286 EUGENICS 



this belief to the present or to the future. Few 

 realize the full significance of the inferences that, if 

 man has risen in the past, he may still rise higher in 

 ages yet to come ; if the type has undergone modifica- 

 tion in the past, it may even now be changing. Those 

 who move the forces of money or of popular opinion 

 should take heed how their actions affect the rate 

 and direction of this possibly momentous change. 



The evolution of man, like that of other animals, 

 is believed to have been largely due to the effect of 

 selection. Whether the variations selected were great 

 or small makes little difference to the argument. In 

 former days this selective action was exerted by fierce 

 competition, which led to the survival of individuals 

 endowed with certain qualities and to the extinction 

 of other individuals differently constituted. 



Modern civilization and humanitarianism have 

 effectually set aside the action of natural selection. 

 The result at the present day indicates that the upward 

 progress of the race has probably almost ceased, and 

 that there is every danger of finding that a downward 

 journey has begun. This is an inevitable conclusion 

 to those who accept the well-established facts (i) that 

 men are not born equal, but differ widely in their 

 birthright in respect of every physical and mental 

 character, and (2) that, although every man is free to 

 become the father of a family, yet the tendency to 

 bring up large families is becoming relatively smaller 

 among those classes of society which we must regard 

 as the best endowed, both physically and mentally. 



Are there any practicable means by which this 



