October 7, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



315 



the most part they have been promulgated in 

 certain eastern countries ever since the dawn 

 of civilization ? How do we compare in intel- 

 lect with the inhabitants of ancient Greece 

 two thousand years ago? With a knowledge 

 of the delights of country life, can we look on 

 our slums with anything but shame? Do we 

 not blush to talk of peace on earth and good- 

 will towards men whilst remembering what has 

 happened during the last seven years? And, 

 in view of all this, have we any right to assume 

 that improvement of environment will do more 

 for mankind during the nest two thousand 

 years than it has done since the days of 

 Plato? Reformers who look only to surround- 

 ings should consider well the foundations on 

 which their projects are based before pointing 

 the finger of scorn at the believers in heredity. 

 Eugenics has been called a dismal science, but 

 it should rather be described as an untried 

 policy. Eugenics indicates a new method of 

 striving for human welfare which, if combined 

 with an equal striving for improvements in 

 human surroundings, more truly justifies a 

 hopeful outlook than anything which has yet 

 been tried in the whole history of the world. 

 More hopeful, that is, if the roads to which our 

 eugenic finger post is pointing are not as studi- 

 ously avoided in the future as they have been 

 in the past. 



The eugenic signpost which we wish to erect 

 should, in my opinion, have three arms on it, 

 pointing to three main lines along which an 

 advance should be pressed forward. In the 

 first place the public should be made to realize 

 more and more fully what a potent influence 

 heredity has on the fate of all nations. In the 

 second place efforts must be made to ascertain 

 and to make known the rules by which each 

 individual ought to strive to regulate his own 

 conduct in regard to parenthood in accordance 

 with the laws of heredity in so far as they are 

 now surely known. Lastly, the action which the 

 state should take in order to stimulate and to 

 enforce conduct productive of racial progress 

 must be considered, a line of advance to be 

 advocated, however, with great circumspection 

 when compulsion is concerned. Our aim must 



be to advance along all these three roads simul- 

 taneously and continuously. 



The laws of natural inheritance supply a 

 means of predicting in a measure the quali- 

 ties of offspring when the qualities of their 

 parents are known; and if any society ac- 

 cepts heredity, not as its sole guide, but as 

 a light ever to be held in view, it is in fact 

 intending to rely to some extent on these 

 laws of natural inheritance when attempting 

 to forecast the results in the future of our 

 actions of to-day. Genetics is the pure science 

 which deals with heredity, and genetics is, 

 therefore, the very foundation on which the 

 superstructure of eugenics is being built. The 

 students of genetics will, however, I am sure, 

 all agree that a vast amount of research is 

 needed before they will be able to rest satis- 

 fied with the knowledge they have acquired, 

 supposing it to be possible that such a state 

 of contentment will ever be reached. Kow 

 it is impossible to conduct the needed breed- 

 ing experiments on human beings, and gene- 

 tic research must be largely concerned with 

 the lower animals and with plants; whilst 

 eugenics is primarily concerned with man 

 alone. Then again eugenics must include 

 the study of many social and economic prob- 

 lems which lie quite outside the sphere of 

 genetics. The pure science of genetics and 

 the applied science of eugenics do, therefore, 

 cover different fields, though the boundary be- 

 tween them is ill defined and movable ; and 

 in both fields further advances are urgently 

 needed. For these reasons it seems to me — 

 though here opinions may differ somewhat — 

 that the main aim of eugenieal societies 

 should now be, whilst leaving geneticists to 

 cultivate their own ground, to formulate a 

 sound eugenic policy based on existing genetic 

 knowledge, and then to promote the trans- 

 lation of every advance in eugenic theory into 

 general practise. If we eugenists rely on 

 scientific experts for the laying of our scien- 

 tific foundations, then we shall be able to 

 devote our main energies to the advocacy of 

 reforms tending to promote racial progress and 

 to considering how wide may be the area over 



