3 o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that is, of the struggle for existence, heredity, and natural selection. 

 A benevolence that takes no account of those laws may become ma- 

 lign, and the short-sighted fraternity that considers only the existing 

 generation may be transformed, as we shall see, into a veritable injus- 

 tice toward future generations. The great danger to which a blind 

 charity, dissociated from science and stipulative justice, exposes itself 

 is that of depressing the physical and moral level of the race. What 

 are the conclusions of Darwinism on this point ? We may, with Mr. 

 Spencer, summarize them in the two propositions which every philan- 

 thropist, in his opinion, should have always present in his mind : " The 

 quality of a society is physically lowered by the artificial preserva- 

 tion of its feeblest members ; the quality of a society is lowered mor- 

 ally and intellectually by the artificial preservation of those who are 

 least able to take care of themselves." Let us successively consider, 

 and endeavor to restrict to their real bearing, these two capital propo- 

 sitions. The law of Malthus, from which Darwin has deduced the 

 law of the struggle for existence, tends to produce in the existing state 

 of society a numerical surplus of individuals who struggle for life it- 

 self. Excessive fecundity has good and bad results. All individuals 

 finding themselves subjected by its operation to an increasing difficulty 

 in gaining their living, there is produced in society a kind of pressure, 

 the natural effect of which is, on the average, a progress. Those alone, 

 in effect, can survive who are capable of resisting that pressure, and 

 even of advancing under its influence ; these, then, may be considered 

 "the elect of their generation." When an individual succumbs, it is 

 always for lack of power to triumph over some action of the environ- 

 ment cold, heat, moisture, insalubrity of air, etc. He can not make way 

 against one or many of the numerous forces that act upon him, and in 

 the presence of which his vital activity is called upon to display itself. 

 He may succumb to them more or less quickly, according to the vigor 

 of his organization and the incidents of his career ; but, in the natural 

 course of events, those who are imperfectly organized pass away be- 

 fore having any offspring, and only the most vigorous organizations 

 contribute to the production of the succeeding generation. Such is 

 the natural selection, favorable to the improvement of the species, 

 which is produced in mankind when Nature is allowed to act without 

 contradiction. It is, says Mr. Spencer, a natural work of elimination 

 by which society is continually purifying itself. Suppose now that a 



291,000 were condemned to prison and other penalties. It is impossible for a nation to 

 endure such a policy without suffering a great deterioration of the race. The taking 

 from the nation its most intelligent and most vigorous men had for its most noteworthy 

 result the formation of the unintelligent and superstitious race of contemporary Span- 

 iards." Attention has frequently been called to the disastrous effect of the military 

 regime of our epoch, which deprives the family and labor of the soundest part of youth, 

 and, leaving at home only the weak or sickly men, produces a selection backward in the 

 nation. When war is added to universal armament, it harvests the best part of a people, 

 and debases the generations which follow it. 



