TABOO AND GENETICS 245 



prevent individuals from assuming the re- 

 sponsibilities of family life be enlisted in the 

 very cause to which they are now so hostile. 

 When the same disapproval is manifested for 

 the shirking of reproductive activities by the 

 eugenically fit that is now directed toward lack 

 of patriotism in other lines, the number of 

 voluntary celibates in society will be materialy 

 decreased. 



The greatest triumph of society in the manipu- 

 lation of the sexual and reproductive life of its 

 members will come when it is able to condition 

 the emotional reaction of the individual by the 

 substitution of the eugenic ideal for the 

 parental fixation and to focus the sentiment of 

 romantic love upon eugenic traits. When this 

 is accomplished, the selection of the mate will 

 at least be favourable for racial regeneration 

 even if individual disharmonies are not entirely 

 eliminated. That there are great difficulties in 

 the way of this accomplishment may be 

 admitted at the outset. The conditioned re- 

 sponses to be broken down and replaced are for 

 the most part formed in early childhood, and 

 have had a long period in which to become 

 firmly impressed upon the organism. But 

 psychological experiments have proven that 

 even the best established conditioned reactions 

 can be broken down and others substituted in 

 their place, so that the situation is not so hope- 



