The Trend of the Race: A Study of Present Tendencies in the Biological Development of Civilized Mankind

The Trend of the Race: A Study of Present Tendencies in the Biological Development of Civilized Mankind

Harcourt, Brace and Company
1921
396 pages
(Digitized by Google)

Samuel J. Holmes (1868-1964), Ph.D., Professor of Zoology
University of California, Berkeley

CONTENTS

  • I. An Introductory Orientation
  • II. The Hereditary Basis
  • III. The Inheritance of Mental Defects and Disease
  • IV. The Heritable Basis of Crime and Delinquency
  • V. The Inheritance of Mental Ability
  • VI. The Decline of the Birth Rate
  • VII. The Causes of the Decline of the Birth Rate
  • VIII. Natural Selection in Man
  • IX. The Selective Influence of War
  • X. Sexual Selection and Assortative Mating
  • XI. Consanguineous Marriages and Miscegenation
  • XII. The Possible Role of Alcohol and Disease in Causing Hereditary Defects
  • XIII. The Alleged Influence of Order of Birth and Age of Parents upon Offspring
  • XIV. The Racial Influence or Industrial Development
  • XV. The Selective Function of Religion
  • XVI. Retrospect and Prospect

PREFACE

The present volume is the outgrowth of a course of lectures on Eugenics which has been given for several years in the University of California. Its aim is to present an account of the various forces which are at present modifying the inherited qualities of civilized mankind. In dealing with so extensive and complex a subject I have doubtless committed a number of errors and have probably not altogether escaped from being misled by statistical fallacies into which I have so often accused others of having fallen. The more extensively I have delved into the varied literature on the biological evolution of man, the more I have become impressed with the necessity of employing extreme caution in drawing conclusions. Few subjects, in fact, present so many pitfalls for the unwary. It is with the conviction that it is especially important in this field to be sure one is right before going ahead that I have devoted so much effort to critical analysis at the risk of becoming tedious to the general reader.

I am indebted to my colleagues Professor F. B. Sumner and Professor F. J. Teggart for reading my original manuscript and for making a number of valuable suggestions.

The preparation of the present work has involved the compilation of an extensive bibliography which is to be published as an additional volume so that the references may be rendered avail able for other investigators.

S. J Holmes

Berkeley, Calif.
Jan. 1921.

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