foodstuffs which, owing to the raising of the standard of living all over the world was taking place even before the war. He thinks that, as far as the power of pro-ducing food and wealth in other forms is con- cerned, Europe is much better off now than it wa.s after the Napoleonic wars; and that by the universal organisation of supplies the wants of all the peoples can be provided for. NOTES AND NOTICES. 103 The Competition of Death with Life.-In the first quarters of 1916, 1917 an,d I9I8 the births in England and Wales excee.ded the deaths by 5i,982, 14,8I0 and 24,303 respectively. In the first quarter of I9I9 the deaths exceeded the births by 47,002. Only once befocre since the civil population has been regis.tered ha.ve the deaths outbalanced the births. Of the former 37,607 were attributed to influenza. The births were fewer by I6,855 than in the last, and by I7,388 than in the first quarter of I9I8. Il.legitim.ate births, of which there were 9,967, were more numerous by 442 than in January, February and March, i9i8. The births of males out- numbered those of females by 4,176, and the deaths of males by 3,320. In England, Wales and Scotland 'together the population diminished by 90,130 in the last quarter of i9i8. This decline is regarded by Mr. Harold Cox as highly satisfactory. On May 27th many newspapers recorded that he had expressed the following opinions :-That this country cannot afford anything like an adequate subsistence, with an all-round development of individuality, to the millions who already live here; that we cannot com- bat German cleverness and brutality by a " cradle competition "; that subsidising maternity will only increase the families of unworthy parents; that o-;ving, to excessive child-bearing the life of many wives, in England, is one long disease; and that in the long run th-e only alternatives to birth- control are such expedients as war, massacres, infanticide, systematic underfeeding and the spreading of diseases. Will Better Housing Improve the Race ?-This ye.ar's conference of the National Council of Public Morals took place at Lansdowne House o'n May 23rd, when Dr. Addison opened a discussion on " How to Maintain and Improve the Race." The burden of his speech was, that as long a.s there were so many unsatisfactory houses no great improvemen.t could be made in the human stock that constituted the life capital of the nation. The Archbishop of Canterbury sent a message which might have been expressed in the form of a motto-" Knowledge before action." The Bishop of Birmingham expressed the fear that the falling birth-rate was due to selfishness., and deplor-ed the results of this movement in those classes of society which, in the interests of the nation, ought to be reinforced. He urged that the State should assume responsibility for every child up to the age of independence. But he deprecated spoon-feeding, and maintained that the father ought to receive enough wages to provide for all the want's of a wife a.nd family. In conclusion, he appealed for recreations of a higher type for the people at large-games, and even dances, in which young folk of both sexes could join, and "instruction combined wvith beauty and interest." Lord Willoughby de Broke declared that the people would be not. a whit the better for having beautiful houses if the State did not set up a definite standar.d of conduct and let the'm know the truth about disease; and Cardinal Bourne uttered a warning ag.ainst relieving i.ndi- viduals o'f sufferings the bearing of which, on their part, would promote the common good. Can all Criminals, or any, be Reelaimed?-The Howard Associa- tion has issued a circular claiming that society cannot obtain real protec- tion from criminals unless they are either "permanently segregated or permanently reclaimed." The authors put forward excellent suggestions for effecting 'the latter object in a pamphlet, entitled "Prison Reform," which accompanies the letter. Red Cross Knowledge of and Opinion on Venereal Diseases.- Unanimous conclusions were arrived at by the experts at Cannes-among them Brevet-Colonel L. V. Harrison, Dr. Menzies and Sir Arthur News- holme-who, on April ist, issued a report on venereal disea'ses for the Red Cross Societies. The recommenidatioons included the repression of street soliciting and of prostitution as a business, control of the drink traffic and of places of rest and refreshment which lend' themselves to 104 EUGENICS REVIEW.

