508 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL 



brought into existence the great men of all ages, will 

 have a far higher average of material to work with, and 

 we may reasonably expect that the most distinguished 

 among the poets and philosophers of the future will 

 decidedly surpass the Homers and Shakespearos, the 

 Newtons, the Goethes, and the Humboldts of our era. 



Mr. Lester F. Ward has indeed urged, in his article on 

 " The Transmission of Culture" {Forum, May, 1891), that, 

 if Weismann's theory is true, then " education has no 

 value for the future of mankind, and its benefits are 

 ^confined exclusively to the generation receiving it." 

 Another eminent scientist, Professor Joseph Le Conte, in 

 his article on " The Factors of Evolution " {The Monist, 

 Vol L, p. 334), is still more desponding. He says : — 



" If it be true that reason must direct the course of human evo- 

 lution, and if it be also true that selection of the fittest is the only 

 method available for that purjjose ; then, if we are to have any race- 

 improvement at all, the dreadful law of destruction of the weak 

 and helpless must with Spartan firmness be carried out voluntarily 

 and deliberately. Against such a course all that is best in us 

 revolts.'^ 



These passages show that the supposed consequences 

 of the theories of Weismann and Galton, have, very 

 naturally, excited some antagonism, because they appear, 

 if true, to limit or even to destroy all power of further 

 evolution of mankind, except by methods which are 

 p. revolting to our higher nature. 

 ^ / But I have endeavoured to show, in the present article, 



/ that we are not limited to the depressing alternatives 

 / above set forth, — that education has the greatest value 

 I for the improvement of mankind, — and that selection 

 \ of the fittest may be ensured by more powerful and more 

 / effective agencies than the destruction of the weak and 



helpless. From a consideration of historical facts bearing 



upon the origin and development of human faculty I 

 have shown reason for believing that it is only by a true 

 and perfect system of education and the public opinion 

 which such a system will create, that the special mode of 

 selection on which the future of humanity depends can be 

 brought into general action. Education and environment, 



