THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



until they became extinct. Malthus happened to 

 write when the population of Europe was increasing 

 at a rate which had never before been equalled and 

 when the increase of food supply was not keeping 

 pace with the population. Since then the rate of in- 

 crease of population has been steadily decreasing and 

 the food supply has been increasing geometrically, 

 until there has arisen the anti-Malthusian cry for 

 more production of children. 



A system of thought which classes the desire to pro- 

 create and the desire for food as equally imperative 

 is not one to command respect. Even Malthus with- 

 drew from this position and added what he euphe- 

 mistically called moral restraint as a check to popu- 

 lation. The whole subject of fertility and sterility is 

 one of great complexity and about which we know 

 practically nothing. The example of France, where 

 the population actually decreased for years during a 

 time of plentiful food supply and of peace, is evi- 

 dence enough to prove the fallacy of his argument.^^ 



It is also quite apparent that, except for a negli- 

 gible number of individuals, mankind in civilized 



12 It must be borne in mind that we are discussing merely the total 

 number of the human race and not the relative proportions of ad- 

 vantageous and disadvantageous stocks. It is undoubtedly a most 

 serious menace to the quality of any nation or race when the better 

 classes do not maintain a high proportion in numbers. It is also true 

 that a diminishing birthrate is apparent first in families of the 

 better classes and, in so far, the warnings of the Eugenists are of 

 real value. But one wonders how the Eugenists reconcile their pas- 

 sionate appeal for artificial selection of human stocks with Dar- 

 winism. Is it not the fundamental tenet of that doctrine that ad- 

 vantageous stocks will kill out disadvantageous stocks by natural 

 selection, by the struggle for existence, and by the survival of the 

 fittest? 



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