The eugenic predicament / by S.J. Holmes.

  • Samuel Jackson Holmes
Date:
[1933], ©1933
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The eugenic predicament / by S.J. Holmes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/256 (page VII)
    Preface DURING recent years knowledge bearing upon problems of eugenics has accumulated with ex traordinary rapidity. Noteworthy progress has been made in ascertaining the mode of inheritance of vari ous traits which are of especial importance from the eugenic standpoint. The recent systematic study of heredity in identical and fraternal twins has thrown much light on several hitherto obscure problems of human genetics, especially in regard to the transmis sion of mental defects and diseases. A large amount of evidence has accumulated in relation to the much dis cussed problem of the relative rôles of nature and nur ture in the development of intelligence. As a result of numerous investigations in educational psychology, it is coming to be pretty clearly established that environ ment has its very distinct limitations as a means of de veloping intellectual power. Or, in other words, if brains are not inherited there is small chance of acquir ing them. Hereditarians and environmentalists have long wran gled over the question whether this, that, or the other peculiarity is to be attributed mainly to the environ- vii