88 ZOOLOGY 



doubtful how far beliefs of this kind can fulfil their original 

 function. Their driving force is continually being weakened 

 by scientific teaching, and unless we should acquire a leader 

 who should re-state in modern language the essential parts of 

 old teaching so as to bind the nation together in a new unity, 

 not much is to be hpoed for from that quarter. 



If, then, our condition is far from satisfactory on the side of 

 loyalty, let us look at it from the point of view of adaptation 

 and invention. Are we superior to others in adaptation of 

 means to ends ? There is no question that we were superior. 

 But superiority is a relative term. A superiority based on 

 rule of thumb, on the following out of rules gained by hard 

 experience, is an excellent thing so long as no one finds out a 

 better way of accomplishing our tasks. But a superiority 

 based on the systematic encouragement of scientific research 

 and the immediate appropriation of its latest results is a far 

 better thing, and this is the method adopted by Germany and 

 Japan. This method, it seems to us, is bound to win in the 

 long run, just as surely as the Neolithic axe prevailed over the 

 ancient chipped flint-knife, or as the bronze weapon in turn 

 conquered the axe. 



There are, however, still other considerations to be weighed. 

 A species of animals living under natural conditions is kept in 

 a state of health and vigour by natural selection. All weak 

 and diseased specimens are ruthlessly eliminated, and only the 

 strong and active reproduce their kind. Under modern con- 

 ditions of civilisation, the effort is made to preserve all, however 

 diseased and imperfect, alive, and to oppose no check to their 

 reproduction. The practical result of this is, that the most 

 reckless and criminal members of society reproduce early and 

 often, and impose the burden of the care of a worthless progeny 

 on the thrifty members of society, who in consequence limit 

 their own reproduction. From whatever point of view this 

 state of affairs is viewed it must cause apprehension. In the 

 so-called good old days, when plagues and wars periodically 

 wiped out large numbers of the population, only the most 

 vigorous survived, and the quality of the race was not im- 

 paired. If we go still further back to the palmy days of the 

 warlike tribes who founded the city-states of Greece and Rome, 

 we learn that sick and weakly infants were not allowed to live. 



