THE CREATION OF SPECIES 



out giving these facts close consideration. The 

 hopeful feature of the matter is that the person even 

 of bad heredity may marry with relative impunity 

 if he is quite certain that the marriage partner se- 

 lected is of altogether normal stock. The great 

 difficulty is to ascertain the facts. It is not enough 

 to make sure of individual normality; the parents 

 and grandparents of the individual, and if possible 

 the remoter ancestors must be considered; and it is 

 desirable also to investigate the collateral strains as 

 evidenced by uncles and aunts and cousins. Such an 

 investigation would often prove difficult. But when 

 we reflect on the care with which breeders of animals 

 trace and guard the pedigrees of their select stocks 

 of dogs and cattle and horses, it seems not too much 

 to hope that some day men and women may be will- 

 ing to safeguard the interests of their own progeny 

 with at least as much assiduity. 



Such illustrations as those just given will serve 

 to show the eminently practical character of the new 

 eugenic movement. It is obvious that the individual 

 interests of every intelligent person are directly con- 

 cerned. This is no academic question; it is a question 

 that concerns the man in the street. It concerns our 

 offspring and the generation in which they will live 

 and have their being. It concerns the entire trend 

 of future civilization. To have gained such clear 

 glimpses of the natural laws that govern human 

 inheritance and to have formulated some clear rules 

 for their interpretation, are not the least among the 

 remarkable achievements of our generation. 



