358 LUTHER BURBANK 



the stress of living was such that the abnormal 

 or weakly infants were claimed by disease, and 

 the adults who lacked strength and intelligence 

 were likely to succumb to the attacks of wild 

 beasts, to starvation, or to the onslaught of 

 human enemies. 



So the principle of selective or eugenic breed- 

 ing was all along applied, even when no one com- 

 prehended its meaning or gave it a name ; and the 

 results are seen in the progress of humanity to its 

 present state. 



In very recent years, however, there has been 

 great progress in the way of ameliorating the 

 environment, in particular the environment of 

 childhood, through improvement in the under* 

 standing of hygiene and the prevention of dis- 

 ease, so that there is no longer the weeding out 

 of the unfit in infancy that occurred even a single 

 generation ago; so the generations of to-morrow 

 are confronted with problems of selection for the 

 improvement of the human race more urgent 

 than ever before. 



As to the precise methods through which con- 

 ditions more in accordance with the improve- 

 ments of the future generations of our race are 

 to be applied, we shall attempt no details of sug- 

 gestion. It suffices to point out the principle 

 and to suggest that there cannot well be two 



