HUMAN SELECTION. 97 



because, as wealth and art increase, corruption creeps in, and the 

 new generations fail in the work of progress because the renewal 

 of individuals is left chiefly to the unfit. The two great factors 

 which secure perfection in each animal race sexual selection by 

 which the fit are born, and natural selection by which the fittest 

 survive both fail in the case of mankind, among whom are hosts 

 of individuals which in any other class of beings would never 

 have been born, or, if born, would never survive. He argues that, 

 unless some effective measures are soon adopted and strictly en- 

 forced, our case will be irremediable ; and, since natural selection 

 fails so largely, recourse must be had to artificial selection. 

 " The drunkard, the criminal, the diseased, the morally weak 

 should never come into society. Not reform but prevention 

 should be the cry." The method by which this is proposed to be 

 done is hinted at in the following passages : " In the true golden 

 age, which lies not behind but before us, the privilege of parent- 

 age will be esteemed an honor for the comparatively few, and no 

 child will be born who is not only sound in body and mind, but 

 also above the average as to natural ability and moral force " ; 

 and again, " The most important matter in society, the inherent 

 quality of the members which compose it, should be regulated by 

 trained specialists." 



Of this proposal and all of the same character we may say, 

 that nothing can possibly be more objectionable, even if we admit 

 that they might be effectual in securing the object aimed at. But 

 even this is more than doubtful ; and it is quite certain that any 

 such interference with personal freedom in matters so deeply affect- 

 ing individual happiness will never be adopted by the majority 

 of any nation, or if adopted would never be submitted to by the 

 minority without a life-and-death struggle. 



Another popular writer of the greatest ability and originality, 

 who has recently given us his solution of the problem, is Mr. 

 Grant Allen. His suggestion is in some respects the very reverse 

 of the last, yet it is, if possible, even more objectionable. Instead 

 of any interference with personal freedom, he proposes the entire 

 abolition of legal restrictions as to marriage, which is to be a free 

 contract to last only so long as either party desires. This alone, 

 however, would have no effect on race-improvement, except prob- 

 ably a prejudicial one. The essential part of his method is, that 

 girls should be taught, both by direct education and by the influ- 

 ence of public opinion, that the duty of all healthy and intellect- 

 ual women is to be the mothers of as many and as perfect children 

 as possible. For this purpose they are recommended to choose as 

 temporary husbands the finest, healthiest, and most intellectual 

 men, thus insuring a variety of combinations of parental quali- 

 ties which would lead to the production of offspring of the 



TOL. XXXTIII. 7 



