Chapter XIII 

 The Deterioration of our Breed 



IT may be asked, If great damage is really now being 

 done to the nation by the unfit and the inferior, why 

 do not we see the results quite clearly ? Families are 

 better housed, better fed, better educated, have more 

 amusements, and are more comfortable than they were 

 a century ago. Why not trust to a continuation of this 

 improvement ? This is a question needing an answer. 



In the first place, what has been said about the unfit 

 and the inferior cannot be passed over lightly. Insanity, 

 mental defect, and crime may be increasing, and our slums 

 are certainly still wdth us. Again, if progress is being made, 

 it is only in certain directions. We may boast of our 

 increased wealth and greater comfort. All this is, however, 

 mostly due to scientific discoveries made by the few. We 

 shall not continue to make material progress unless as 

 large a proportion of great men appear in the future as in 

 the past. A falling off in our creature comforts, let alone 

 in all higher things, will take place if the breed of our race 

 is not maintained. The greater luxury visible on all sides 

 may hide the fact that man himself is slowly getting worse. 

 It is a slow and unnoticeable change which is most to be 

 feared. 



WTiat we ought to look to in this enquiry is the very 

 nature of man himself. The doctor has done much towards 

 defeating those germs which, by invading our bodies, give 

 rise to small-pox, t\^hus, diphtheria, and other diseases 

 even more loathsome. But what has been accomplished 

 when the trouble lies in the man himself ? There are little 

 or no signs of improvement as regards mental defect, cancer, 

 rheumatism, defective eyesight, teeth, or hearing. In 



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