488 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



trials and dangers of childbirth, sterility, incapacity, and nervous dis- 

 orders, are the coming events which cast their shadows " in the depths 

 of folly and degeneracy." Mr. Galton regrets that he is unable to 

 decide how far men and women who are prodigies of genius are infer- 

 tile. It would seem, in answer, that where parents have undermined 

 their vitality and their health, by mental or physical overwork, where 

 their activities and powers have been attained at the expense of their 

 physical system, like the most highly cultivated types of vegetable 

 growths, they will beget no germinating seed. 



The arguments brought by M. Fouillee against the second part of 

 Mr. Spencer's proposition are of two kinds — the one proposing an al- 

 truistic test for benevolent action, the other holding that the law of 

 mental and moral heredity is much " more vague and loose than the 

 law of physical heredity." Let us examine, briefly, the first objection 

 and see what it is worth. Suppose, for example, a man commits a 

 crime, or violates any established law of society ; he is punished, either 

 lightly or severely, according to the nature of his act. Conversely, 

 when the intemperate are well aware that hard drinking will cause 

 suffering, and the hlase wight knows that his profligacy will produce 

 sickness and disorders, these trangressions are treated with excessive 

 leniency. Paradoxical, then, is the doctrine, held overtly, that the indi- 

 vidual who hurts others shall be treated rigorously, but that the indi- 

 vidual who hurts himself shall be treated forbearingly. Hence the 

 best specific for vice and crime is the sharp suffering which flows inev- 

 itably from vice and crime. Take, also, that distribution of money, 

 "prompted," says Mr. Spencer," by misinterpretation of the saying 

 that charity covers a multitude of sins." The ignoble action of Evag- 

 rius, a Pagan, when he gave his three hundred pieces of gold to the 

 bishop, must be condemned, for he demanded and received a promis- 

 sory note to be paid in the other world. Take, again, those ostenta- 

 tious donations by which the donor invites not only present approba- 

 tion, but bids for posthumous fame and honor ; and it is not strange 

 that many eleemosynary institutions intended to perpetuate the bounty 

 of their founders are admired as monuments to personal pride. The 

 elaborate study of Mr. Bain has shown that the love of applause, the 

 feeling of praise, the desire to win the respect of our fellows, even the 

 fear to merit their condemnation, spring from the instinct of sympa- 

 thy. Indeed, sympathy itself is founded upon th*e instinct of self- 

 preservation ; seen alike in that feeling which impels the members of 

 a community to band together for protection, or in that altruism 

 which prompts the strong to help the weak in their burdens. At an 

 early day clover and stramonium were scattered in the fields ; and 

 our modem knowledge of poisons, even the invention of dynamite, is 

 due primarily to the instinct of sympathy, though often strangely dis- 

 torted by fear, malice, or love. 



The second part of M. Fouill6e's objection is directed toward re- 



