482 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Of course, many of the obvious defects would be apparent in any 

 environment, but where the reaction of inheritance and environment is 

 subtler this is not true. It is only by " feeding out " that the stock- 

 man determines which strains of his cattle most readily lay on flesh; 

 without trying it on the track the horseman has no test of the speed 

 of his horse; and unless the dairyman tests the milk-producing quali- 

 ties of his cows under the most favorable conditions, he has no true 

 measure for selecting those by which he may expect to improve his herd. 

 The rose may never bloom to perfection if it is too closely crowded by 

 other plants — our best flowers need care and protection, because they 

 are adapted only to a special environment. . It may be urged that what 

 we need is the virile plant that will assert itself in any environment; 

 that we need the Lincolns and others who could attain to greatness 

 without the aid of colleges or fellowships. But we can scarcely hope to 

 establish at once a race of Lincolns, and it is as probable that the 

 special environments will be as necessary for the higher types of man 

 as they are for our specialized domesticated plants and animals. It is 

 necessary to consider its reaction to the environment the test of the 

 individual. 



When we are able to distinguish the good inheritance from the bad, 

 how shall we proceed to perpetuate the one and to eliminate the other ? 

 This is a matter which can be worked out only with care and patience. 

 Measures which would disturb the fundamental relationships of society 

 form no part of the conservative eugenic program. The extent to which 

 certain influences, such as the church and popular belief, have been able 

 to influence marriage in the past, lead us to hope that rational educa- 

 tion may have a considerable influence in the future. Selective mating 

 may also play a part, since there is a tendency for a person to select 

 a mate who has in general similar tastes and ideals. I have no statistics 

 at hand, but I am of the impression an investigation of the subject 

 would show, for example, a relatively high correlation between the 

 graduates of colleges who marry college graduates. So much as to the 

 perpetuation of the good. As to the bad, the eugenist can here lay 

 down definite plans, and such in fact are already in operation to some 

 extent in certain states. If society is justified in ridding itself of the 

 criminal, it is certainly justified in taking all precautions that he shall 

 leave no descendants. 



Our eugenic program is then first of all patient and persistent 

 accumulation and study of the facts, and in the second place educa- 

 tion, or extension — the bringing of those facts home to the people. 

 "We must be guarded in our statements and cautious in our proposals, 

 for to raise antagonism over misunderstandings or small disputed points 

 will only delay and impede progress. As eugenists — and we should all 

 be eugenists — we must work patiently, impassionately, scientifically, but 

 keeping ever before us as our guiding star a lofty and righteous ideaL 



