4 PREFACE. 



of intellect, and given a process by which the intellectual powers 

 may be developed from generation to generation, we may leave it 

 to our more intelligent posterity to find ways and means for devel- 

 oping themselves along any desired lines. The process of develop- 

 ing the intellectual powers of future generations is, however, but 

 one branch of a general principle involving all lines of evolution, 

 and this branch is so associated with the other branches that devel- 

 opment along one line involves development along all lines. 



In demonstrating this principle of evolution I have paid par- 

 ticular attention to the genesis of intellectual power, and the proofs 

 adduced show that men of great intellects are by no means abnormal 

 products, but are the result of natural laws working along easily 

 understood lines. The reason why such men as Aristotle, Cuvier, 

 Darwin and Franklin are rare in the history of the world is shown 

 to be because the antecedent conditions for the evolution of such 

 men have been unknown and have arisen fortuitously. With these 

 conditions known, and practically every man being capable of ful- 

 filling his share of them, it should not be difficult to raise the intel- 

 lectual powers of future generations to a plane vastly above that of 

 the present day. 



It may seem like a bold proposition to tell a man that he may 

 cause his children to be born with, greater or less intelligence as he 

 chooses, but I believe that those who will read the following pages 

 will see that this is true. If a few parents are induced to intelligently 

 endow their children with better brains and better bodies than they 

 would have done by the operation of mere chance, then I shall feel 

 amply repaid for whatever trouble I have taken to explain that which 

 has been many times stated but which has been persistently mis- 

 understood. C. L. Redfield. 



Chicago, 111., December, 1902. 



