In War 



beyond cavil or question. 3 The "man 

 who is left " holds always the future in 

 his grasp. One of the great books of 

 our new century will be some day writ- 

 ten on the selection of men, the screen- 

 ing of human life through the actions 

 of man and the operation of the institu- 

 tions men have built up. It will be a 

 survey of the stream of social history, 

 its whirls and eddies, rapids and still 

 waters, and the effect of each and all of 

 its conditions on the heredity of men. 

 The survival of the fit and the unfit in 

 all degrees and conditions will be its sub- 

 ject-matter. This book will be written, 

 not roughly and hastily, like the present 

 fragmentary essay, still less will it be a 

 brilliant effort of some analytical imagi- 

 nation. It will set down soberly and 

 statistically the array of facts which as 

 yet no one possesses ; and the new Dar- 

 win whose work it shall be must, like 

 his predecessor, spend twenty-five years 



79 



