Excerpt from Treasury of Human Inheritance, Vol. 1

For a publication of this kind to be successful at the present time, it should, as I have indicated above, be entirely free from controversial matter. The T reasmy of Human Inheritance therefore contains no reference to theoretical opinions. It gives in a standardised form the pedigree of each stock. This is accompanied by a few pages of text describing the individual members of the stock, giving references to authorities, and, if the material has been published, to the locus of original publication. When necessary the characteristic is illustrated by photography or radiography. In this way, it is hoped in the course of a few years to place a large mass of material in the hands of the student of human heredity. It will not cut him off from, but directly guide him to original and fuller sources of information. Further the Treasury will provide students of eugenics and of sociology, medical men and others with an organ where their investigations can find ready publication, and where as time goes on a higher and more complete standard of family history than has hitherto been usual can be maintained.

Each pedigree and its description appears under the name of the author responsible for its completeness and accuracy; and by aid of a key number to a confidential manuscript register of names and localities, it is hoped that it may be occasionally possible for future investigators to recover traces of individual stocks, or to ascertain whether newly discovered cases can be linked on to previously recorded families'.

No one who has attempted a collection of this kind drawn from many quarters and prepared by different writers, will be over severe on discrepancies and omissions in the earlier issues. The full work of standardisation can only be carried out as the diverse needs of different types of family characters are better appreciated. It is not always possible to maintain a proper balance between the graphic and verbal descrip tions but I wish most strongly to insist on the point that neither are to be interpreted alone they are component parts of one whole, and the reader who draws conclusions from the engraved pedigrees without consulting the verbal accounts is certain to be led into error. Presence or absence of a character cannot be settled by the simple blacking or omitting to black a circle. The description is practically that of the original observer, whereas the pedigree is the work of the author of the special section of the Treasury and he may under or over-estimate the statement presented to him. As general editor, I feel sure that much care has been taken to reach an unbiassed judgment, and I know that contributors and members of this laboratory have Spent many days of labour in following up both original pedigrees and pedigrees in dissertations, books and journals very hard indeed of access.

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