EUGENICS AND EUTHENICS 385 



This second part of the problem of human betterment, real race 

 betterment, is a problem of good breeding, not one of culture. This 

 problem of good breeding has two somewhat distinct aspects that are 

 seldom clearly distinguished. There is first the problem of bringing 

 the race average nearer to its present best by eliminating the less desir- 

 able and breeding from the best. This is the problem of eugenics as 

 ordinarily considered. But there is the added problem of securing 

 further true evolution of the race, raising the present best to a better. 



We see thus the three aspects of the problem of human betterment : 

 first, human culture, whose effects are cumulative through training 

 from generation to generation, though not inherited; second, race- 

 betterment through breeding from the best and eliminating the more 

 undesirable, thus raising the general average toward the best type of 

 manhood as we know it; third, the problem of securing true evolution 

 beyond the point of the best yet experienced among men. 



The problem of human culture is social, not biological. The prob- 

 lems of eugenics and evolution are primarily biological, but can be 

 approached only if social conditions allow the application of biological 

 method. It is necessary to emphasize cultural effort, for it is essential 

 that the good breeding of the future human race be in the midst of a 

 controlling atmosphere of highest altruistic idealism. Let us note for a 

 moment some elements of the biological problem. 



I can not stop to describe the microscopical structure of germ cells 

 and their nuclei ; the fact that the nuclei contain chromosomes in defi- 

 nite number which are the instigators of physiological action and the 

 controllers in heredity ; that the chromosomes in each nucleus fall into 

 diverse categories physiologically, there being two chromosomes of each 

 physiological type, one derived from the male parent and one from the 

 female parent; that the different regions of a single chromosome 

 may have different physiological values, and that in the division 

 of nuclei the chromosomes split in such a manner that each 

 daughter cell receives half of each specialized bit of each chromosome; 

 that before fertilization one chromosome of each physiological pair is 

 thrown away, and that in fertilization the full double character of the 

 nucleus is restored. Of course, without knowledge of these structures in 

 the germ cells and of their behavior in reproduction, one is not ready to 

 begin to think of problems of inheritance. Familiarity with these fun- 

 damental facts not only helps one to escape many errors into which 

 so many of the uninitiated fall, as, for example, the belief in the inher- 

 itance of the effects of culture, that is, of acquired characters, but it is 

 essential as a guide to every step of one's thinking in this field. But I 

 must assume that these are familiar matters to you all. 



Eecent studies in heredity have demonstrated that there is a sharp 

 distinction between qualities that are heritable and others that are not 



