CONTROL OF HEREDITY: EUGENICS 415 



delian inheritance shows how it is possible to 

 sort out the best qualities from the worst. 



Nowadays one hears a lot of high sounding 

 talk about "human thoroughbreds," which 

 usually means that those who use this phrase 

 desire to see certain narrow and exclusive so- 

 cial classes perpetuated by close inbreeding; it 

 usually has no reference to good hereditary 

 traits wherever found, indeed such traits 

 would not be recognized if they appeared out- 

 side of "the four hundred." Such talk prob- 

 ably does neither harm nor good; the "social 

 thoroughbreds" are so few in number and so 

 nearly sterile that the mass of the population 

 is not affected by these exclusive classes. 



Galton advocated the segregation and inter- 

 marriage of the most highly intellectual mem- 

 bers of society, such as the prize scholars in the 

 colleges and universities; but if the human 

 ideal is the generalized rather than the spe- 

 cialized type it would be better if the prize 

 scholars married the prize athletes. A race 

 of highly specialized scholars or athletes is not 

 so desirable as a race in which these and other 

 excellencies are well balanced. From this 



