LUTHER BURBANK 



from New Zealand, from Siberia, from South Af- 

 rica, from Canada, from South America. Carefully 

 selecting among them, he inbred the species from 

 widely separated regions, and thus brought to- 

 gether racial strains that had long diverged. 



And the results were often startling, and some- 

 times highly gratifying. 



It is easy to draw the inference from the most 

 casual glimpses into the past history of our race 

 that the development of civilization has been 

 largely conditioned on the mingling of different 

 racial strains. It is scarcely too much to say that 

 each of the great civilizations of the past was built 

 by a mixed race. It was so in Egypt, in Assyria, in 

 Greece, and in Rome in the ancient days. It is true 

 of the important races of central Europe and of 

 Great Britain in modern times. And it is pre-emi- 

 nently true of the American race of our own day. 



The point is too obvious for elaboration. No 

 one needs to be told that the colonial stock that 

 came to America in the early part of the seven- 

 teenth century was itself made up of mixed an- 

 cestral strains. And the most casual inspection of 

 statistics shows to what extent the increase of pop- 

 ulation of the past hundred years has been due to 

 the coming of immigrants from all parts of 

 Europe, including the representatives of nearly 

 every race of civilized men. 



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