Developing a Superior Race_

In the preface of Dr. Guyer's remarkable book, "Being Well Born," we read
the following: "It is no exaggeration to say that during the last fifteen
years, we have made more progress in measuring the extent of inheritance
and in determining its elemental factors than in all previous time." If
this is true, it would seem to be almost criminal for teachers and parents
to neglect to acquaint themselves with the fundamental laws of heredity.
This author says further: "Since what a child becomes is determined so
largely by its inborn capacities, it is of the utmost importance that
teachers and parents realize something of the nature of such aptitudes
before they begin to awaken them. For education consists in large measure
in supplying the stimuli necessary to set going these potentialities and of
affording opportunity for their expression."

_Mendel's_ law is probably the most important known principle of
inheritance. Through its application practically all of the improvements in
plants and animals have been brought about. This law may be explained as
follows: A certain kind of pure bred fowl is found which is either pure
white or black. If either color is mated with its own color the resulting
progeny will be true to the color of the parents, but if a white and a
black are crossed the result will be blue fowls possessing one-half the
characteristics of each parent, but strange to say, if two blue fowls are
mated the progeny will not be all blue, one-fourth will be white like one
grandparent, another one-fourth black like the other grandparent, and
one-half will be blue like the parents. If this experiment is repeated with
plants and animals having opposite characteristics, the same ratios as
above always result. This indicates that truly heritable traits or
characters are separate units and are inherited independently. The breeder
is thus enabled through selecting the traits or characters that are wanted