228 THE NEXT GENERATION 



What, then, is the fourth great step in the race-improvement series ? 

 In past ages how much thought did people give to the welfare of 

 their descendants ? By what laws did those who were least fitted 

 to survive die in their childhood ? What effect did this have on the 

 number of healthy and efficient people in each generation ? Describe 

 the change in living conditions which took place after many ages. 

 What effect did inferior ancestors have on whole villages of descend- 

 ants ? Why were disease microbes now able to make havoc among 

 these descendants ? In those days how much did people know 

 about prevention and the cause of the havoc ? What great dis- 

 covery did Pasteur make in 1865 ? What was he studying when 

 he came upon disease microbes in the silkworm ? Since his time 

 what have other men discovered in the same direction ? What, then, 

 is it that has brought us to the parting of the ways ? When we 

 glance over past records, what do we learn about the numbers of 

 defectives in former times and their numbers now ? Describe how 

 it is that through our kindness we have been helping on the mis- 

 fortunes of the race. What have the fit been doing for the unfit ? 

 Was it right for us to lengthen the lives of our degenerates and 

 maintain them in comfort ? What was it that we should not have 

 done ? To a large extent, whose descendants are now multiplied in 

 our asylums, our prisons, and our hospitals ? To whom must the 

 new road which humanity travels be dedicated ? What does com- 

 mon sense tell us will be the result if we protect children before 

 they are born ? If we should do this, what would be the result in 

 the future ? What does race regeneration really mean ? How can 

 race regeneration come ? What does race regeneration command 

 each generation to do for the next generation ? What is the noblest 

 gift which one generation may offer to another ? From whom has 

 each of us received his standards of life ? 



