The Blood of the Nation 



progress, as distinguished from progress 

 in civilization, finds its cause in selec- 

 tion only. 



To apply to nations the principles 

 known to be valid in cattle-breeding, we 

 may take a concrete example, that of 

 the alleged decadence of France^ It 

 is claimed that the birth-rate is falling 

 off in France, that the stature is lower, 

 and the physical force less among the 

 French peasantry than it was a century 

 ago. If all this is true, then the cause 

 for it must be in some feature of the 

 life of France which has changed the 

 normal processes of selection. 



In the present paper I shall not at- 

 tempt to prove these statements. They 

 rest, so far as I know, chiefly on asser- 

 tions of French writers, and statistics 

 are not easily obtained. It suffices that 

 an official commission has investigated 

 the pauses of reduced fertility, with 

 chiefly negative results. It is not due 



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