SEXUAL SELECTION. 253 



their intellectual and moral qualities. Both sexes ought 

 to refrain from marriage, if they are in any marked de- 

 gree inferior in body or mind ; but such hopes are Uto- 

 pian, and will never be even partially realized until the 

 laws of inheritance are thoroughly known. Every one 

 does good service who aids toward this end. When the 

 principles of breeding and inheritance are better un- 

 derstood, we shall not hear ignorant members of our 

 Legislature rejecting with scorn a plan for ascertaining 

 whether or not consanguineous marriages are injurious 

 to man. 



The advancement of the welfare of mankind is a most 

 intricate problem : all ought to refrain from marriage 

 who can not avoid abject poverty for their children ; for 

 poverty is not only a great evil, but tends to its own in- 

 crease by leading to recklessness in marriage. On the 

 other hand, as Mr. Galton has remarked, if the prudent 

 avoid marriage, while the reckless marry, the inferior 

 members tend to supplant the better members of society. 

 Man, like every other animal, has no doubt advanced to 

 his present high condition through a struggle for exist- 

 ence consequent on his rapid multiplication ; and, if he 

 is to advance still higher, it is to be feared that he must 

 remain subject to a severe struggle. Otherwise he would 

 sink into indolence, and the more gifted men would not 

 be more successful in the battle of life than the less 

 gifted. Hence our natural rate of increase, though lead- 

 ing to many and obvious evils, must not be greatly dimin- 

 ished by any means. There should be open competition 

 for all men ; and the most able should not be prevented 

 by laws or customs from succeeding best, and rearing the 

 largest number of offspring. Important as the struggle 

 for existence has been, and even still is, yet, as far as the 

 highest part of man's nature is concerned, there are 



