and animals is full of hope; without such light, it will be discouragingly slow work.
Genealogists are usually proud of their pedigrees; they usually have a right to be. But their pride should not lead them to scorn the pedigrees of some of the peas, and corn, snapdragons and sugar beets, bulldogs and Shorthorn cattle, with which geneticists have been working during the last generation; for these humble pedigrees may throw more light on their own than a century of research in purely human material.
The science of genealogy will not have full meaning and full value to those who pursue it, unless they bring themselves to look on men and women as organisms subject to the same laws of heredity and variation as other living things. Biologists were not long ago told that it was essential for them to learn to think like genealogists. For the purpose of eugenics, neither science is complete without the other; and we believe that it is not invidious to say that biologists have been quicker to realize this than have genealogists. The Golden Age of genealogy is yet to come.
(4) In addition to the correction of these faulty methods, there are certain extensions of genealogical method which could advantageously be made without great difficulty.
(a) More written records should be kept, and less dependence placed on oral communication. The obsolescent family Bible, with its chronicle of births, deaths and marriages, is an institution of too great value in more ways than one, to be given up. The United States have not the advantage of much of the machinery of State registration which aids European genealogy, and while working for better registration of vital statistics, it should be a matter of pride with every family to keep its own archives.
(b) Family trees should be