1912] on the rise of Pedigrees. 471 



modify it to our will, and, if so, is it safe to interfere ? I believe it 

 is only siife or justifiable for les^islation to interfere in very clear and 

 definite cases, of which as yet our scanty knowledge indicates perhaps 

 but one — the case of congenital mental defect of the hereditary 

 type. Not only are the feeble-minded a charge on and a danger to the 

 community while at large, but they are themselves happier when 

 under suital)le control. For their own sake, no less than for that of 

 society, they nmst be placed under care and control for their lives. 

 More knowledge is needed before legislation should interfere in other 

 cases. But that does not involve the uselessness of such researclies 

 as those we have traced. The pressure of opinion may do much 

 when it is realized how much more important a good heredity is 

 than large marriage settlements. 



But though direct interference by law is feasible as yet in one 

 case only, the indirect effects of legislative and social change may be 

 very great. Whether we will or no, legislation and social change are 

 continually hghtening the conditions of life for some sections of 

 the people as compared with others. It becomes relatively easier for 

 them to marry early and to rear children. Their relative numbers 

 tend to increase. 



As an example of a social change which affected largely the com- 

 position of the nation, let us study the industrial revolution, as it 

 is called, of the early years of the nineteenth century. Till the 

 eighteenth century the population of these islands remained almost 

 stationary save for comparatively small fluctuations. The resources 

 were limited and nearly constant in amount, and could support 

 only a definite number of people. But the discoveries which brought 

 our coalfields into action as a source of power initiated a steady 

 growth in resources, and the population at once began to rise to fill 

 the places created. The ability of the country to support population 

 grew with amazing rapidity, yet nothing was done to investigate the 

 quality of the population which appeared. The policy of lais.sez /aire 

 was in possession, and, till the era of Factory Acts, even the environ- 

 ment was as bad as could be. The question of innate qualities had 

 not even appeared. 



By invention and discovery (the work of the brains of a limited 

 number of able men) the energy of our coal was made available, and 

 thus a new field for the growtli of population was opened up, tilled 

 and dressed. But no one saw that the really important thing was 

 not the draining and fertilizing of the land, but the quality of the 

 crop of men to be raised thereon. No one examined the seed planted, 

 no one even asked whether it were the seed of good corn or of useless 

 or harmful weeds. No one tended its growth to secure favourable 

 chances for what was of value in the mixed crop. 



Now, what should we do with a farmer who was supplied with 

 good ground, and with basic slag and superphosphate in constantly 

 increasing quantities, if he left the land to seed itself, and used 



