Abstract
THIS little book is an expansion of a lecture given at the Army Medical Centre, Washington. It discusses the problems of the human constitution with the author's usual lucidity of style, taking the view that the constitution of an individual is determined not only by his genetic inheritance but also by the exigencies of his lifetime, such as the infections to which his body may have reacted, producing immunity. The constitution of an individual is therefore subject to change throughout his history, and statistical treatments are necessary to determine the inter-relationships involved in the series of complex variables, anatomical, physiological, psychological and pathological, which characterise a human being. The asthenic and pycnic types are regarded as merely extremes in a continuous series. Dysplastic or asymmetrical types also occur, having, for example, legs of one somatological type and trunk of another. Such may be regarded as a coarse form of mosaic inheritance. All the general modern biological interpretations are touched upon.
Constitution and Health.
By Prof. Raymond Pearl. (Psyche Miniatures: General Series, No. 60.) Pp. 97 + 5 plates. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., 1933.) 2s. 6d. net.
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Constitution and Health . Nature 133, 596 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133596b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133596b0