vicious uses, the isolation of infected individuals, the establishment of dispensari,es and free diagnosis and treatment. The policy of the C.D. Acts was repudiated; an.d measures were suggested for making public opimion and the social environment unfavourable to sexual vice, e.g., early marxriage, the instruction of children in the facts of repiroduction, and the -education of men and women belonging to the medical and nursing professions in public health principles. Are the Fathers to Blame?-In The Nineteenth Century and After for Decemnber last Miss Anna Martin writes: Th,e basic fact of paternal irresponsibility in the lower social grades lies in truth at the root of the reckless propagation of thepoor, deplored by eugenists, and it constitutes the chief obstacle in the path of the advocates of birth-control. . . One of the chief objects of working men in marrying is to obtain a supply of cheap domestic labour, and they are allowed to assess their own pecuniary liability." The Otis Group Intelligence Scale.-We have received from the World Book Comp.any, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York, a " Manual of Directions for Administering" the scale, "examination booklets," an examiner's key, and "samples of recording cards." The scale is a series of mental tests so arranged that a group of in-divi-duals, such as a class in a school, can be tested at the same time. There is no particular novelty in the tests themselves, and success in tackling them would appear to depend largely on literary education. We cannot, therefore, agree with the statement made in the introduction to the manual, that with subjects of three or four years' schooling " the Otis Scale probably comes as near testing raw brain-power' as any system yet devised." The wholle -machinery of "directions," "examina,tion booklet," etc., is ingeniously arranged and reduces the labour of the examiner to aminimum. He should, however, beware of the key until he has corrected it for There is at least one mistake on the first page. We wonder howhiimself.many of our readers wouldp.ass this test-it stumped the reviewer-" Fi-nd a certain letter which, 'in this sentence, appears a second timenmearest the beginning." Eugenic Convictions in Offielal Minds.-Into the new hygiene syllabus which they have prepared for use in training colleges, the Board of Education have introduced a section on infant care, witih recommenda- tions for preparing teachers to impart the facts of human reproduction to children. The Teacher as Eugenist.-° Thousands of children are handicapped before birth," said Miss Agnes Dawson, the new President of the National Fedeeration of Women Teachers, at the Annual Conference which opened, " at Leamington,o.n June 8th. It has been nobody's business in the past to see that the mother has a chancee to be healthy, and so produce heal-thy ba.bies; or that, when the children are born, they shall have an oppo-r- tunity of being sound in body and mind. Teachers must see that they do not begin their new worki.n the nurseiry schools with 'damaged goods,' anda that the schools are not merely baby-minding centres presided by motherly persons who will do the job cheaper than trained teachers,over who cannot be a party to a system of so-called education which will bolster up bad social conditions." Are Sexual Diseases Public or Private Concerns? -" Medical problems are always social problems," writes Mr. Alexanler Farquharson in a paper on "The Campaign against Venereal Diseases: Social and Moral Aspects," which he contributes to the May and June issues of National Health; and he proceeds to put the sordid facts of the subject into such a broad public light that they lose their significance as personal concerns and become unimportant in themselves. According to his view NOTES AND NOTICES. I05 they are hindrances to the making of traditions and ideals of universal health and happiness which must be cleared out of the way as soon as possible, and full use will be made of the available means of cure as soon as the patients themselves and the people in general can see this larger vision. The Progress of Eugenics.-" The facts roll in, the old theories are tested and broadened, opinions aired, new hypotheses put forward. It is difficult to remember that Men-del's work was rediscovered less than twenty years agol. At this rate, it would not be too sanguine to hope that in a century practical eugenics will be not much more dangerous than practical aviation."-Athenzunm, May i6th, I9I9. The Growing Popularity of Eugenies.