270 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



there will be no reason to regret the 

 props and stays and leading-strings that 

 helped to steady the morality of the past. 



EUMAIZ SELECTION. 



We published in our last number an 

 interesting article under the above title, 

 by Mr. Alfred Eussel Wallace. Mr. 

 Wallace is much concerned over the 

 fact that modern sooiety is being re- 

 cruited chiefly from the ranks of its 

 less worthy members, and is thus un- 

 dergoing a constant process of dete- 

 rioration. Under any form of govern- 

 ment this would be a serious danger, 

 but, where democratic institutions pre- 

 vail, it forebodes, unless it can be ar- 

 rested, nothing less than social dissolu- 

 tion. The more favored classes marry 

 late, for the most part, if at all. Their 

 children are comparatively few. The 

 improvident and worthless marry early, 

 without the least regard for conse- 

 quences, and flood the community with 

 their degenerate offspring. That is the 

 situation as described by certain writ- 

 ers, and the remedies proposed are 

 many and varied. One writer wants 

 restrictions placed on marriage, whether 

 of a physical or merely legal kind we 

 are not sure. From the very careful 

 manner in which Mr. Wallace touches 

 upon this suggestion, we rather fancy 

 that something radical in the way of 

 surgery has been proposed. Another 

 authority, who ought to be better ad- 

 vised, wishes to substitute a very high- 

 toned system of concubinage for the 

 present institution of marriage, so that 

 the female sex may bo able to select 

 worthy sires for the children they are 

 disposed to bear. Another would have 

 premiums given to young couples of 

 unexceptionable strain, physical, men- 

 tal, and moral, so that they may start 

 early in life to contribute good citizens 

 to the commonwealth. Mr. Wallace 

 does not look upon any of these plans 

 with approval, and rightly pronounces 

 the second "detestable." He thinks, 



for his own part, that we ought to have 

 an economically reformed society a lit- 

 tle after Mr. Bellamy's ideas, and that, 

 if we had, the women might be trusted 

 to take care of the future of the race. 



If Mr. Bellamy had done more than 

 dream a very incoherent dream, we 

 might think that Mr. Wallace had 

 struck into the right path. We believe 

 in female selection as an influence des- 

 tined to be very potent in the future, 

 but we do not look to any such scheme 

 as Mr. Bellamy's to bring it into play. 

 It is being brought into play now 

 through the growing independence and 

 intelligence of women, and there is no 

 doubt at all that, as women are more 

 and more trained to practical usefulness, 

 not only in the family but in the busi- 

 ness world, they will consult both their 

 own dignity and the interests of poster- 

 ity more than they have hitherto done 

 in their acceptance of the married state. 



We are not disposed to consider the 

 situation quite so serious as Mr. Wallace 

 describes it ; but doubtless there is some 

 room for apprehension as to the future, 

 and, if we might venture to make a sug- 

 gestion in our turn, it would be that our 

 troubles, such as they are, largely arise 

 from over-legislation, leading to a hurt- 

 ful decline in the sense of individual 

 responsibility, and from altogether too 

 weak methods of dealing with crime 

 and pauperism. On the former point 

 we have often dilated, and shall not do 

 so further on the present occasion. On 

 the latter point we may remark that 

 nothing can possibly be more obvious 

 than the necessity of isolating perma- 

 nently if necessary the anti-social from 

 the social members of society. In 

 dealing with contagious diseases we 

 carry out a rigorous system of iso- 

 lation, and maintain it just as long as 

 the danger of infection lasts. Crimi- 

 nals we imprison for a time, and then 

 turn loose to prey anew upon society and 

 beget offspring in their own depraved 

 image. Paupers and various grades of 

 helpless people we assist to support, 



