ARE WE A DECLINING 

 RACE? 



AN OLD SAILOR'S VERDICT. 



CHAPTER I 



" THESE DEGENERATE DAYS." 



A ponderous stone bold Hector heaved to throw, 

 Pointed above, and rough, and gross below : 

 Not two strong men the enormous weight could raise, 

 Such men as live in these degenerate days. 



Homer. 



'T'HE old cry of "wolf, wolf," the complaint 

 *** that we are not as good as our " forebears," 

 has been echoed from one generation to another, 

 from time immemorial, until at last the ten- 

 dency is to attach but little importance to its 

 repetition. 



To-day, however, the question of degeneration 

 is forcing itself more and more upon our notice, 

 and signs are not wanting that the public mind 

 is disturbed about it. And yet the question has 

 been for long a source of anxiety to the student 

 of humanity. Its solution, rendered more 

 difficult by the unnatural social conditions of our 

 time, is of the greatest immediate importance. 



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