78 DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



but this diminution is certainly not more notable than 

 the corresponding change in the habits of the English 

 upper classes brought about entirely by the force of 

 conscience and habit. Granted that preventive mea- 

 sures will improve the individual, we have to ask 

 ourselves the question, how will they improve the 

 race ? 



Drink among Australian Convicts. 



Dilke informs us 1 that the convict element may 

 now be disregarded in Australian society. In the 

 case of some their crime was an accident, and crim- 

 inal tendencies would not be transmitted to the 

 children they left behind them. On the other hand, 

 the genuine criminal and also the drunken ne'er-do- 

 well left no children. Drink and vice among the 

 " assigned servants " class of convicts, and an absence 

 of all facilities for marriage worked them off the face 

 of the earth, and those who had not been killed before 

 the gold discovery generally drank themselves to 

 death upon the diggings. 



We have here a very clear case in which alcohol 

 acted as a most beneficial selecting influence. Had 

 there been prohibiting laws, preventing the sale of 

 alcohol, the innately depraved would have left 



1 " Problems of Greater Britain," vol. i., chap. ii. 



