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h\irlif Aiif/iro/»n/nifira/ HeHearrheH 1 1 I 



The alM)ve is one of the most noteworthy puswigeH in wliich CJalton con- 

 (lemiiH the teaching of unrestricted birth-control'. And its wisdom upiH'arH 

 conviiiciiij^ to iiny hut Neo-Malthusian fanatics! The injj»ni<hnit, tlic fec'KU'SK, 

 and tho fcebloniiiKlt'd by their very nature will not control their liirths, and 

 the higher intelligences will and do. Birth-control is poison to a race which 

 has not IpgiHJatively orgaiii.srd a differential fertility of its castes; it is death 

 to a race which has not regarded its own fertility in relation to that of its 

 neighbours and possible enemies. The fear France exhibits l)efore (lennany 

 to-day, even after a successful war, is largely the outcome of her neglect of 

 the.se Galtonian axioms'. 



(Jalton's condemnation of unthinking birth-control is followed by a still 

 troiiger condemnation of the te{u;bing of the Catholic Church, which chose 

 to preach and e.xact celibacy fi'om its most earnest devotees. 



"The long p«irio(l of the dark ages under wliich Euro|)e haa lain is due, I believe to a very 

 considerable degree, to the celibacy enjoined by the religious ortlers on their votaries. Whenever 

 a nmn or woman was possessod of a gentle nature that fitted him or her to deeds of charity, to 

 meditation, to literature or to art, the social condition of the time was such that they had no 

 refuge elsewhere than in the h<.>son) of the Church. But the Church chase to preach and exact 

 celibacy. The con-sequeiico was that these gentle nature.s had no continuance, and thus by a 

 policy so singularly unwise and suicidal that I am hardlj* able to speak of it without im|>atienc«, 

 the Church brutjilised the breed of our forefathers. She acte<l precisely as if she uiniMl at 

 selecting the rudest portion of the coiumunity to be, alone, the parents of future generations. 

 She practised the arts which bree<lers would use, who aimed at creating fei-ocious, currish and 

 stupid natures. No wonder that club law prevailed for centuries over Europe; the wonder 

 rather is that enough good remained in the veins of Europeans to unable their race to rise to 

 its present, very moderate level of natural morality." (p. 358'.) 



But the destruction of moral gentleness was not the only or perhaps the 

 most culpable result of Catholic policy. Galton cites the effects of the 

 Int^uisition, of the martyrdom and imprisonment of original thinkers in 

 Spain, Italy and France. 



"The Sj>anish nation was ilrsined of free-thinkers at the rate of 1000 persons annually for 

 the three centuries between 1471 and 1781." 



In Italy 



"in the diocese of Como alone more than 1000 were tried annually by the inquisitors for many 

 years, and 300 burnt in the single year of 1416." 



In France during the seventeenth century three to four hundred thousand 



' Darwin strongly supported Gallon's opinion; see More Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. It, 

 p. 60. 



' It would be amusing, were it not sad, to note how large and influential a section of Galton's 

 creation, the English Eugenics Education Society, has recently been satisfying its thirst for 

 education at Xeo-Midthusiiin rather than (taltonian springs. 



' Gakon refers to a relic of this monastic spirit which in his day gave an able young man a 

 fellowship at the University, not in order that ho might marry, but on condition that he did 

 not. That is now abolished, but the lay councils of academic institutions are still imbue<l with 

 the ignorance of the Catholic Church, they just as ertectually check the fertility of the able by 

 allowing only celibate pittances to the young men and women whose instinct impels them to 

 make research and learning their calling in life. Such a la3rman recently pointing to the list of 

 the ill-paid st^ff of the Galton Laboratory wanted to know why it should be maintained, if there 

 were so few students to be tauarht! 



