June 8, 191 1] 



NATURE 



485 



li 



deductions from the principle of natural selection 

 among mankind were not supported by facts, those 

 who believe that the importance of heredity and 

 selection in racial qualities has been too much 

 neglected cannot but be grateful to him for raising 

 boldly a question which our statesmen and politicians 

 are only too prone to ignore. Almost anything which 

 directs public attention to the subject is to be wel- 

 come. 



While according a generous recognition to the 

 importance of racial studies, Mr. Balfour asked the 

 selectionist to face the question why he could per- 

 ceive no " segregation of efficiency in the past be- 

 tween those who are better off and those who are 

 worse off." Mr. Balfour implied that, unless a satis- 

 factory answer could be given, the theory of natural 

 selection as applied to mankind should be regarded 

 with hesitation if not with suspicion. 



Not everyone will share Mr. Balfour's inability to 

 perceive a higher level of ability among the upper half 

 of the nation as compared with the lower. Distinct 

 evidence of segregation of special types of ability 

 might be adduced. But the question why the process 

 has not gone farther, why the upper classes do not 

 show preponderant abilitv more markedly than they 

 do, is worthy of consideration. 



The whole problem of selective action in mankind, 

 and especially civilised mankind, is fraught with 

 difficulty, and tentative considerations alone can at 

 present be put forward. One could imagine a society 

 in which ability possessed full selective value, and a 

 cumulative segregation of mental qualities gave to 

 the best part of the race at all events, a much higher 

 average efficiency than we can now show. But that 

 society would in some respects be unlike our own. 

 It would be more ready to accord all advantages to 

 abilitv without envy or hesitation ; it would be much 

 firmer in visiting weakness of mind or body with 

 appropriate disabilities. It would secure in some way 

 that able men and women should be encouraged to 

 have a full complement of offspring, and should be 

 placed in a position where a hunt for heiresses by 

 themselves or their sons would not be necessary to 

 support the position won by their own abilitv, for, as 

 Galton pointed out, heiresses usually come of infertile 

 stock, and too often extinguish the family which 

 captures them. 



These considerations may serve to give us the clue 

 to Mr. Balfour's problem : Why are not our upper 

 classes more markedly superior in ability to the 

 lower ? 



First, ability, even ability which leads to achieve- 

 ment, does not necessarily secure a more able partner. 

 A man rising rapidly too often either marries unwisely 

 before he has risen, or, engaged in the struggle to 

 advance, marries not at all, or too late, to leave many 

 offspring. One or two children are not enough to 

 give the hereditary abilitv a full chance of appearing. 

 Thus the favourable variation is destroyed in the 

 first generation. 



.Secondlv, if he marries appropriately and rears a 

 large family, that family has still many dangers to 

 run. Unless the ability be of the type which wins 

 great wealth, and unless the opportunity for winning 

 that wealth occurs, a search for well-dowercd partners 

 will probably extinguish some lines of offspring. Or 

 again, if wealth renders this search imnecessary, 

 some of the children mnv fall a prey to the needy 

 adventurer with undesirable mental qualities. 



Thirdlv, when a family becomes firm'lv established 

 among the upper classes, the pressure of selection be- 

 comes less acute. Places are found for the sons, 

 whether their abilities deserve Ihem or not ; some of 



NO. 2 171, VOL. 86] 



the daughters make good marriages, regardless of 

 \yhether they possess their share of the familv ability. 

 Selection ceases to a great extent, and reversion to a 

 lower level inevitably occurs. 



These reasons apply to all the ages during which 

 modern society has been developing. But, during the 

 last forty years, the voluntarv and deliberate restric- 

 tion of the birth-rate among the more successful 

 stocks of the nation has introduced a new cause which 

 affects chiefly those among whom its results are most 

 disastrous from the point of view of the nation and 

 the race. 



An able man and an able wife — a pair nearly sure 

 to produce a high proportion of able offspring— too 

 often regard the interests and duties, which their 

 ability thrusts on them from all sides, as a reason 

 or an excuse for restricting* severely the number of 

 their children, or for refusing the burden of parent- 

 hood altogether. For the last forty years the power 

 of doing so has been changing slowly but surelv the 

 whole aspect of racial problems. 



But, while we may give reasons to explain the 

 comparative want of segregation of ability, it should 

 be recognised that signs of partial segregation ol 

 abihty are not totally wanting. At present, it is prob- 

 able that selection is keenest and most effective in the 

 professional class, and competent observers are to be 

 found who believe that the average ability among 

 the sons of professional men is higher than in any 

 other class in the community. 



During the eighteenth and early nineteenth 

 centuries, there were frequent intermarriages between 

 the leading political, administrative, and military 

 families, and a statistical analysis of the entries in the 

 " Dictionary of National Biography " gives us evidence 

 of distinct accumulation of those special types of 

 ability in the governing class during that period. The 

 rarity of such accumulation in other cases mav well 

 be due largely to the want, in other sections of the 

 nation, of distinct classes, corresponding to the 

 different types of ability. If mates were naturally 

 sought from within the limits of a definite class, 

 access to which was more and more jealouslv guarded 

 as its efficiency and ability increased, a similar and 

 more marked segregation of ability might appear in 

 other directions. 



liut Mr. Balfour saw another difficulty in the path 

 of a sclectionistic interpretation of social phenomena. 

 As Dr. Archdall Reid has shown, disease is now one 

 of the most effective selective agencies at work among 

 mankind. By the early elimination of those specially 

 susceptible to a given disease, the race is gradually 

 becoming more and more immune to that special 

 scourge. If we diminish the infection of the disease 

 by improved sanitation and knowledge of hygiene, this 

 process of immunisation will cease, and the race will 

 revert to a more susceptible state. Hence, .Mr. Bal- 

 four argued, no convinced selectionist should advocate 

 improvement in our sanitary environment. 



Doubtless, improvement in the environment has its 

 dangers. It may keep alive to reproductive age many 

 of weak physical or mental constitution, who would, 

 for the sake of the race, be better out of the way. 

 We shall guard against those particular dangers all 

 the better for facing them with open eyes. But im- 

 munity from certain special and preventable diseases 

 is not the highest quality of the ideal man. If we 

 pan guard against infection in other wavs, it may 

 well be that greater aggregate advance will be made 

 when we can prevent the waste now incurred by 

 nature in protecting the race against that particular 

 disease. As our knowledge of inheritance, Mendelian 

 or other, is increased, wc may be able to point the 



