Heredity in the light of recent research / by L. Doncaster.

  • Doncaster, L. (Leonard), 1877-1920.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Heredity in the light of recent research / by L. Doncaster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    INTRODUCTION During the whole history of scientific enquiry, one of the most fascinating and at the same time one of the most baffling of the problems which confront mankind has been the cause of the resemblances and differences between parents and children. In general, the facts are common knowledge; the essence of Heredity and Variation is expressed in the proverbs ‘ Like begets like ’ and ^ Nature never uses the same mould twice.’ Yet clearly the two proverbs are con- tradictory, for if like really begets like Nature must use the same mould for all the members of a family. Our object therefore is to investigate, first, how the characters of a parent actually are distributed among the children, and how the offspring of the same parentage may differ among themselves; and secondly, if possible, what is the mechanism by which the re- semblances and diversities are brought about. These problems are interesting from various points of view. Tliey attract us for their own sake, as does 1 D.