BIOLOGY AND PROGRESS 215 



method of creating a new human being. Man- 

 kind as of old is still giving off a part of his body 

 which actually becomes transformed into his chil- 

 dren. There is no single exception and those who 

 would ignore this fact attempt to alter one of the 

 most basal laws of their being. 



The law of biogenesis does not admit of much 

 progress or modification. The chief significance 

 that it has for us should be cherished until we 

 have come again to regard it in its simplicity and 

 purity. Investigations in the general field of 

 heredity will slowly reveal how parental charac- 

 teristics are passed on to children but this infor- 

 mation will not enable man to change these traits, 

 once the embryo is formed. The studies in 

 heredity have already indicated that certain de- 

 rangements such as one form of imbecility are 

 passed on to the offspring and there is a growing 

 conviction in the minds of many that such facts 

 must be recognized in the domestic relations of 

 man and woman. When this group of facts be- 

 comes sufficiently assimilated by the people at 

 large, restrictive laws will be passed prohibiting 

 those who are thus afflicted from perpetuating 

 these maladies. 



This raises the whole question of the contribu- 

 tions of biology to the problem of producing bet- 

 ter human beings, of exercising as much care in 

 producing a new human animal as all careful 



