Scope and Contents Samuel is asking for some advice as to whether the offspring of consanguineous relationships are more likely to be mentally and physically impaired than the offspring of unrelated parents. He has in his possession correspondence with the Zoological Society in London (of which he is a Fellow) regarding the practice of inbreeding amongst the animals, while his interests lie more with inbreeding in consanguineous human relationships. He questions whether they are not a violation of nature and...

Scope and Contents

Sclater answers Ewart's question about experiments in inbreeding in the Zoological Gardens. He states that, while that no experiments specifically based on inbreeding have been carried out at the Gardens, they are careful to inject new blood into their breeding programmes, to sustain the size, health and reproductive powers of the animals.