LUTHER BURBANK 



race, notwithstanding the obvious advantages that 

 have resulted from the scientific breeding of races 

 of plants and animals. 



Of late, however, it has gradually dawned on 

 the intelligent people of the world that the laws of 

 heredity which confessedly apply to man might 

 rationally be given consideration in the breeding 

 of races of men. The new science of eugenics, 

 named and in large part originated by the late Sir 

 Francis Galton, has received an amount of atten- 

 tion in very recent years that it could not possibly 

 have hoped to receive had it been brought to the 

 attention of the public even twenty years ago. And 

 it cannot well be doubted that the demonstrations 

 as to the possibility of improving the races of 

 valued plants by selective breeding made at Santa 

 Rosa and Sebastopol have had their share in call- 

 ing public attention to the possible benefits that 

 may accrue from the systematic and intelligent 

 application of the principles of heredity. 



A general appreciation of the unity of life- 

 forces as well as of life substances, due primarily 

 to the spread of the Darwinian doctrine, has pre- 

 pared the public to look with unbiased eyes for 

 the first time on the human race itself as an evolu- 

 tion product that owes its pre-eminence to the 

 conscious utilization of natural forces and that 

 may obtain still greater heights by the still more 



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