l6 AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS [i6 



down upon them, and the equals in all but privilege of the 

 most enlightened teachers of eugenics.^ 



Again Ward says : 



The amount of visible genius has never exceeded one-tenth 

 of I per cent, but it is proved that at least two hundred times 

 as much exists and might be brought out. This would raise 

 it to 20 per cent. But when we recognize the many forms 

 that genius takes we cannot escape the conclusion that some 

 measure of genius exists in nearly everyone. All this genius 

 is scattered somewhat uniformly through the whole mass of 

 the population.^ 



Finally Ward remarks : 



It turns out, then, that after all the discussion of heredity, 

 and the hopes hung upon the idea of utilizing it in the interest 

 of race improvement, it is a fixed quantity which no human 

 power can change, while the environment, which Galton af- 

 fected to despise, is not only easily modified, but is in reality 

 the only thing that is modified in the process of artificial 

 selection, which is the essential principle of eugenics itself. 

 All the improvement that can be brought about through any 

 of the applications of that art must be the result of nurture, 

 and cannot be due to any change in nature, since nature is 

 incapable of change.^ 



Ward's theory is thus, apparently, in irreconcilable oppo- 

 sition to that of Galton. Ward seems to hold that im- 

 proved nurture is the only means of improving the race, 

 which is worthy of consideration, while Galton seems to 

 hold that only improvement of the blood of the nation can 

 permanently advance society. 



* " Eugenics, Euthenics and Eudemics," The American Journal of 

 Sociology, vol. xviii, p. 754. 

 » Ibid., p. 744. '^^i^.. PP- 749-750. 



