REMARKABLE CLAIM

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 2 May 1923, Page 8

REMARKABLE CLAIM

MAKING GENIUS HEREDITARY

an CABLE—P&ESS ASSOCIATION— Co* i tkiutVi. Received May 2, 9.10 a.m.

LONDON, May 1. Dr. Kammerer, the well-known specialist, lecturing before the Cambridge University Natural History Society, declared that it was possible by experimenting on human beings to make genius hereditary, just as acquired characteristics in animals could be transmitted to succeeding generations. The new development would entirely supercede eugenics, the results of which were negative. His experiments showed that bad qualities can be minimised and good qualities cultivated, but parents must be normal, healthy people, with n. full sense of their responsibility to their children. It would be as easy " t h«n-I down aormired vioe's as acquired virtues. The lecturer added that Ye hncl not yet experimented with human beings, but had clearly established the theory with animals. Dr. Kammerer also claimed that he lad developed the eyes in the sightless newt by exposing the animal to a .red light five years after birth. Whereas daylight caused a dark pigment to form over the eyes, the red light allowed •optic development. The Cambridge experts say that Dr. Hammerer's work is* the greatest advance in biological science in recent years, a striking development of the work of Darwin on evolution and Mendel on heredity.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.