-Like " sociology " and "psychology," which, a few years ago, were terms that no one but pedants ever professed to understand, the word " eugenics " is now passing out of academic currency into tihe stream of common thought. Phrases like " eugenics discussed in breach of promise ac.tion," and " eugenic farce at the theatre," have deco-rated the heads of columns in the newspapers within the last three months; and there have been many evidences of the fact -that eugenic ideas and ideals are sinking deep into the public mind. In one of the May numbers of a literary periodical that has a consi-der- able circulation a misinformed reviewer began a notice of a novel thus " ' Heritage ' is a Mende-lian romance-a tale of how a Spanish ancestor jumps from recession to, dominance and back again in, the character of a Sussex farmer's daughter "; and several popular writers have -been ques- tioning the wisdom of the Manchester gospel of the nineteenth century the apostles o.f which gloried in the uprise of immense populations, without thinking about the quality or the happiness of the individuals of whom these were composed. For instance, Mr. A. G. Gardiner wrote, in the Daily News of May 17th, " The industrial revolution increased the volume of the ,population, but polluted it as the factories themselves polluted the streams by which they rose "; and Mr. Robert Blatchford asked, in the Sunday Chronicle for March gth, " Have we not always had more people than we could house or feed properly, more than we could employ? Then why ask for more? Surely it were wiser to take care of the present popul.ation before we increase it I And, apart from that, i.s a dense population desirable? Should we be wealthier or healthier or happier if we doubled our population?" EUGENIC NEWS OF THE WORLD. A Demographic Entente.-It has been proposed that the French Depopul.ation Commission and the British Birth-rate Commission shall hold a joint conference. New Babies in Old Countries.-Finding that for at least 20 years babies there have been dying at the rate of 243 a thousand, certain social reformers have started an infant welfare centre in Malita. Lord and Lady Methuen are the Presidents. In Rome two similar institutions have lately been established. They are called " CiLrcoli del Benessere dell' Infanzia." "lMayflower" Families. -This year individuals belonging to the Mayflower" stock, who seldom marry into and can easily be distin- guished from other sets of families in the United States, num,ber 85,ooo. U to I845 their numbers doubled every 28 years. Then, their birth-rate declined, and not until i88j had the ioo per cent. increase again taken place. Between i885 and I9I9 there has been an increase of barely 25 per cent. The birth-rate per family is 2.71. A birth-rate of at least 2.50 will be necessary to keep the number up to 8s,ooo. The Proteetion of Mothers and Babies in Franes and Germany. Eugenists will be interested in the facts which have been collected by the Welfare Advisory Committee of *the Ministry of Munitions with regard to measures for saving the babies that have recently been taken in these countries. In 1913 the French Government p.assed a law, the provision,s of which have been extended during the war, granting an allowance to poor mothers for eight weeks, of which four at least must be subsequent to the birth of the child; and in August, 1917, employers were put under a legal obligation to give rest periods to nursing mothers. For promo'ting the welfare of the children as they emerge from babyhood, nursery schools are being founded. In Germany many new creches have been established. Aid has been given to necessitous mothers from Imperial as well as from the sickness insurance funds; and small allowances are made by the invalidity insurance associations, and even by fire insurance companies, inasmuch as untended children often set the house on fire. In both countries the loc.al authorities are taking a larger and larger part in the maternity welfare movement, and' subsidies are' granted by the central Government. A noticeable feature of the work is the dislike of the women to the public institutions. Most of the mothers regard their relatives or neighbours as better custodians of the children than teachers or nurses. Life and Death in Franee During the War.