1 82 ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



secure a race with finer and firmer moral fibre. Yet there would be serious 

 difficulties in the way. This, which is the logical goal of socialism, would be 

 likely to mar the beauty of family life, which is dependent upon a peculiar 

 mutual attraction between individuals, that cannot be dictated. The time 

 may possibly come when individuals will so cordially recognize their responsi- 

 bility for the advancement of the race that choice in marriage will look to the 

 welfare of the race as a whole, rather than to that of the family, as the chief 

 goal ; but this will not come in our day or before there has been wrought in 

 men a most far-reaching change in life ideals. We have reached the stage in 

 which there is more or less general recognition of the fact that in marriage 

 the welfare of the family rather than that of the individual should be sought 

 by all intelligent and right-minded persons ; but it seems impossible that the 

 welfare of the race can ever be secured at the sacrifice of the beauty of the 

 family life ; and it is a question whether the advancement of the race physi- 

 cally, intellectually, and morally, by choice in marriage, directed chiefly to 

 that end, can be secured without lessening the beauty of family life. The 

 elevation of general standards of opinion as to what constitutes attractiveness 

 in a man or woman, so that these shall include physical, intellectual, and 

 moral soundness and beauty, will cause choice in marriage to operate for the 

 perfection of the race along these lines, desire and duty combining to pro- 

 mote the progress of the race. It is apparently hopeless to accomplish much 

 in this direction by cultivating the sense of duty at the expense of love. A 

 family founded upon the sense of duty and not upon love would not be the 

 best soil in which to cultivate the most beautiful elements of character. 



An objection might be made to the idea of evolution 

 among men through the action of sexual selection similar to 

 that which was made to the effectiveness of sexual selection 

 among lower animals, namely that, to secure evolution 

 in the desired direction, public opinion must be so strong 

 that few but those possessing the desirable qualities shall 

 succeed in marrying, a condition of whose coming we see no 

 present signs. But this objection is really without weight. 

 If men of fine stamina, physically, intellectually, and morally, 

 seek to marry and are accepted by women of similar charac- 

 ter, their children will in the end predominate over the off- 





