HUMAN PROGRESS -427 



control the future of the human race until we have familiarized 

 ourselves with the past, and learned to recognize the part 

 played by the numerous different factors which have been con- 

 cerned in the evolution, not only of mankind, but of the whole 

 organic world. 



It must always be remembered that the problem before us is 

 one of extreme complexity, and that we cannot afford to neglect 

 any of the factors involved. Above all, we must avoid dogma- 

 tizing on an insufficient basis of fact. If, for example, the very 

 modern doctrine of the non-inheritance of acquired characters is 

 allowed to influence the actions of men and women, and if, after 

 all, this doctrine should prove to be erroneous, as seems highly 

 probable at the present time, the attempt to apply biological 

 principles to the welfare of humanity may well end in disaster. 

 The penalty which each generation has to pay, in regard to 

 bodily and mental organization, for the mistakes and misfortunes 

 of its ancestors, may, in most cases, be a very small one ; but if 

 there is any penalty at all, and if the mistakes are continued 

 from generation to generation, it will surely be a cumulative one. 



In dealing with problems of this kind a rational conservatism, 

 with a mind always open to conviction, seems the only safe 

 attitude to adopt. 