-The report of the French Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the war years concerns only 77 departments. It shows that if ioo were taken as representing the 'births of 1913, those of 1917 would be represented by 57. There was a considerable decrease in i9gI and a further decrease in I9I6. Taking Ioo as the standard for the deaths in 1913, one finds that I10 is the number for 1914, 112 for i9i5, 103 for I9I6, and 104 for 1917. In 1913 there were 4I departments in which the births were more numerous than the deaths; in 1914 there were only 26; and in I915, 19I6 aand 1917 there was none. In 1913 the births outnumbered the deaths by 17,366; but in all the wair years the-re was a deficit, which amoun.ted to 269,838 in I917. Marri.ages numbered 247,800 in 1913, and I 8,5o8 in 1917, in which year they were twice -as numerous as in 1915. Divorces, which had steadily increased from 336 to 746 per million of the people between I900 and 1913, fell to 99, 2I8 and 338 per million in 1915, i9i6 and 1917 respectively. EUGENIC NEWS OF THE WORLD. I07 It is calculated that males between the ages of I6 and 65 will be fewer by one-sixth in 1935 than they would have been had the population remained station.axy from I914 to I9I7, *as it was, pretty nearly, before the war; and that since the war hPias intensified industrialism the loss will fall upon the country districts almost entirely. Hence the re-port closes with an earnest recommendation to the autho.rities to offer inducements to the people to settle on the land. Vital Statisties from Germany.-A report issued in I9I8 from the Economic Department of the Imperial Food Office in Berlin showed that in December, I9I0, there were 64,925,993 people in the Empire, while in December, I917, there were only 62,6i5,275. The women outnumbered the men at the former time by 845,66I and at the latter by 7,102,059. Children un-der ii months numbered 768,337 in December, I917, and I,527,531 in December, I910. The losses of inhabitants were greatest in Prussia and least in Hesse; and the other important provinces come i.n the following order in this respect:-Saxony, Alsace-Lorraine, Bavaria, Hamburg, Baden, Wurtemburg. Eugenic Enterprise in the United States. The State Department of Health of Illinois has appointed Dr. Rachelle Yarro's as Supervisor of Education in Social Hygiene for Women. Under Government auspices Dr. Lily Owens Burbank and Dr. L. V. Ingraham are conducting an extensive social-hygiene campaign among women and girls in Massachusetts. Acting Assistant Surgeon Jewett, of the U.S. Public Health Service, has organised three venereal disease clinics in connection with -the first-aid departments of the factories at Chattanooga, Tennessee. The interest of both employers and employed has been enlisted in the work, and the org-anisation is so good that it is being copied in many other manufactur- img districts. The editors of the college newspapers that cir6ulate daily at the Universities of Princeton, Harvard and Yale have expressed their approval of the "repressive, recreation.al and educational measures " by which the AmeTican Government has prevented the spread of venereal diseases during the war, and are advocating them as "a necessary, per- manent, peace-time programme." In New Jersey a law has just been passed making the presentation of a sa-tisfactory medical report on the part of both the man and the woman a necessary condition of the grant of marriage licences. A Venereal Disease Control Act has been put on the statute book, this year, in five of the States-New York, North Caroliina, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Oregon. In Arizona antd Alabama a State Board of Con- trol Act, in North Carolina a Vice Repressive Act, in Alabama and North Carolina an Injunction and Abatemen,t Act, an.d in Alabama an "ouster law" have also been made. In the last-mentioned State the marriage of men and women afflicted with venereal mal.adies has been forbidden, and before long it will probably be prohibited i-n Texas and North Caro-lina as well. Bills are being pushed forward in Ohio and Michigan for pre- venting the employment of persons infected with venereal disease; in Ohio and Washington for segregating the feeble-minded; and in Utah, Michigan, Idaho, New Jersey, North Carolina and Oklahoma for regulat- ing the sale of remedies for sexual maladies. In the Massachusetts State Department of Public Health Dr. Hugh Cabot has been appointed Director of Clinics in the Sub-division of Venereal Diseases. He will be in touch with all the doctors of medicine in the State, and will standardise the work of the clinics, of which there are I6. Io8 EUGENICS REVIEW. The Government of California have established a new institution, Pacific Colony, for the feeble-minded and epileptic. The founders define the former class, for the purposes of Pacific Colony, as persons who (i) are incapable of managing themselves and their affairs with ordinary prudence, (2) have been certified, by one or more psychologists, as having intelligence that will never develop beyond that of the average child of I2 years. Special provision has been made for research like that which is carried out at the Vineland School. The measures which are to be taken for cutting off the stock of defectives include segregation an,d sterilisation. On March igth the Committee of Inquiry which formerly worked in connection with the Eugenics Section of the American Breeders' Associa- tion entered into an agreement