1 84 HEREDITY AND SOCIETY 



stand why it is necessary to create with such a lavish 

 hand and to select with such stern rigour. Multitudes 

 must come into existence in order that, among them, 

 the few that are worth preserving should have a 

 chance of seeing the light. It is the same in human 

 affairs. Hundreds of poets pour out their little 

 volumes of song, and out of them all one man may 

 show kinship with the immortals. He leaves many 

 thousands of lines in which he has incorporated the 

 substance of his mission ; society seizes on a tenth 

 part of the fabric and feels that only this small pro- 

 portion of his labour was truly inspired. So, out of 

 a large community, a few families will come to stand 

 out above the others, for qualities of head and heart, 

 and out of those few families, a handful of men will 

 be born who will single themselves out above the 

 average of their kin, one of whom possibly will tower 

 up to become a leader of men. Socially valuable 

 qualities, combined in balanced proportion in one 

 individual, are the greatest of gifts to society, and 

 society must be prepared to pay heavily for the chance 

 of welcoming such a person. A maker of thought, 

 a leader of men, a wise ruler, have a monopoly value 

 which must be paid, not so much to themselves, as 

 to their forebears and to their descendants. 



The danger in front of society is twofold. In the 

 first place, modern nations, born and bred among the 

 rush for gold, with the cry for the increase of comfort 

 and luxury ringing in their ears perpetually, may 

 deliberately adopt a materialistic basis for life, cast 

 aside their humanity, and sacrifice the soul to the 



