1 88 Heredity and Social Progress 



and must be kept active. In order that the 

 strong may thrive, these weak acquired char- 

 acters must be transmitted by conscious effort 

 through imitation and by education. The con- 

 scious process acting upon the acquired char- 

 acter builds up what the natural process tends 

 to dwarf. It thus preserves social equality and 

 makes new progress in differentiation possible. 

 Through elimination the really strong is cut 

 off at the point where it becomes weak, and 

 the survivor is the undifferentiated the medi- 

 ocre who is strong in struggle because he 

 has that unspecialized unity upon which inde- 

 pendent action depends. Genius, however, is 

 a well-supported differentiation, not a net addi- 

 tion to the powers of men. To be mediocre 

 is to be, not organically weak, but organically 

 undifferentiated. Elimination does not act 

 against the mediocre, but is in their favor. 1 



1 The selfish, like the mediocre, represent the undifferentiated 

 neutral state in which life took its start. In the delicate and 

 numerous equilibriums of an organism its activities and consump- 

 tion must also be varied and harmonious. It cannot move far in 

 any one way without setting devolution at work. While egoism 

 represents a neutral state, altruism represents an elaborate bal- 

 ancing of physical forces and grows in force as organisms rise in 

 the scale of being. Its basis is physical, not psychic. 