with the Eugenics Research Association, and undertook to try and find out "'the best practical means to cut off the defective germ-plasm of the American population." They are now styled the " Committee on Cacogenic Control," and are studying the results of the sterilisation laws. (The Committee invite readers to cont.ribute news to these pages.) CORRESPONDENCE. A cler,gyman of the Church of England has written to Major Darwin as follows:- " My problem is: ' Has morality any survival value? ' Some virtues obviously have, such virtues in the individual as makle for the survival of the family or group. But apart from these morality in itself would, a priori, appear to make ag:ainst survival. In. the struggle for existence, the more moral man limits himself as to methods. He will not do things that the non-moral man does without hesitation. He would appear to be like a lboxer with one hand tied behind his back. Why is man at the head *of creation, instead of a being of incredible fierceness and cunning ? "And', as -among nations, how do the humane (who protect their unfit) win in competition with the inhumane? " How am I, as a minister of the Christian Church and also as a thinking being., to reconcile the law of progress which I find worked out inn ' The Origin of Species ' wi.th that which I find in the New Testament? I see the truth of both-I have to try an;d combine them'. I think I have, in the sense that I have a working philosophy o;f life which includes both. " As I .see things, morality has a survival value, and the survival of the fittest becomes ultimately the survival of the best; and so ' The Origin ,oif Species ' and the New Testament both truly express different parts of the cosmic process (which can be hastened or hindered by us). I -do not ,often find anything to read which bears on my line of thought. Hence my question, to you." The point is an interesting one, and comments are invited. Dear Major Darwin,-I am much obli.ged to you for your message. I feel very diffi.dent in seting out an opinion on " Sterilisation," because I am just one of the multitude, entirely without expe:rt knowledge. My previous note was written because it seemed *to me that the thistorial aspect of the problem had been neglected alike by advocates and opponents. During the Middle Ages per-sons guilty of what were regarded as anti-social acts generally paid the penalty in "mutilation " or death. Sterilisation and death are equally means of preventing an individual firom propagating his species. The death penalty was the fate of all felons excepting those who co'uld read, i.e., those who oould claim benefit of clergy. (The cynic gets the chance of a smile here 1) Under the early Georges a large num.ber of minor offences were converted into felonies CORRESPONDENCE. 1O9 and involved capital punishment. Can the advocates of steTilisation -show that these rigorous methods of extermination were successful ? If so, they can make a very strong case. It is obviously wrong to conclude that these strong measures were futile because they were abandoned. But were they effective? Society is at present buTdened by a weight of in-efficients, and it may be that society must retain some methods of pruning itself. Thecre appears to be, however, another aspect of the problem. Due to the enormous increase of population there exi,sts great pressure on inmdi- viduals in the struggle to earn a livelihood and a reasonable amount of comfort. It may be that the human, organism is incap.able of meeting this strain, and that the failure of the stringent laws in the past is due to this incapacity, not-withstanding the utmost ruthlessneess ini selection. At any rat-e, there does no.t appear to have been any serious relapse when these laws were removed; and notwithstanding all the schemes to ameliorate th-e lot of the less fortunate, the terrible p.rocession continues its march. Ought we not to ben.d our efforts towards modifying our *environment, and ceaselessly educate our people in the meaning and 'hopes of eugenics? WVe are our own sickness so long as we go' on multiplying at the presoent boreakneck speed. Is it necess,ary to say more on this Point after the' o-pening part of Huxley's essay on " The Struggle for Existence in Human Society"? I am not a pessimist. There is plenty of holpe. The men and women of our race, under conditions removed from this over-pressure of population, offer a spectacle of well-being and not degeneracy, as in newly-founded colonies; and who will deny that our moral sensibility is in advance of our forebears of the Middle Ages? Rather than lightening the marriage bond we should seek to increase its seriousness -because the results to the next generation are permanent. Yours faithfully, W. ARMISTEAD. Oaken. May 23rd, igig.

