148 THE PROBABLE FUTURE OF THE HUMAN RACE. 



amelioratiou of tbe faculties in tlie races already advanced will not be 

 effected with sufficient rapidity to keep pace with tbe growing needs of 

 a civilization which increases enormously. After having proved the 

 extinction of several savage races through the simple effect of a strug- 

 gle tbey could not sustain against the white race, he adds:* "We also, 

 the promoters of an advanced civilization, we begin to show that we are 

 incapable of progressing intellectually with the same rapidity as the 

 demands which are made upon us. Tbe needs of centralization, of 

 communication, and of culture demand more brain and more mental 

 energy than our race possess. There is loud demand for greater capa- 

 city in every social position. Neither statesmen, savants, artisans, nor 

 laborers are entirely equal to the present complications of their differ- 

 ent professions Our race is overburdened ; it seems about to 



degenerate, because its requirements are greater than its means. When 

 the struggle for existence is not too great for the strength of a race, it is 

 beneficial and conservative, otherwise it is mortal." 



We may doubt some of these assertions. For example, centralization 

 does not complicate 5 it simplifies. There is, in fact, as much prevision 

 required, as many difficulties to surmount, as much energy employed in 

 the management of a number of small workshops, a number of small 

 independent populations, as in the control, by a single order, of thou- 

 sands of workmen and thousands of inhabitants. The division of labor 

 also simplifies, and this always augments with civilization. It has been 

 said, however, in regard to this, that the powers of the mind are weak- 

 ened when each individual thinks only of a single thing. In this point 

 of view, such division in highly-civilized populations is a hinderance to 

 intellectual development. 



In general, the two authors I have just quoted, while making remarks 

 very just, sometimes very original and wortby of attention, appear to 

 me to have somewhat forgotten tbe inequality of development of differ- 

 ent classes and people, as well as* tbe numerous causes which lead to a 

 selection, in the bad sense of the term, esc to the arrest of a selection. 

 History, moreover, is in accord with theory in showing to what degree 

 the advance of intelligence and morality is irregular and doubtful, even 

 during the lapse of several thousands of years. From tbe time of Socra- 

 tes to that of Lavoisier, how many eminent men have died a miserable 

 death, victims of the force and ignorance of the many ! How many cul- 

 tivated populations have disappeared! How many savage invasions 

 have occurred ! I do not refer only to those which destroyed tbe Eoman 

 empire, but also to the despicable Chinese and other invasions in the 

 civilized countries of to-day. Mr. Spencer admits with reason t tbat a 

 development of the nervous system has the effect of diminishing the 

 additions to population, and, as he considers such a development proba- 

 ble, sees in it a double cause of satisfaction for tbe future. Populations 

 will thus tend to become stationary as to number just as they have 



* Page 345. t Page 506. 



