6 , HEREDITY AND SOCIETY 



Any movement among the population which tends 

 to bring about a more correct segregation of the 

 different classes eases the conditions in which the 

 biological factor can accomplish its mission. Indeed, 

 from one point of view, the work of civilization has 

 been to differentiate between one type of character and 

 ability and another, and to fit each, as far as possible, 

 into that portion of the social structure where it can 

 be of the greatest value. There is no record of any 

 race that has risen into prominence without having first 

 of all undergone a lengthy process of careful gradua- 

 tion. A disintegration of society and the breaking up 

 of these natural divisions seems to be a preliminary 

 step in national decay. 



Doubtless material improvement in the physical 

 conditions of mankind benefits the present generation 

 by easing the circumstances of life, and lessening the 

 struggle for existence among those least able to bear 

 it ; doubtless it even raises somewhat the next generation 

 by improving the conditions of its nurture in infancy. 

 But the process has definite limits, quickly reached. 

 There are even, as we shall see later on, special dangers 

 attached to any progressive lowering of the standard 

 of individual exertion necessary to maintain a family 

 in a position of independence. 



But, if races are not moulded by the inheritance of 

 the powers and qualities imprinted on each generation 

 by education, training and environment, to what are we 

 to look to explain the undoubted changes in race which 

 have gone on in the past ? Progress there has certainly 

 been ; and every believer in the future of the human 



