Control of Heredity: Eugenics 273 



taught us something of the wonderful stability of nature, some- 

 thing of the immensity of past time and of future ages, some- 

 thing of the eternity of natural processes. Compared with this 

 infinite stability and eternity of nature what are our little sys- 

 tems and customs! Our years and centuries fall like grains of 

 sand into this abyss of time. Our individual lives are like drops 

 of water in this great ocean of life. What intellectual develop- 

 ments, what social institutions, what control of natural processes 

 may come in the long ages of futurity it has not entered into the 

 heart of man to conceive. And yet so far as we may judge by 

 the small portion of the record of the past which we can read there 

 has been no necessary progress. There has been "eternal process 

 moving on," but not eternal progress. Stagnation, degeneration, 

 elimination, as well as progression, have occurred all along the 

 path of evolution. And yet on the whole evolution has been pro- 

 gressive and there is no reason to suppose that the elimination of 

 the unfit and the preservation of the fit will cease to be the law 

 of future evolution, as it has been of the past. 



Existing Human Types. There are three principal types of the 

 human species white, yellow, and black and many subtypes 

 and races. These types and races differ in many regards in physi- 

 cal, mental and social characteristics, and their comparative value 

 has frequently been discussed. It is difficult to take an impartial 

 view of such a matter, though I suppose there would be little 

 question on the part of any well informed person that the white 

 and yellow types have contributed most to what we call civili- 

 zation. Nevertheless every race probably has good qualities which 

 could be made of service to society. The various races of cattle, 

 horses, sheep, etc., are all useful to man, but in different ways 

 and degrees, and the same is true of various races of men with 

 respect to civilization. In general the dominant races are the 

 most capable intellectually and socially, while those which have 

 been left behind or have been eliminated have been the less capa- 

 ble ones. And yet some very good races, possibly with capaci- 

 ties for high social and intellectual development, have been com- 



