October 7, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



317 



laws carries with it no implication whatever 

 that the methods of the animal breeder ought 

 to be introduced into human society. It 

 should in fact be most strongly emphasized 

 that nothing which we advocate is contrary to 

 the highest religious ideals. This is, however, 

 rather a digression; for I am not here to in- 

 struct lecturers how to lecture. All that I 

 now wish to insist on is that, by means of 

 lectures to audiences of all kinds, the en- 

 deavor to spread abroad sound impressions 

 concerning the force of natural heredity and 

 the enormously important influence which it 

 has in deciding the welfare and the destiny 

 of nations should form a prominent part of 

 the programme of all eugenical societies. 



The title selected for the British Society 

 by its founders was the Eugenics Education 

 Society, and certainly they had excellent 

 reasons for thus emphasizing the educational 

 aspects of the eugenic campaign which they 

 were inaugurating in my country. No class 

 of the community is more important to in- 

 terest in racial problems than teachers of 

 all grades; because the ideas of the youth 

 of to-morrow will depend so largely on the 

 opinions of the teachers of to-day. But 

 teachers must be taught before they can take 

 a thoroughly intelligent interest in racial 

 questions; and for this reason it is of primary 

 importance that biology should be given ade- 

 quate recognition in the curricula of all col- 

 leges where teachers are trained. Our edu- 

 cational aspirations could not, however, be 

 completely satisfied in this way; for to finally 

 succeed in the first of our main aims, namely, 

 the spreading abroad of a general knowledge 

 of the laws of natural inheritance, natural 

 science must be given a far more prominent 

 place than at present in the courses of studies 

 of all schools and colleges. No doubt there 

 are many who now regard our efforts with 

 great distrust; but those who feel thus should 

 remember that the better and the more wide- 

 spread the teaching of biology, the more cer- 

 tain would it be that any eugenic errors 

 would be detected and their harmful influ- 

 ence prevented. Moreover, if we want prog- 

 ress in scientific research to be both rapid 



and on right lines, it is important that a 

 considerable number of students should be 

 thoroughly trained each year in genetics, or 

 that more undergraduates should specialize 

 in natural science at our universities than at 

 present. Eugenics has a long struggle be- 

 fore it, and all these methods of laying edu- 

 cational foundations for future progress 

 should certainly come within the scope of the 

 eSorts of eugenical societies. 



Passing on to the second of the main lines 

 along which eugenical societies should strive 

 to advance, what we want to know is the rules 

 which ought to guide each individual in 

 deciding on his own voluntary actions in all 

 matters relating to racial progress. The at- 

 tempt to ascertain the precepts by means of 

 which each one of us should strive to regu- 

 late his conduct in questions connected with 

 parenthood obviously involves the consider- 

 ation of a number of ethical, racial and econo- 

 mic factors; for, in regard to any proposed 

 line of conduct, we have to weigh in the 

 balance as well as we can its moral effects, 

 the immediate material advantages or dis- 

 advantages to the family and to the state 

 which are likely thus to arise, and the bene- 

 fits or injuries which it will confer or infiict 

 on the race in the future. Even if these prob- 

 lems be approached in a calm and scientific 

 spirit — and in this respect eugenical societies 

 should strive to set a much needed example — 

 even then it will be exceedingly difiicult in 

 most cases now to arrive at precise con- 

 clusions. We must not attempt in the present 

 state of our knowledge to lay down rigid 

 rules of conduct, but only to suggest general 

 guiding principles; though we may hope that 

 with every advance of science it will be pos- 

 sible more and more clearly to indicate what 

 each individual ought to do and what he 

 ought to avoid. As an illustration of the dif- 

 ficulties involved in these problems, consider 

 the case of a contemplated marriage when 

 both families thus to be connected are charac- 

 terized by some degree of ill health. Now it 

 would only be persons endowed with high 

 moral qualities who would be likely to obey 

 any self-denying ordinance in regard to mar- 



