THE FUTURE EVOLUTION OF MAN 115 



may scarcely look for the evolution of such new 

 physical characters as would mark any important 

 further stage in physical evolution, we must regard 

 as quite possible such minute but momentous 

 physical changes in the average cerebrum of the 

 race, as would imply the exaltation of its mental 

 and moral characters. And if, as evolutionary con- 

 siderations teach us, the ennoblement of our kind is 

 possible, it behoves us to ask ourselves whether we 

 have the power to effect it ; for no other aim so 

 worthy can be conceived. 



We have seen that the necessary conditions of 

 organic evolution are heredity and variation. In 

 virtue of their action, the individuals composing any 

 given generation of men are possessed of widely 

 different physical characters, and these are liable to 

 be transmitted, also in virtue of these same con- 

 ditions, to their descendants. But these individuals 

 also present widely different moral and mental 

 characters. The question arises whether these, also, 

 are capable of transmission. After decades of in- 

 quiry and controversy, we have reached the con- 

 clusion that indeed they are. On the other hand, 

 we know that such mental acquirements as, say, a 

 knowledge of several languages, are certainly not 

 transmissible ; whilst the inborn facility for learning 

 them falls under the category of mental characters 

 also stated to be transmissible. Plainly, then, we 

 shall not succeed in elevating the race by educating 

 the emotional and intellectual faculties of each 

 generation, since the results of such education are 

 not transmissible ; but we might conceivably achieve 

 our object by selecting those individuals in whom 



