EDITOR'S TABLE. 



845 



a good citizen; a man may with the 

 best of intentions, and even at great 

 self-sacrifice, set himself in direct oppo- 

 sition to the best interests of the state. 

 The trouble in such a case is that the 

 man lacks knowledge, and, like an ig- 

 norant physician, either diagnosticates 

 badly the evils he would remedy, or, if 

 his diagnoses chance to be right which 

 is very unlikely applies the wrong 

 cure. Prof. Pearson does not pretend 

 that as yet science can pronounce defin- 

 itive and certain judgments upon all 

 social questions; but he properly main- 

 tains that science should, as far as pos- 

 sible, be our guide to-day, and that it 

 alone will ever lead us into a perfect 

 comprehension of our social duties. "We 

 are, therefore, in full accord with him 

 when he formulates what he calls the 

 first claim of science in the following 

 w ords : 



''Modem science, as training the 

 mind to an exact and impartial analysis 

 of facts, is an education especially fitted 

 to promote sound citizenship.'''' 



The first claim of science being that 

 it supplies the requisite method for 

 dealing with social questions; the sec- 

 ond, which flows naturally from the 

 first, is that it brings actual principles 

 to light which afford the most impor- 

 tant guidance in social matters. Such 

 Prof. Pearson holds to be Weismann's 

 discovery if it be one of the non-in- 

 heritance of characteristics acquired 

 during the lifetime of a parent organ- 

 ism. If Weismann's theory be correct, 

 then, in Prof. Pearson's words, "no de- 

 generate and feeble stock will ever be 

 converted into healthy and sound stock 

 by the accumulated effects of education, 

 good laws, and sanitary surroundings. 

 Snch means may render the individual 

 members of the stock passable, if not 

 strong, members of society ; but the 

 same process will have to be gone 

 through again and again with their 

 offspring, and this in ever-widening 

 circles, if the stock, owing to the condi- 

 tions in which society has placed it, is 



able to increase in numbers. . . . If," 

 our author significantly adds, "society 

 is to shape its own future, we must be 

 extremely cautious that, in following 

 our strong social instincts, we do not at 

 the same time weaken society by ren- 

 dering the propagation of bad stock 

 more and more easy." The argument 

 under thi3 head is not affected by the 

 truth or falsity of Weismann's theory. 

 If Weismann is right, we have to shape 

 our conduct in such a way as to make 

 the propagation of bad stock as difficult 

 as possible, and we shall depend for the 

 future welfare of society mainly upon a 

 careful selection of stocks; if he is 

 wrong, and stocks, no less than individ- 

 uals, can be improved by education and 

 outward circumstances, we shall apply 

 ourselves more energetically to work in 

 these directions. In either case, a ver- 

 dict which science alone can render, is 

 of the first importance in determining 

 social action. 



The third claim which Prof. Pearson 

 makes for science is the obvious one 

 that its suggestive discoveries afford 

 means for the improvement of all the 

 material conditions of human life. In 

 the popular apprehension this is the one 

 incontrovertible claim of science, and 

 upon this point, therefore, it is not 

 necessary to lay much stress. It may, 

 however, be remarked that many of the 

 greatest practical triumphs of science in 

 the present age have flowed from dis- 

 coveries or observations which at the 

 outset it was hard to link, even in im- 

 agination, with any important practical 

 result. In the words of our author, 

 "The frog's legs of Galvani and the 

 Atlantic cable seem wide enough apart, 

 but the former was the starting-point of 

 the series of investigations which ended 

 in the latter." In like manner, it is 

 suggested, the recent discovery of Hertz, 

 that the action of electro-magnetism is 

 propagated in waves like light, and that 

 light, as conjectured by Maxwell, is only 

 a special phase of electro-magnetic ac- 

 tion, may in a generation or two do 



