The Destiny of Man. 97 



organic life it must go on, but as a deter- 

 mining factor in the highest work of evo- 

 lution it will disappear. 



The action of natural selection upon 

 Man has long since been essentially di- 

 minished through the operation of social 

 conditions. For in all grades of civili- 

 zation above the lowest, "there are so 

 many kinds of superiorities which sever- 

 ally enable men to survive, notwithstand- 

 ing accompanying inferiorities, that naturaP 

 selection cannot by itself rectify any par-" 

 ticular unfitness." In a race of inferior 

 animals any maladjustment is quickly re- 

 moved by natural selection, because, owing 

 to the universal slaughter, the highest 

 completeness of life possible to a given 

 grade of organization is required for the 

 mere maintenance of life. But under the 

 conditions surrounding human develop- 

 ment it is otherwise. 14 There is a wide 

 interval between the highest and lowest 

 degrees of completeness of living that 

 are compatible with maintenance of life, 

 7 



