Abstract
IN the thirteenth bulletin (June, 1915) from the Eugenics Record Office (Cold Spring Harbour, Long Island, New York), Messrs. C. B. Davenport and H.H. Laughlin give precise directions for making “a eugenical family study.” The general lines are similar to those of the records of family histories which Sir.Francis Galton sought to initiate in Britain many years ago. Such a study, carefully made, is, the authors tell, us, important to the individual, who may understand and guide himself better if he knows his hereditary assets and liabilities; important to society, which “can treat the delinquent individual more reasonably, more effectively, and more humanely, if it knows the ‘ past performance’ of his germplasm”; important with a view to “ vocational selection,” the end of which is to get the right man in the right place; important for education, which should take some account of the inborn potentialities of the individual; and important, finally, in the selection of marriage-mates, or at least in avoiding obviously unfit unions.
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Family Histories and Eugenics . Nature 96, 180 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/096180a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/096180a0