606 THE CONTROL OF LIFE: 



organisation. At lower levels the organisation that succeeds 

 may be reflex, tropistic, instinctive; for Man it must be 

 intelligent, at least ; rational, if possible. But what the evolu- 

 tion-process points to with firmness is that Brains pay — 

 Brains that include Love as well as Logic. 



§ 2. Heredity the First Determinant of Life. 



The first determinant of life is the natural inheritance — 

 the past living on in the present, often with something new 

 superadded. Nothing seems further from the possibility 

 of control than heredity : as the satirical poet observed, " a 

 man cannot be too careful in the choice of his parents ". 

 But while we cannot choose our parents, we can, more or 

 less, choose our partners in life, and this may mean control- 

 ling heredity. We cannot create a desirable variation by 

 taking thought, but we may perhaps be able to prevent a 

 very undesirable one from being continued. Parents have 

 also some opportunity and responsibility in regard to the 

 partners whom their children may choose. The days of 

 coercion are over, but there is no coercion in the garrisoning 

 (probably most effective when least direct) of the affections 

 against the advances of the ignoble, the inefficient, and the 

 hereditarily handicapped. This again means controlling he- 

 redity. The inheritance from the past is beyond control, 

 except in so far as its expression may be influenced by nur- 

 ture ; but the inheritance handed on to the future is in some 

 measure within control, since the mating of fittest with fittest, 

 of fit with fitter, of fit with fit can be encouraged by common 

 sense and good feeling, while the mating of fit and unfit, 

 and of unfit with unfit can be discouraged. This has, of 

 course, been done over and over again by peoples — such as 

 the Hebrews — with pride of race and an enthusiasm for 



