Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-10
born" ATHLETES
PROWESSIS TRACED
Abilities of Specific Types
Run in Families, Carnegie
Scientists Hold.

The born athlete is a biological
fact.
That athletic abilities of specific types
run in families is the conclusion from
an exhaustive research of the genetics
laboratory of the Carnegie Institution
Of Washington.
The inheritance factor in success in
athletics" says the report, lis as clear
as that of racing ability in horses"
Heredity and performance records of
scores of athletes were analysed in this
study, due allowance being made for
favorable training. 1t is concluded
that training, however excellent, can
not compensate for lack of constitu-
tional characters which probably are
derived from the athletes ancestors.
Olympic Athlete Is Cited.
THE presence of the physical heredi-
tary factor in the athlete" says the
report, lis shown not only by the OBJ
served facts of the difference in bodily
proportions of persons who have been
successful in different types of athletics,
but also by the fact that in certain
families of brothers the standard train
ing has led to the same extraordinary
result. If two members of one
family qualified for the 10,000-meter
race on the Olympic team it was not
merely family tradition or the excep-
tional skill of their trainers, but also
their suitable bodily form, their fond
ness for outdoor activity and for COM
only sister and their father also re-
vealed and their fathers father who
could jump 512 feet. The correlation
in grade of success in brothers who
trained for the same sport is in some
sports extraordinarily high"
Comparative records of brothers
trained for the 440-yard dash, says the
report, show correlation of more than
0.90, which is practically perfect.
Mathematician Invades Track.
The mathematician is invading the
race track.
The horse "dopster,' as many have
learned from sad experience, often pro-
duces very poor dope" So eventually
he may give way to the Unconditional
doctor of philosophy who thinks in
terms of logs and antilogs, constitu-
tional indices, standard mean seconds
and Mendelian characters.
This does not mean that scientists
Of the genetics laboratory of the Car
negie Institution of Washington have
become frequenters of the track or have
any interest in bets on races. But 1t
is generally supposed that racing ability
of various kinds Is hereditary in horses
and the animals have been bred Tor
generations to bring out this ability
The scientists want to find out what
lines this inheritance follows and
whether it can be sufficiently analysed
into its constituent elements to be
predictables
For this purpose, they have worked
out mathematical formula by which
he IF 10 individual
horse, unaffected by the actual condt-
tons of the race, can be calculated
This they call the biological handi-
cap" Even to look at the formulas
probably would give the average veteran
race "dopester" a severe headache. From
these records efforts will be made To
obtain reliable heredity formulas.
Mental Level May Be Gaining.
may be increasing.
This develops from a study under
taken at the genetics laboratory to find
out whether certain human mental
traits are hereditary. A large number
of school records of parents and chill
| dren have been studied.
In general, the results so far arrived
| at tend to show that mental traits are
! inherited, although the distributions are
SO complex Lney QeIy exact analysis. IL
was found that student ability in fam
| lily pedigrees tended to concentrate ir
proportion to nearness in genealogical
relationship"
There is clear-cut evidence" say!
the report, "of a positive correlation
between the quality of children and the
type Of parental matings The distribu.
| ton of the children per mating accord
ing to type reveals that low mating:
yield children of lower average student
ability indices with a distinct prepon
derance of low type children. High
matings' yield children of higher aver
age, with an even greater proportion o.
high type children.
I'm general. the student ability indel
for the children Is distinctly highe
than that Of the parents, suggesting
that there Is rising tendency in TIT
mental level of the population, but thi
may be reflection of better educationa
facilities Of the later generation, anC
therefore environmental rather thar
genetical."
MOuntaineers Are Studied.
A survey has been completed by tn
genetics department of various aspect
OF degeneration among the Appalachian
mountaineers.
The figures indicate that this is du
to the sitting process due TO the lac