BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



their fellows, or fail to succeed in favorable surroundings, 

 for the simple reason that they began life under a fixed 

 handicap. This handicap was not bestowed upon them 

 because of exceptional ability and as a mark of honor 

 (as in sports), but because their parents produced defective 

 factors of inheritance which happened, by chance, to 

 find expression in the unfortunates under consideration. 

 This negation of human welfare is theoretically prevent- 

 able, if persons who carry defective hereditary units 

 relinquish the privilege of parenthood, and it can be 

 minimized if the situation is fully recognized (as it is, for 

 example, in certain schools and hospitals). To learn the 

 facts and make sound scientific recommendations in this 

 field is the task of eugenics. No one can say that this task 

 is more than begun as yet; but already sterilization and 

 segregation of defectives is a recognized social procedure 

 within limited bounds, education is beginning to recognize 

 inherent grades of ability, and students who get some 

 knowledge of biology are aware of other desiderata in 

 marriage than money and obvious personal qualities. 

 Family counts, but in a new way. 



We do not know that any animal other than man has an 

 intellectual outlook or a personal philosophy of life, but 

 we do know that an individual of the human species 

 experiences his share of human welfare and contributes 

 to that of others in a degree very largely determined by 

 his mental attitude. What does zoology contribute to the 

 formation of a good philosophy of life? 



In the first place, zoological study, like that of any 

 other science, fosters in the student a concern for facts and a 

 tendency to regard facts objectively. This helps to counter- 

 act the common habit of cherishing ideas that are based 

 upon imaginary wish-fulfillments rather than upon truth — 



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