Seven ambitious brothers and how they bred a race of kings / editor: Henry Smith Williams, M.D., LL.D.

Date:
[1914]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Seven ambitious brothers and how they bred a race of kings / editor: Henry Smith Williams, M.D., LL.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/32 page 17
    It must be recalled, however, that Mr. Bur- bank has the option of destroying all of his seed- lings, and that he commonly preserves only a few among the thousands. Obviously this part of the plant breeder’s meth- ods cannot be applied to the human plant, and hence we are debarred from giving indiscrimi- nate approval to the method of quantity production as applied to human beings. What we are justified in saying, however, is that quantity production applied to the better classes of the community would be highly bene- ficial. It should be remembered that Mr. Burbank applies the principle of quantity production not indiscriminately, but to the best individuals. He could never produce the improved varieties for which he is famous were he to breed only from undesirable members of the colony, even though he germinated seeds by uncounted millions. AID FROM GALTON’S LAW In point of fact, it is necessary, in order to gain a clear understanding of the matter, to sup- plement what was just said about the multiple ancestry of each individual with the explicit state- ment that the major part of the qualities that are likely to find expression in any given case has been tangible in the immediate ancestors. According to an estimate made by the late [17]
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