SCIENTIFIC PHILANTHROPY. 485 



varied faculties of the men and women of to-day. It is to be ob- 

 served, in this connection, that any character which helps in any way 

 its possessor is liable to be seized upon, and in terms of sexual selec- 

 tion it may be stated that variations which apjiear first in either sex 

 early in life are transmitted to both sexes ; but variations which ap- 

 pear in either — late in life are transmitted to one sex only. A dis- 

 ease may be sexually limited — as gout, when caused by intemperance 

 during manhood, is developed in the sons in a more striking way than 

 in the daughters. The principle of selection with the survival of the 

 fittest encourages the multiplication of those persons best fitted for 

 the conditions of life, by carrying off the weak and sickly who are 

 least fitted for those conditions ; and, if left to work without check, it 

 would result in the slow and steady improvement of the individual 

 faculties and race characteristics, by purifying the blood, invigorating 

 the energies, and strengthening the social instincts. But we civilized 

 men, says Mr. Darwin, do our utmost to check the process of elimina- 

 tion ; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick ; 

 we institute poor-laws ; and our physicians exert their utmost skill 

 to save the life of every patient to the last moment. The effect of 

 the survival of all those who would be eliminated by the principle of 

 selection, together with the rapid rate of increase of the reckless and 

 degraded over the stronger and better members, is to increase the 

 pressure of population on the me^ns of subsistence. This it is which 

 gives rise to the so-called " social problem." Scientific philanthropy 

 is, therefore, the most modern attempt to deal with this problem, 

 which began in primeval times, because of man's rapid multiplication, 

 and which will continue as long as civilization continues. 



Mr. Spencer has laid down two propositions which form the basis 

 of M. Fouillee's article, and also of his attack. They are : " The 

 quality of a society is physically lowered by the artificial preservation 

 of its feeblest members ; the quality of society is lowered morally and 

 intellectually by the artificial preservation of those who are least able 

 to take care of themselves." To the first proposition it is objected 

 that Mr. Darwin and his " partisans " exaggerate the harm caused by 

 philanthropy in prolonging the propagation of the weak and helpless ; 

 that it applies " only to the infirm properly so called to whom philan- 

 thropy is accustomed to give assistance " ; that it proves, moreover, 

 too much. In regard to the influence which philanthropy exercises 

 upon the environment, Mr. Darwin's argument may be turned back 

 upon him, says M. Fouillee, and he proposes his theorem — i, e., " the 

 normal conditions most favorable to mankind are to assume the devel- 

 opment and selection of a majority of the strong, while saving only a 

 minority of the weak." Such, in their strongest terms, are the argu- 

 ments brought forward against a truly scientific philanthropy. 



Let us examine the exaggerations which the Darwinians are wont 

 to indulge in. If the feeblest members of society are artificially pre- 



