408 HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 



characteristics since the time of the Greeks the 

 cause is not far to seek. There have been 

 gifted races and gifted families of men, doubt- 

 less many notable human mutations have oc- 

 curred, but most of these have been diluted, 

 squandered, lost. There has been persistent 

 violation of all principles of good breeding 

 among men. For example, there has been for 

 ages a futile reliance upon good environment 

 to improve heredity. Men do not so improve 

 the races of animals and plants, and thousands 

 of years of human history show that this 

 method is of no avail in improving the human 

 breed. 



But the case is far worse than this; 

 such efforts though futile are at least well in- 

 tentioned, but on the part of most men and 

 governments there has been complete disre- 

 gard of the entire question of the improvement 

 of the human stock. Natural selection which 

 has through countless ages eliminated the 

 worst and conserved the best and thus has led 

 on the whole to the survival of the fit is so far 

 as possible nullified by civilized man; the 

 worst are preserved along with the best and 



