204 COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD PART in 



that " the sterilisation of the unfit " ought to be carried 

 very much farther. Theoretically, one is tempted to 

 sympathise with the opinion, but it is doubtful whether 

 any such mechanical methods will do much for human 

 welfare. 



War is among the strangest and saddest of man's 

 institutions. Systematised violence and wholesale 

 slaughter are new things in the animal world. War 

 has been immensely widespread and potent in the 

 course of human development. Socially, we saw that, 

 as between community and community, war has often 

 done good. In early days the best fighters are generally 

 the best tribe ; and war has not infrequently become a 

 pioneer of civilisation. But, alas ! at what a cost ! 

 Morally and socially, the cost is beyond reckoning. 

 And biologically, or in its bearing on individuals, war 

 has usually snatched away the fittest and left the weak 

 or the cowards to become the parents of the next 

 generation. During early ages, while individual valour 

 counted for much, war exercised some influence in the 

 way of selecting the best backed as it was by a sexual 

 selection; redcoats have always charmed the gentler 

 half of the race. But in recent times the characteristic 

 effect of war is downright evil, as when the Napoleonic 

 campaigns (it is supposed) lowered the stature of the 

 whole French nation. War is a selecting agency of 

 great influence turned upside down. 



Religious Celibacy has possibly had more conse- 

 quences, good or bad, in its moral and social than in 

 its physiological bearings, and it is a historical rather 

 than a natural force ; still it may be mentioned here for 

 convenience. When you take account of Buddhism as 

 well as of Christianity, you perceive that religious 

 celibacy has been a phenomenon on a vast scale, and 



