SOME EUGENIC ASPECTS OF WAR 79 



on B the right kind of selection. Even in the present war there 

 has been much hand-to-hand fighting, and deaths are due to 

 disease as well as to the enemy's projectiles. Hence M is 

 superior in quality to B, and may be so much superior that the 

 average of A + M is actually above that of A + B. There are 

 of course no anthropometric data, but since the pessimists have 

 appealed to mere hypothetical possibilities, we will take a 

 hypothetical instance. Consider marching powers. Let A = 

 25 per cent., B — 75 per cent., and M = 50 per cent, of the males 

 of military age. And, let the marching powers of A be repre- 

 sented by 100, of B by 120, 1 and of M by 124. Then the average 

 marching powers of A + B equal : 



(100 + 120 x 3) t 4 = 115. 



Similarly the average marching powers of A + M will equal : 



(100 + 124 x 2) -r- 3 = 116. 



In such a case as this, which is perfectly possible, war 

 would actually raise the standard of the whole manhood taken 

 collectively. This result, however, could not of course be 

 produced if M were a very small quantity compared to A and B, 

 and Dr. Saleeby gives some figures which go to show the 

 extremely high rate of casualties in the Roman armies. The 

 point to be observed, however, is that the final effect varies 

 with the balance between the quality and quantity of M. Some 

 of the sires in a warring generation are weakly civilians, but 

 we must not forget that others are returned warriors. 



So much for the applications of Neo-Darwinism. If the 

 Lamarckian factor (use-inheritance) be operative, it would pre- 

 sumably upset the doleful conclusions ; because just as the 

 individual becomes adapted to the hard life of campaigning, so 

 also would the race tend to be hardened. Of course the inherit- 

 ance of injuries need not be considered. 



The Mendelo-Mutationist theory introduces all manner of 

 complications. According to Mendelism variations are of two 

 distinct kinds, unstable "fluctuations" and stable "mutations," 

 and no permanent or stable change in the character of a popula- 

 tion can be caused save by the selection of definite mutations. 

 There are said to be many mutations in our species. Man, says 



1 These proportions are guesses, of course, but will be recognised as approxi- 

 mations to the truth by all who have taken an interest in athletics. 



