493 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



a powerful instrument in directly enhancing human health and 

 happiness in a group of movements of which the New Thought and 

 Christian Science may be mentioned as examples. These movements 

 have passed the experimental stage and are proving potent means in 

 preventing and curing disease and promoting personal peace and har- 

 mony. Again, health leagues, committees on national vitality, scien- 

 tific studies in nutrition, the warfare against insects and a host of such 

 movements are all working towards increased happiness and increased 

 health. But now it is proposed to go still farther in promoting human 

 welfare by the direct application of the laws of heredity to the improve- 

 ment of the race. Eugenics is the name of this new science and its 

 aim is to teach us to be not merely well nourished and well nurtured, 

 but also well born. Eugenics is defined by Galton as the study of 

 agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial 

 qualities of future generations either physically or mentally. In 

 eugenics we see consciousness arriving at sufficient maturity to control 

 race culture. The possibilities of this new science are unlimited. 



The third direction in which intelligence is working to further the 

 welfare of man is in social and political relations. Here the advances 

 are too many and too rapid for any one to catalogue. One might recall 

 such gains as the abolition of slavery, religious toleration, freedom of 

 speech, freedom of the press, freedom of opportunity, the limitation or 

 abandonment of the death penalty, the humanizing of prisons, the 

 restriction of child labor, and the substitution of wise charity and help- 

 fulness for injurious almsgiving. The rights of labor are now recog- 

 nized and the whole laboring class more justly remunerated and ac- 

 corded a position of dignity and respect. The rights of the working- 

 man, his welfare and his comfort are secured by workingmen's unions, 

 protective insurance, factory laws, eight-hour laws, pure food laws, 

 free schools, free public libraries and many other agencies, while the 

 general spirit of social progress and social improvement is shown by 

 lend-a-hand movements, worth-while movements, Christian Endeavor 

 societies, civic art clubs, the conservation movement, movements for 

 the promotion of civic righteousness, of the square deal, and of universal 

 peace, neighborhood and social centers, social surveys, social settle- 

 ments, and kindred efforts having in view the greater happiness 

 of all the people. In the event of famine, earthquakes or disasters of 

 any kind in any part of the world, abundant charity cheerfully given 

 and economically administered is immediately forthcoming. Finally, 

 we are seeing the beginning of the custom of distributing colossal pri- 

 vate fortunes in establishing and maintaining free public libraries, great 

 educational and humanitarian institutions, and institutions for medical 

 research and scientific investigations. 



In particular there are four aspects of modern life and society 

 which are distinctly optimistic. First, the elimination of fear. Second, 



