2 78 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



could not wipe out a type under these conditions. The unit characters 

 on which elimination acts are plainly in the pure races, which are con- 

 stantly eliminated, but constantly reappear in the descendents of the 

 mixed types. 



That this is not mere theory, but an actual condition, is shown by 

 the way elimination is now working among the civilized races. The 

 long-faced woman is narrow hipped and large boned. Child-bearing to 

 her is difficult and many, therefore, do not marry. Men dislike the 

 long-faced woman and seldom marry her unless forced by economic 

 necessity. The result is that an elimination works against long-faced 

 women. They become the old maids and business women, or, if married, 

 are the source of the much-discussed race suicide. The long-faced 

 woman disappears in these ways in each generation, to reappear in the 

 next as the pure element in the mixed or oval-faced marriages. We 

 can, thus, have a perpetual succession of long-faced women, even if they 

 have no children. The round-faced woman, on the other hand, is 

 broad-hipped and makes flesh rather than bone. Men prefer her to her 

 long-faced sister. She gets married early and bears many children. 

 The tendency, therefore, is to perpetuate the short, thick-set women of 

 the type that men admire. 



Among men, however, the opposite tendency prevails. The tall, 

 nervous, long-faced man has more mental vigor and moral control. The 

 round-faced man lacks initiative, is governed by tradition, and readily 

 accepts the subordination, exploitation and poverty that come with 

 defeat. He suffers more from epidemic diseases and is a ready victim of 

 dissipation. In civilized countries his lack of earning power forces him 

 into the slums of cities, or into the less favored occupations in the 

 country. In these ways, he is forced into places and positions where the 

 death rate is high. Against him, an elimination is working that cuts 

 him off in each generation almost as fully as elimination works against 

 the long-faced women. We thus have effective processes that weed out 

 the round-faced man and the long-faced woman. This means that the 

 productive unions are between the long-faced and oval-faced men on the 

 one hand, and the oval-faced and round-faced women on the other. So 

 long as the long-faced man is more productive, and the round-faced 

 woman more fertile, the marriage of the two will create the mixed race 

 found in northern countries. It is only in southern regions that the 

 pure round-faced type prevails in both men and women. 



Elimination thus leads not to extermination of existing types, but 

 to their perpetuation. If conscious elimination is to be put in opera- 

 tion, it must be made to act on men and women alike. This is extremely 

 difficult, as we admire traits in women we despise in men, and we keep 

 them in existence by this means. We do not, for example, like a 

 deceitful man, but men condone or admire deceit in women. The 

 round-faced woman reproduces her lower morality in the next genera- 



