EFFECT OF WAR 75 



another passage, speaking of the war between two 

 tribes of savages, he suggests that the advantage 

 might go to those with higher moral qualities. " Let 

 it be borne in mind how all-important in the never- 

 ceasing wars of savages, fidelity and courage must 

 be. The advantage which disciplined soldiers have 

 over undisciplined hordes follows chiefly from the 

 confidence which each man feels in his comrades " 

 (Id. p. 162). In a passage, added in the second 

 edition, Darwin referred to the probable evil result 

 on a modern nation of conscription. " In every 

 country in which a large standing army is kept up, 

 the finest young men are taken by conscription or 

 are enlisted. They are thus exposed to early death 

 during war, are often tempted into vice, and are 

 prevented from marrying during the prime of life. 

 On the other hand, the shorter and feebler men, with 

 poor constitutions, are left at home, and consequently 

 have a much better chance of marrying and of pro- 

 pagating their kind/' 



It is at least clear that Darwin cannot fairly be 

 cited, as von Bernhardi and others have taken him, 

 as a witness for the proposition that war is the great 

 elevating force of nations. On the other hand, I 

 cannot be so certain as some ardent eugenists, 

 that the total effect of even a great modern war 

 deteriorates the stock. Dr. Starr Jordan, of the 

 Leland Stanford University, in a little book, The 

 Human Harvest (Rivers, London, 1907), discussed 

 the results of the loss of the young, strong and brave 

 in war. Dr. Saleeby, in an address delivered before 

 the Manchester Statistical Society in November; 

 1914, referred to the " reversed selection " due to 



