230 DARWINISM AND HUMAN LIFE 



returned to Nature's method on a higher turn of 

 the spiral. Even natural selection would favour 

 the survival of qualities like healthfulness ; it is 

 for a rational social selection to continue the 

 endless task. 



EUGENIC SELECTION. The third aspect of the 

 biological ideal towards which it is necessary to 

 select is the improvement of the human breed 

 the ideal of eugenics. There is perhaps no nobler 

 enthusiasm, and while some of the enthusiasts are 

 occasionally carried away by their zeal, we must 

 not reject the quiet wisdom of a veteran general 

 like Sir Francis Galton, because of the extravagant 

 utterances of subalterns. But, apart from subal- 

 terns, it is not easy for even expert students pos- 

 sessed by a worthy enthusiasm to keep the complex 

 issues in perspective. Illustrations may be found, 

 for instance, in the excellent exposition of the 

 eugenist argument which Dr. Saleeby has given us 

 in his "Parenthood and Race-Culture" (1909). 

 " The idea of selection for parenthood as determining 

 the nature, fate, and worth of living races is Darwin's 

 chief contribution to thought, and finds in eugenics 

 its supreme application." 



" The question is not whether a given proposal 

 is socialistic, individualistic, or anything else, but 

 whether it is eugenic. If it is eugenic, that is final. 

 To this all parties will come, and by this all parties 

 will be judged. ... I claim for eugenics that it is 

 the final and only judge of all proposals, and 

 principles, however labelled, new or old, orthodox 

 or heterodox." This is forcibly put, but it illus- 

 trates the difficulty of appreciating the complexity 

 of the human situation. The 'eugenic ideal is 

 the breeder's ideal vigorous organisms, and the 



