loS DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



existence that is an anachronism and an anomaly in 

 our civilisation Theirs are the hardships and priva- 

 tions of the savage, but from their position in society, 

 of which they form the lowest dregs, they have not 

 his advantages. Their neolithic ancestor who lived 

 in the Sussex Downs or the Yorkshire Wolds, and 

 shot buzzards with flint-tipped arrows, felt a superi- 

 ority amidst his surroundings, and we have every 

 reason to believe he was as proud a man as any one 

 of us. But the poor tramp, an outcast and a de- 

 pendent, lives a life worse than that of the shepherd- 

 dog in the fields, and perpetuates this misery from 

 century to century. Here, as with the idiot or 

 epileptic and others of this class, there is clearly a case 

 for segregation. All are obviously unfit to perpetuate 

 themselves, and in the best interests of the human 

 species they should be prevented from so doing. 



We have seen in this chapter that just as pre- 

 ventive medicines and the luxuries and comforts of 

 modern civilisation have so far tended towards race 

 deterioration, so in like manner our law-framers have 

 done their best to perpetuate some of the worst 

 strains that society possesses, strains that in a com- 

 munity without poor-laws would many of them have 

 long ago ceased to exist. While, therefore, it is quite 

 clear that the end that we should have in view is the 

 non-perpetuation of the criminals and incapables, any 

 proposal to segregate these would in the meanwhile 



