from the Standpoint of Science 57 



wonderfully excited over laws t dating to 

 horses and cattle ; they devote money au^ 

 time to breeding purposes, and realize the 

 strength of the laws of inheritance when they 

 endow national studs and give prizes to en- 

 courage the maintenance of good stock, or 

 when again they work for the establishment of 

 selected herds. But which of them has con- 

 sidered domestic legislation from the natural 

 history standpoint ? What statesman has re- 

 membered that in the character of the nationl 

 fertility of to-day is written the strength or 

 weakness of the nation to-morrow ? I 

 fear we leave these things to chance, or to 

 the caprice of individual selfishness. As 

 long as the social conditions were such that 

 the weak within the community were not 

 protected by the State ; as long as there 

 was no restriction on the fertility of the 

 better stocks, we might in a rough-and- 

 ready manner trust that our population would 

 be recruited from its fitter members, But 

 with the social movements of the present 

 day, the reduction in infantile mortality, prin- 

 cipally of the inferior stocks, the reduction 

 in the birth-rate, principally of the superior 



