THE FABRIC OF MATTER 3 



islands, met and married Europeans, Asiatics, 

 Africans. Probably never before in the history of 

 the world had there been such a clash of ideas, 

 such an intermarrying of nations ; and surely it is 

 permissible, and in accordance both with the laws 

 of biology and ethics, to suppose that such inter- 

 national promiscuity would result at once in mental 

 quickening and in moral deterioration ; and this 

 supposition would explain at once the suddenness 

 of the intellectual ascent and the quickness of the 

 decadence. Mongrels have often brains and 

 vitality, and are rich in remarkable variations, but 

 in accordance with the laws of heredity they do 

 not breed true. We see something of the same 

 kind in towns like Chicago and New York — great 

 intellectual activity, combined with moral deteriora- 

 tion, and qualities that appear in one generation to 

 disappear in the next. 



We suggest, then, that the great fertility of the 

 Greek mind at this period was due chiefly to race 

 admixture. It was simply an instance of natural 

 eugenics — a case of germinal variations resulting 

 in a crop of geniuses. 



Yet the awakening was not quite so sudden 

 as it might seem. The Greek brain was ready for 

 the quickening : the Greek language and Greek 

 mythology presuppose an intellect already highly 

 developed. And it must be remembered, too, 



