THE INFLUENCE OF THE DARWINIAN THEORY. 39I 



mentary rules of conduct, non-observance of which may bring 

 death to the individual and extinction to the species or race. The 

 teaching is clear. Natural selection means, for us, not merely the 

 selection of the fittest in any given surroundings, it means the 

 fittest and the best in the fittest and the best surroundings which 

 are likely to aid in the development of ever more perfect, or less 

 imperfect, types of life. Nature's command is — grow more intel- 

 ligent, more justly sympathetic, more moral — or, perish. 



Neither must it be thought that we are mere products of 

 evolution. Such a conception would strike at the root of ethics 

 and would leave us to watch, with folded hands, for whatever the 

 blind gods of Fate might send. We are factors in, and not merely 

 products of evolution, and our moral ideals and judgments help 

 to determine the process. Hence, the production of such an envi- 

 ronment, and it is the chief business of the parent, the teacher, the 

 and highest types of life should be the first business of the philo- 

 sopher, the teacher, the legislator, the parent, the minister. It is 

 the business of ethics to discover the conditions of such an envi- 

 . ronment, and it is the chief business of the parent, the teacher, the 

 sociologist, and the legislator to arrange the affairs of the home, 

 the school, society, and the State in such a way as will conduce to 

 its realisation. In doing this several considerations naturally 

 present themselves : — 



(i) If natural selection is to have fair play, to what extent 

 should the laws of inheritance and the customs which 

 determine the distribution of the " unearned increment " 

 be modified in order that all may have a fair start in the 

 battle of life, and freedom of opportunity be given to 

 everyone to develop the best that is within him. 



(2) To what extent will the forces underlying natural selection 



be modified by this freer, healthier and juster environ- 

 ment. 



(3) Will natural selection be ultimately superseded by what is 



termed " artificial " or Intelligent selection. (It follows, 

 of course, from what I have said above, that artificial 

 selection is really a part of the natural, using the latter 

 word in its widest sense.) 



(4) To what extent will racial developments, racial antipathies, 



and racial strife and competition be affected by the 



struggle for existence and the methods of artificial or 



intelligent selection to which it may give rise. 



I can deal with these four considerations in only a very brief 



and inadequate way as suggesting matter Tor discussion rather 



than as laying down definite conclusions. 



(i) Few people now-a-days will contend that there is_ much 

 regard for morality or ethics In our present laws of inheritance. 

 Long ago Matthew Arnod pointed out that no civilisation could 

 endure for long which was based on such laws. That a millionaire 

 or a multl-mllllonaire whose wealth has been made bv very ques- 

 tionable means should be allowed to tie up and bequeath this 

 -immense stock of socially-produced wealth to whomsoever he 



