CHAPTER XI 

 THE BREEDING OF MEN 



IT is worth much, by plant eugenics, to breed 

 the spines from the cactus, and thus, at one 

 stroke, rid the world of a plant enemy and 

 give it a new plant friend. 



But it is worth more, who shall say how many 

 times more, to breed strength of mind or strength 

 of body into a child to breed out those qualities 

 which might make the child a menace and to 

 breed in those which make him a useful citizen 

 and a successful individual. 



It is the purpose of the ensuing chapters to 

 deal with the subject of race betterment and self" 

 betterment through the application of the laws of 

 heredity to mankind to study Luther Burbank's 

 amazing success in plant eugenics with an eye 

 toward its application to the practice of human 

 eugenics. 



Fitly to introduce the subject, let me tell the 

 story of how, through the practice of eugenics, an 

 obscure German bishop became the father of 

 kings. 



It is a story with all the elements of romance, 

 but it is sober history. 



At the outset, the tale concerns seven brothers 

 who, along in the sixteenth century, inherited a 



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