36 Heredity and Child Culture 



question, namely the endeavor to increase the 

 fertility of the stocks above the average in racial 

 value and thus to improve the average health 

 of future generations, progress in this direc- 

 tion would be promoted by a widespread know- 

 ledge of the laws of natural inheritance. Such 

 a knowledge would create a tendency to shun 

 marrying into a family notably inferior in men- 

 tal or physical qualities, and this tendency ought 

 to be encouraged. . . . Sexual selection has 

 often in nature produced marvelous changes 

 in both the minds and the bodies of animals, and 

 by the aid of conscious efforts sexual selection 

 could be made to produce far more beneficial 

 results to the human race than it is doing at 

 present." 



He thus believes that natural heredity can be 

 utilized as an agency for promoting the wel- 

 fare of mankind. He also calls attention to an 

 endeavor, not dependent on natural inheritance, 

 namely, that of trying to improve the health 

 of our descendants by preventing children from 

 being infected or poisoned before birth by the 

 mothers. 



