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I am very much interested in your plan to have students do independent work on heredity. I will comment upon the topics that you suggest. (1) Inheritance of body form. By a curious coincidence I am just finishing a paper on this subject. I am, therefore, somewhat instructed in saying that I believe it will be found a profitable subject to undertake. I would suggest that the student see personally as many members of the family as possible and obtain from each, as far as possible by personal measurement, height without shoes, weight without clothes if known (age at which weight was to be given to be stated), chest circumference over a minimum amount of clothing to be taken below the tip of the scapula, if feasible.
I would suggest that an especially valuable piece of information to obtain is a statement concerning the changes in stature and weight at different ages for each individual studied, as far as possible. This would be a study in heredity in change of build with age. Also it is desirable to get a statement as exact as possible of the general feeding habits of each individual. Get some idea of the average amount eaten at each meal. In the case of very obese persons it is desirable to consider whether the obesity is painful or not. Whether the individual is subject to headaches and if so, of what kind, and whether there are many associated defects in development. The matter of inheritance of body build is very complex and has to be studied intensively. The body build is the resultant of exogenous and endogenous factors.
The eye color problem is a good one, if enough pains is taken. I would suggest that large scale drawings of the iris of each individual be made but this is not an easy matter because the cornea is a mirror and it is really hard to make an accurate drawing of the iris.
Color blindness is also a good topic but complicated by its sex limited nature. Especially is it desirable to learn of cases of families of girls mated with color blind men.
I believe that family histories of inmates of local orphanages will reveal very interesting data of great social, if not biological moment.
As you know, we have a training corps for field workers in
eugenics at Cold Spring Harbor and if any of your students take their
work in human heredity seriously enough
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