22 WHAT IS EUGENICS? 



surroundings. In human affairs the need for attending to 

 the immediate wants of our fellow citizens has constantly 

 been made an excuse for altogether neglecting the con- 

 sideration of the breed of future generations. In this 

 matter the farmer can teach us the invaluable lesson that 

 we should always strive to advance in both directions. 

 The farmer hopes that he will come to possess weU-trained 

 horses of good breed. We ought to have similar hopes in 

 regard to the citizens who will constitute our nation in the 

 future. 



It is, of course, easy to push this comparison between 

 man and domestic animals too far. The farmer will no 

 doubt train his horse as well as he can. But in doing 

 so he is only improving that one horse. When we educate 

 our children, on the other hand, we know, or we ought to 

 know, that we are benefiting not only them but also all 

 who come in contact with them, including their children. 

 This is because learning is passed on from one to another 

 by word of mouth and by books. It is true that nearly 

 all such accumulated learning — or, in other words, civiliza- 

 tion — has at times been destroyed by wars and internal 

 Btrife, this being especially Ukely to happen if the breed 

 has been previously deteriorating for some time. This is 

 what occurred when the greatest period of learning and 

 luxury in ancient Home was followed by the Dark Ages. 

 And in this danger we can find a strong argument in favour 

 of attending to breed as well as to surroundings. Improve- 

 ments in breed cannot be wiped out all at once in any way. 

 This is because such improvements take place in the very 

 nature of man himself, and are passed on to future genera- 

 tions by an infallible natural process. And, as we saw in 

 the last chapter, the effect of improvements in breed would 

 be to make the men who will come after us rise to higher 

 levels than those which we have been able to reach in like 

 circumstances. 



What has here been indicated is that certain useful 

 lessons can be learnt from the farmer. But when we come 

 to consider those methods which are generally associated 



