1370 LIFE : OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



life has changed; so how can either historical or legal discussion 

 affect it ? De jure now practically matters nothing ; de facto, the 

 matter is settled. "Law" and "Equity" here are contrasted, like 

 Jacobites and Hanoverians; for when an ancient regime has gone 

 we must make the best of the new, until its time and turn for 

 change may appear in life, and justify itself accordingly. The 

 botanist, as gardener, may and does control or redress many 

 external changes: he can guide growth, he can propagate, graft and 

 bud; but he can have no idea of meddling with this Alstroemerian 

 revolution, or rather overturn, since that has been decided by its 

 life, and directed from within. 



MAN AND SUPERMAN. — ^Though much has been written, and 

 more talked, in recent years on this theme, the wonder is that it 

 has not gone much further than the dreamlands of speculative or 

 imaginative writers, and without yet winning its legitimate place 

 among the problems of evolutionary science, inviting inquiry, 

 scrutiny, and survey; and also practical measures, even beyond 

 eugenics so far. Such evolutionary endeavours must involve observa- 

 tion wider than ever, whence in time generalisations and interpre- 

 tations, extending to foresight, and rousing to practical measures 

 accordingly. In briefer terms — vision as observant, vision as intelli- 

 gent, vision as future, vision as becoming realised — so, at briefest. 

 Voir, Savoir, Prevoir, Ponrvoir. We cannot, of course, attempt to 

 outline all this, but it is worth doing — and far more fully than as 

 yet attempted, since nothing short of a co-operative stocktaking 

 of life and civilisation, and their possibilities, and towards policy 

 accordingly. 



The traditions and literature of every people and period are 

 rich in records and tales of their illustrious individuals; and even 

 when these are not veritable, or eveh seriously credible, they often 

 all the better illustrate the ideas and ideals of their times. Seriously 

 interpretative biography, beyond past standard examples, is now 

 advancing towards a sounder technique, reinforced by bio-psycho- 

 logical and social standards. The eugenist and the educationist 

 have here also to combine their too long separate perspectives ; and 

 this is not so difficult as it has seemed, whether in Life-theory 

 (Chapter XIII) or in actual practice. Witness the ordinary com- 

 plemental meanings of "good breed" (as eugenic), and of "good- 

 breeding", "well-bred", etc., as implying well brought up; while 

 "good family" ma}^ be used in either sense. We need both. 



This subject of further human evolution is thus not limited to 

 any particular Utopias or their Utopians ; and though such literature 

 is not to be despised, we may well refrain from adding to it, other 

 than may arise on the bases of scientific inquiry and practical 

 pohcy. We must start (i) from what we know of the past, (2) of 



