Eugenics as a Creed and the Last Decade of Galton' 8 Life 273 



Galton says that some contributors to the discussion had been unnecessarily 

 alarmed. No question had been raised by him of breeding men like animals 

 for particular points, to the disregard of all-round efficiency in physical and 

 intellectual (including moral*) qualities and in the hereditary worth of their 

 stock. (Personally also I very much doubt whether most breeders select 

 animals for individual points without close regard to other characteristics.) 

 Galton l-emarks that 



" Moreover, as statistics have shown, the best qualities are largely correlated. The youths 

 who became judges, bishops, statesmen, and leaders of progress in England could have furnished 

 formidable athletic teams in their times. There is a tale, I know not how far founded on fact, 

 that Queen Elizabeth had an eye to the calves of the legs of those she selected for bishops. 

 There is something to be said in favour of selecting men by their physical characteristics for 

 other than physical purposes. It would decidedly be safer to do so than to trust to pure 

 chance." (p. 50.) 



(iii) The Residue. Galton does not make here a very strong reply to those 

 who objected that, after the selection of the fitter, the residue would inter- 

 breed and grow increasingly inferior f. He appears to overlook his own point, 

 that it is essential to create a differential fertility, so that the better stocks 

 increase at a greater rate. 



(iv) Passion of Love. To the argument that " Love is lord of all," and will 

 not be restrained, Galton replies that a slight inclination and falling thoroughly 

 in love are two different things, and it is against the former that taboo applies, 

 whether it is due to rank, creed, connections or other causes. "The pro- 

 verbial 'Mrs Grundy' has enormous influence in checking the marriages she 

 considers indiscreet." (p. 51.) 



(v) Eugenics as a Factor in Religion. Here Galton adds to his memoir 

 two additional pages (pp. 52-3) as a short essay on this topic. He considers 

 that Eugenics strengthens the sense of social duty in so many important 

 ways — for it promotes wise philanthropy, the notion of parentage as a serious 

 responsibility and a higher conception of patriotism— that its conclusions 

 ought "to find a welcome home in every tolerant religion." There follows a 

 vivid description of "mechanical" evolution — one of the finest word-paintings 

 that perhaps anyone has made of the world's history — and then the state- 

 ment that man has already largely influenced the quality and distribution of 

 organic life on the earth and that if he will only recognise it, it largely lies 

 in his power to influence the evolution of humanity itself. The brief essay 

 concludes with the lines that occupy a place of prominence in the Galton 

 Laboratory of National Eugenics as among the most stimulating words of its 

 Founder : 



"Eugenic belief extends the function of philanthropy to future generations, it renders its 

 action more pervading than hitherto, by dealing with families and societies in their entirety, 



* This confirms my view (see p. 224) that Galton would have included the moral with the 

 mental characters. 



t He supposes that in the future there would be a freer action for selective agencies, e.g. 

 there would be a reduction of indiscriminate charity, but this seems a return, with emphasis, 

 to the crude processes of natural selection. 



pain 35 