COMING EVENTS. The Seeond International Eugenic Congress will be held in New York in October, 1920. Summer School of Civies and Eugenics. The Second Summer School of Civics and Eugenics organised by the Civic and Moral Education Le-ague and the Eugenics Education Society will be held at Cambridge during the fortnight fro-m Saturday, August 2nd, to SatuTday, August i6th, I9I9. The First Summer School of Civics and Eugenics held last yea!r at Oxford attracted nearly 200 students an,d obviously met a d;efinite and widespread need. The Second School will be on similar lines, but the programme will be developed and exten-ded as a result of last vear's experience. The School will again have the support of the National Council for Combating Venereal Diseases, and the Regional Association (several mem.bers of which assisted at the First Sum-mer School) will co-operate officially. It is anticipated that the Board of Education will again recognise the School. The aim of the School will be to give teachers and social workers and all interested in educational and social reconst-ruction opportunities for studying and discussing the best ways of developing and maintaining civic and racial ideals in the individual and in the community. All interested in civic and eugenic education and in social reconstruction are welcome as students. I IO EUGENICS REVIEW. All meetings and classes will be held at the University Arts School, Cambridge, by kin.d permission of the Vice-Chancellor of the University. The programme will include brief courses in elementary sociology, "The Foundations of Civics," elementary biology, " The Foundations of Eugenics," and elementary social and analytical psychology. If a suffi- cient number of suitable students offer themselves, advanced tutorial classes in heredity and eugenics, social philosophy and experimental psychology will be arranged. Special courses for speakers on citizenship and on the problems of venereal disease (the latter course recognised by the National Council for Combating Ve,nereal Diseases) will be included. If possible, a practising class in public speaking will be arranged. Seminars and informal discussions will be .arranged by members of the staff to meet the n.eeds of -the students. The Regional Association will organise a reg.ional survey of Cam- bridge and the surrounding district, as well as seminars and discussions on the method and purpose of regional study. An. exhibition of civic, eugenic and regional studies will be on view, and a large library of refexence books will be available for t-he use of students. The following have promised to take part in the work of the School as lecturers, demonstrators, etc. Miss Bright Ashford, Mr. R. Douglas Laurie, Miss Elizabeth Clark, Dr. Constance Long, Dr. Coutts, Miss Norah March, MTs. Fraser Davies, Prof. R. C. Pun.nett, Miss C. M. Edmondston, Mr. Harold Peake, Majoe Leonard Darw!in, Dr. Jane Reaney, Mr. Alex. Farquharson, P,rof. A. C. Seward, Mrs. A. C. Gotto, Dr. Douglas White, Dr. E. H. Griffiths, Miss E. M. White. Dr. M. WV. Keatinge, The fee for the full fortnight's course, including admission to all lectures, seminars, etc. (except to the advanced tutorial classes), will be ,2 2S. Special arrangements for those who come for a shorter period, or who t.ak-e the advanced classes, will be announced lIater. Nominees of branches of -the National Council for Combating Venereal Diseas-es, or of the Health Committees of County Councils or County Boroughs, will be admitted to the speakers' course on problems of venereal disease f,ree of charge, and to other classes at special fees. The Comm,ittee m,ay be abl.e to offer free tuition or a reduction of fees to students who require such help. Facilities for recrea.tion (boating, tennis, excursions, etc.) will be available. The Committee will arran.ge accommod.ation for students as far as *possible. Fees for board-residence will vary from Zi I5s. to Z3 3s. a week. Rooms i.n hostels or houses will be allocated to students strictly in order of application. Enquiries should be addressed to,:-The Summer School Secretary, II, LLinco'ln's Inn Field's, London, W.C.2. Organising Committee, I9I9.-Chairman: A. Farquharson, Esq., M.A. M.B.E. School Principal: E. Sharwood Smith, Esq., M.A. Hon. Treasurer: Charles S. Green, Esq. Lady Chambers: Major Leonard Darwin, Sc.D.; Paul Fleischl, E-sq.; Mrs. A. C. Gotto, O.B.E.; Professor E. W. MacBride, Sc.D., F.R.S.; Mrs. M. Mackenzie, M.A.; Mi.ss Norah March, B.Sc.; H. E. Piggott, Esq., M.A., PH.D.; Geo. A. Smith, Esq. Cambridze Consultative Committee.-The Vice-Chancellor: Dr. A. E. Shipley, Sc.D., F.R.S. Professor Sir Clifford Allbutt, K.C.B., M.D., F.R.S.; T'he Rt. Rev. F. H. Chase, D.D.; Lieut.-Colonel P. C. C. COMING EVENTS. I I I Egerton; Dr. E. H. Griffiiths, Sc.D., F.R.S.; G. We.stcott Martin, Esq., M.A.; Professor R. C. Punnett, M.A., F.R.S.; Professor A. C. Seward, M.A., F.R.S.; Professor W. R. Sorley, LiTT.D., F.B.A.; Miss M. H. WVood, M.A., LiTT.D.; Major J. R. Ainsworth Davis, M.A., M.Sc., F.C.P. Secretary: Miss Constance Brown. Address: II, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.2. Telephone: ;Holborm 5797. OFFICE NEWS. The Committee have appointed Miss M. E. Robinson as EUGENICS REVIEW Secretary and Literary Assistant. The Committee are giving much consideration to the advisability of using the cinema asa means of spreading knowledge of eugenics.

