Cole: Biological Eugenics 



309 



selection on the part of the breeder, and 

 he directs the processes of change, in so 

 far as his art enables him, along the 

 lines which his needs or his fancy direct. 

 Now as man's mental capacities began 

 to develop the course of selection shifted 

 increasingly on to these, and they 

 became more and more important as 

 his social relations and capacities grew. 

 I am not prepared to assert that the 

 minds of the highly civilized ancient 

 peoples, such as the Greeks, the Egyp- 

 tians, or even more remote cultures 

 might not be capable of assimilating 

 and utilizing to the full the complexities 

 of our present social and political con- 

 ditions, our inventions and our scientific 

 knowledge — indeed recent Japanese his- 

 tory would be argument in favor of 

 such a view; but certainly this cannot 

 be said of the more primitive races, and 

 therefore some mental evolution must 

 be postulated from such a condition. 

 To my mind the course of evolutioii 

 presents a picture somewhat like that 

 of a small stream of water making its 

 way down an almost level but slightly 

 irregular surface. Tongues are sent 

 out this way and that as slight depres- 

 sions lead here and there, and at times a 

 considerable course may be made more 

 or less consistently; but then a higher 

 obstruction is reached and a new course 

 started, determined by the point of 

 lowest level. No matter how well one 

 branch has progressed, if another finds 

 a lower spot it diverts the stream. Just 

 so races and civilizations have arisen and 

 prospered and flourished until others 

 superior in brute strength, in organiza- 

 tion, or in equipment . in arms, have 

 come in and superseded them. 



defectives grov/ in number. 



Until social customs became com- 

 paratively highly developed individual 

 physical prowess was as necessary to 

 existence as among the lower animals. 

 This was in the stage of individualism. 

 With specialization, as particular classes 

 in a community took up certain special 

 tasks, and especially as armies were 

 formed not including the total popula- 

 tion, physical selection became relaxed 

 for some of the individuals. These con- 

 ditions have become more pronounced 



until modem philanthropy and medical 

 science are bringing them to a p'oint 

 where they can no longer be ignored. 

 Neither the greater diligence in seeking 

 them out nor the fact that they remain 

 in institutions for longer periods will 

 account for the disproportionately in- 

 creasing number of defectives and crimi- 

 nals in our population. This fact seems 

 demonstrated and one does not merit 

 the epithet of alarmist for pointing it 

 out. And if true, must we not give 

 thought to its remedy ? 



Just as, when the human race de- 

 veloped from the savage, artful means 

 of preservation superseded purely physi- 

 cal, and as the breeder has replaced 

 fortuitous natural selection by conscious 

 selection, so I believe the time is at 

 hand when mankind will find it necessary 

 to substitute some form of rational 

 selection for the hit-or-miss, happy-go- 

 lucky way they have drifted along in the 

 past. Exactly what this method shall 

 be I do not think we are in a position at 

 the present time to say. Two chief 

 lines seem open, restrictive and con- 

 structive — sometimes called negative 

 and positive eugenics. The quotations 

 which have been made in the earlier 

 part of this discourse show clearly, it 

 seems to me, that the former measures 

 may be adopted under certain con- 

 ditions without doing violence to the 

 finer instincts of the race, without in 

 any way destroying or lessening altruism 

 or humanitarianism. In our nation- 

 wide agitation for conservation we are 

 just beginning to realize our duty to 

 future generations. The case is a close 

 parallel, for we are saying that the 

 material benefits of our forests, our 

 minerals and our water power must be 

 conserved for the benefit of all the 

 people, and not reaped now to enrich a 

 few individuals and to be passed on only 

 to their families. Shall we have less 

 foresight in the heritage of defectives and 

 cripples that we pass on to the next and 

 future generations? Is not the social 

 reformer who does not take this into 

 consideration spending all his thought 

 on bettering the present generation, 

 just as exhausting our national re- 

 sources might enrich this generation but 

 pauperize the next? 



