2i8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENT OF THE HUMAN 

 BREED UNDER THE EXISTING CONDI- 

 TIONS OP LAW AND SENTIMENT.* 



By FRANCIS GALTON, D.C.L., D.Sc, F.R.S., 



LOXDON. 



TN fuljfilling the honorable charge that has been entrusted to me of 

 -*- delivering the Huxley lecture, I shall endeavor to carry out what 

 I understand to have been the wish of its founders, namely, to treat 

 broadly some new topic belonging to a class in which Huxley himself 

 would have felt a keen interest, rather than to expatiate on his charac- 

 ter and the work of his noble life. 



That which I have selected for to-night is one which has occupied 

 my thoughts for many years, and to which a large part of my published 

 inquiries have borne a direct though silent reference. Indeed, the re- 

 marks I am about to make would serve as an additional chapter to my 

 books on 'Hereditary Genius' and on 'Natural Inheritance.' My sub- 

 ject will be the possible improvement of the human race under the ex- 

 isting conditions of law and sentiment. It has not hitherto been 

 approached along the ways that recent knowledge has laid open, and it 

 occupies in consequence a less dignified position in scientific estimation 

 than it might. It is smiled at as most desirable in itself and possibly 

 worthy of academic discussion, but absolutely out of the question as a 

 practical problem. My aim in this lecture is to show cause for a differ- 

 ent opinion. Indeed I hope to induce anthropologists to regard human 

 improvement as a subject that should be kept openly and squarely in 

 view, not only on account of its transcendent importance, but also because 

 it affords excellent but neglected fields for investigation. I shall show 

 that our knowledge is already sufficient to justify the pursuit of this, 

 perhaps the grandest of all objects, but that we know less of the condi- 

 tions upon which success depends than we might and ought to ascertain. 

 The limits of our knowledge and of our ignorance will become clearer as 

 we proceed. 



Human Variety. 



The natural character and faculties of human beings differ at least 

 as widely as those of the domesticated animals, such as dogs and horses, 

 with whom we are familiar. In disposition some are gentle and good- 



* The second Huxley Lecture of the Anthropological Institute, delivered on 

 October 29, 1901. 



