236 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



original home — the Hindus as generally believed — 

 remained unprogressive and quiet, playing no special 

 part in the history of the world, while those who 

 finally occupied the Western lands — the European 

 races — were a restless people inheriting the char- 

 acter of those who had been constantly selected dur- 

 ing th3 long periods of migration. Thus widely dif- 

 ferent races of men arose, by selection, from the 

 same stock. 



Now, while this simply represents a somewhat 

 uncertain story of a few prehistoric races, something 

 similar has ever occurred even in more recent times ; 

 for war has always tended to produce a decided modi- 

 fication of the race. Through the whole course of the 

 centuries warfare has ever brought one people into 

 contact with another, and thus spread education and 

 civilization. War too, at least in the days when every 

 man was a soldier, has led to the constant survival as 

 well as constant mastery of the unruly, uneasy, 

 turbulent spirits ; in short, to that class of men that 

 has been the inspiration of steady advance. Com- 

 pare the conditions of China with those of Eome. In 

 one an enormous country with immense population, 

 composed of people perfectly satisfied and desirous 

 of remaining in constant quiet ; with no great wars 

 during their long history, and, as a result, a stagna- 

 tion which has lasted century after century. Rome, 

 on the other hand, was made up of a turbulent 

 people, in constant contact with the rest of the world 

 through their endless wars, rapidly expanding, be- 

 coming mistress of the world and dominating its his- 

 tory. In one case stagnation, in the other constant 

 activity. In the recent history of European nations 

 the contact that comes with other nations through 



