THE NEXT MILLION YEARS 639 



amelioration of the environment. It involves the accumulation and 

 transfer of material things, such as property and possessions of all 

 sorts, inventions and the triumphs of applied science, traditions and 

 literatures, in short, everything that contributes to a better stage 

 setting. This method, however, is uncertain and transitory. The 

 frequent failure of legally drawn wills, designed to secure financial 

 and social security for following generations, illustrates how the grasp 

 of the dead man's fingers may weaken and relax. In a larger way the 

 perspective of history shows repeatedly how different civilizations in 

 the past have been replaced or dissipated, and there is reason to 

 believe that no civilization ])ossesses the germs of permanence. The 

 flowers of the en\'ironment fade, but meanwhile the seeds of heredity 

 live on and furnish the essential living source from which renewal is 

 possible. 



The other way of providing for human betterment is by Eugenics, 

 which has been defined as "race betterment through good ancestry." 

 It provides better actors to utilize the stage setting. 



Whether we consciously direct the stream of human germplasm or 

 not, it is bound in the long run to be the most fundamental and 

 important of all the factors destined to mold the world of the future. 

 In proN'iding for any Utopia, the program of euthenics is designed to 

 keep humanity out of hell, while the purpose of eugenics is to keep 

 hell out of humanity. Both objectives are desirable. 



In cultivating the human garden it is to be noted that less advance- 

 ment has been made than in the cultivation of animals and plants, due 

 to the peculiar difficulties encountered. William Penn is credited 

 with the gently sarcastic comment, "Men are more commonly careful 

 of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children." 



Difficulties in Any Eugenic Program 



The reason for the obvious lag in the development of eugenics, or 

 human genetics, is to a large extent due to the peculiar difficulties 

 encountered. 



Owing to the long lapse of time between the generations of mankind, 

 and the comparatively few children produced in each family, it is 

 not practical, even if it were socially permissibl{% to set up experi- 

 ments in human breeding in order to establish or to disprove theories 

 of inheritance. Life is not long enough to arrive at satisfactory 

 conclusions from controlled breeding experimentation with man. 

 Conseciuently, the data about the heredity of man must come largely 



