Genetics. An Introduction to the Study of Heredity. With 72 Figures and Diagrams

Genetics; an introduction to the study of heredity – is a work which was published in 1913 and written by Herbert Eugene Walter, a prominent biologist, researcher, author and Professor at Brown University. This book arose from a course of lectures on heredity given at Brown University during the winter of 1911-1912, which was expanded and partially repeated the following summer at Long Island, Cold Spring Harbor, in front of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences Biological Summer School. An attempt has been made to generalize for the intelligent but uninitiated reader some of the recent phases of heredity issues that currently concern the biological world. We hope this summary will be of interest not only to the general reader, but also useful in college courses on evolution and heredity. The topic of heredity concerns everyone, but many of those who want to get to know it better are either too busy or do not have the opportunity to study this issue on their own. The recent literature in this area is already very extensive, with all indications that much more will follow, which is an additional disappointment for non-technical readers. Therefore, it may not be easy to raise a single voice from the jargon of many languages that tries to tell the story of heredity. There may be a definite advantage to having the speaker who is not currently immersed in the difficult technical research that makes the story worth telling. Difficulties in understanding this complex subject are perhaps better understood by someone who himself is still struggling with them than by an experienced expert who has long forgotten about the existence of such difficulties.