<h3>The Determination of Sex</h3> Prof. F. Unterberger, director, gynecologic department, Krankenhaus der Barmherzigkeit in Königsberg, has in the<i>Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift</i>an article on the arbitrary determination of sex in man. In spite of the peculiar solution of the problem, it deserves attention, in view of the authority of the author. According to the principles of the theory of hereditary transmission, the sex-determining factor is, judging by the evidence, the father. According to the law of probability, since there are 50 per cent male and 50 per cent female elements present, the chances for boys and girls would have always to be the same. In a certain percentage of the marriages, the male births are to the female births actually as 1:1. The offspring of other marriages are, on the contrary, chiefly boys—of still others, only girls. Statistics show that there is a distinct excess of male births over female
Read full abstract