WHAT EVOLUTION IS 171 



through any group of public hospitals 

 or asylums, he cannot help but be im- 

 pressed with the heavy burden of 

 wreckage there represented. In a 

 harsh world natural selection would 

 have removed much of this, but the 

 hand of public benevolence has inter- 

 vened and warded off the stroke. 

 Nevertheless, every one must see that 

 if such a weight as this be sufficiently 

 increased, society may be crushed by 

 it. The situation is not an academic 

 one, but has already begun to bear 

 heavily on legislatures and through 

 them on the public. What may be 

 done to meet, in a humane way, such 

 a situation ? That the state should ar- 

 range for those who, in their weak- 

 ness, come upon it as public wards to 

 live the length of life that nature 

 allots them is indisputable. But that 

 such individuals should be restrained 

 from perpetuating their kind is like- 



