166 THE CONTROL OF LIFE 



prolonged physical attachment leading presumably to 

 something better ; but there is no doubt as to the 

 validity of the general thesis of Fiske and others that 

 the prolonged infancy characteristic of the human race 

 had been an important factor in the Ascent of Man. 

 It made for tenderness, kindness, family affection. 



(b) Man is the most illustrious example of the ' big- 

 brain ' type of organism, with relatively few instincts 

 but great educabihty, and his prolonged infancy must 

 be recognised, Hke the playing period, as a time in which 

 the young creature learns to find its way about, supple- 

 menting or replacing instincts by intelligent control. 



(c) The third note is the sadly famihar one of high 

 infantile mortality. For infancy is marked by fragil- 

 ity and there is much wastage. In spite of remarkable 

 improvements along many lines, e.g. maternal instruc- 

 tion, better housing, milk inspection, segregation of 

 infectious cases, and so on, the British nation's death- 

 rate for infants under twelve months stood a few years 

 ago at 100 per 1,000, and in overcrowded areas this 

 may rise to nearly 160. This is not only a reproach 

 to humanity, but a national wastage on a scandalous 

 scale. 



Social sentiment being what it is, we are bound to 

 seek to save all we can, and in many countries a praise- 

 worthy amount of systematised and voluntary service 

 is devoted to lessening infantile mortahty. Perhaps 

 some of this tends to allow ignoble parents to evade 

 the extreme consequences of their neglect of the children, 

 but as far as the children are concerned it is for the 



