566 STRUCTURE AND LIFE HISTORIES 



4. Can the inheritance of a strain be artificially altered? 

 This is a question of the very first importance. If the 

 inheritance could be so altered the marvels that breeders 

 might perform would be greatly increased. A blue rose 

 (the despair of all plant breeders) might possibly be pro- 

 duced by sufficiently careful and extended experiment- 

 ing; disease and undesirable traits of character might be 

 eliminated from certain tainted family strains by artificial 

 treatment. On the other hand, by an unfortunate com- 

 bination of circumstances, most undesirable and re- 

 grettable results might be experimentally produced. The 

 experiment has been made of exposing the ovaries of 

 flowers to the rays of radium, and of injecting them with 

 various chemical substances, with an idea of altering the 

 physical or chemical nature of the egg-cells, and thus 

 altering the inheritance. The results of such experiments, 

 so far tried, need to be further confirmed before we can 

 say with certainty that the result sought has been 

 accomplished. 



487. Eugenics. Students of biology have been quick 

 to recognize the fact that, if we correctly understand the 

 laws of heredity, we are in a position to apply them, not 

 only to plants and the lower animals, but to mankind. 

 The application of the laws of heredity in a way to pro- 

 duce a healthier and more efficient race of men constitutes 

 the practice of eugenics. 1 The underlying principles of 

 eugenics are of course, very largely those of heredity. 

 Eugenics is the applied science based upon the pure 

 science of heredity. The main problem of eugenics is 

 how to eliminate human beings with a tendency to any 

 physical or mental weakness, making for poverty, misery, 



1 Eugenics is from two Greek words meaning well born. 