QUARTERLY CHRONICLE. April Ist.-View of educational eugenic film. April ioth.-"What do we mean by Eugenics?" Address to the Upton Association Women and Girls' Guild, by Miss Norah March. April x4th.-The Western Command. Army Lectures on " Eugenics" by Mr. Douglas Laurie. May 5th.-Meeting, at I2, Egerton Place, of the Panel of Lecturers to the Army. May x4th.-Critic performance of " The Very Idea " at St. Martin's Theatre. May 25th.-Northern Command. Army Lectures on " Eugenics " by Mr. R. A. Fisher. June Ist.-Western Command. Army Lectures on "Eugenics" by Miss Norah March. June 23rd.-Eastern Command. Army Lectures on " Eugenics " by Dr. Lionel Taylor. June 27th.-" Eugenics and the Making of a Perfect Citizen." Ad- dress to the NoTth Islington Labour Party by Mr. R. Dixon Kingham.

Eugenics on the Boards. Whatever opin,ions may be formed about the propriety of " The Very Idea," now running at St. Martin's Theatre, the play is certainly valuable in stimulating thought u.pon more than one important problem. The basis of the play is a book called " A Race of Thoroughbred's," in which eugenics is parodied in the endeavour to make the whole subject ridiculous. The audience are invited to laugh, but many are led to think. By presenting the play as a farce the management have appealed to the lower instincts of nature; and by joking about the sexual relations have evoked a pTotest, often unexpressed through lack of cou;rage, from the decent-minded members of the audience. Their defence might be that the end justifies the means, as it must be admitted that quite clearly the play emphasises the beauty of motherhood, and at least by the women members of the audience is recognised to have that good point. But any sound eugenic principles are conspicuous by their absence from the play. C. E. A. B. I had the pleasure of seeing " The Very Idea" and spent an enjoyable evening watching this well-onstructed faTce. As an exposition of eugeinic principles, however, it is a failure. As I understand the aim of eugenic science, it is to encourage the reproduction of those strains in humanity which are able to maintain themselves wor.thily in the incessant struggle 11I2 EUGENICS REVIEW. for existence which goes on in all civilised communities as well as in the animal world generally. The most important factor in this success is mental ability, and i.f this all-important quality be transmitted it is of minor import that some physical defects should be handed on with it, since such a thing as an ideal-ly perfect human being is impossible to find. Eugenic science also teaches the duty of discouraging and' restrain- ing those sitocks from reproduction which are not able to maintain them- selves, and whose offspring must either perish or be supported by the more able stocks ,to the detriment of their own reproduction. In " The Very Idea " all -the emphasis is laid on the transmission of physical fit- ness-it is even implied that an obviously successful business main afflicted with minor chest ailments should not reproduce. E. W. MAcBRIDE.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. The Editor thanks the senders for all publications which have been forwarded to the Society.

BOOKS. Brushes with the Bishops, by " BESMA." (Publishers: Cecil Palmer and Hayward, London, I9I9. Price 3S. 6d. net. Pp. 208.) The Nature of Being, by HENRY H. SLESSER. (Publishers: Allen and Unwin, Lo,ndon, I9I9. Price ios. 6d. net. Pp. 224.) Rational Sex Ethics, by W. F. ROBIE. (Publishers: The Garham Press, Boston, 19I8. Pp. 351.)

PAMPHLETS. The Approaching Extinction of the Mayflower Descendants, by S. J. HOLMES and C. M. DOUD. (Repri.nted from the Journal of Heredity, November, 91I8.) An English Prison from Within, by STEPHEN HOBHOUSE. (Publishers: Allen and Unwin, London, I9I9. Price is. net. Pp. 36.) Social Amelioration and Eugenic Progress, by PROFESSOR S. J. HOLmS. (Reprinted from the Po,pular Science Monthly, January, 1919.)