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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIY. No. 1397 



acknowledge where others are in the right is 

 often the best way of getting a hearing for 

 ourselves. The most formidable foe we have 

 to meet is ignorance; and here again it is 

 wise to admit that the ignorance is not all 

 on one side. "With every growth in our knowl- 

 edge of biology and sociology we shall be 

 able safely to enlarge our programme, and 

 we should make it clear that our discussions 

 of to-day are often tentative and do not always 

 indicate the directions in which we shall ad- 

 vance to-morrow. As to the ignorance of our 

 opponents, it can only be overcome by pa- 

 tience, perseverance and above all by never 

 •concealing such doubts as are still felt. Un- 

 fortunately it must be admitted that even per- 

 fect knowledge, however widely held, would not 

 make our path quite smooth, human nature 

 being what it is; for the want of attractive- 

 ness of our programme is largely due to the 

 fact that we are looking to human welfare in 

 the more or less distant future and not to 

 present-day comforts. Most men in their 

 march through life are hoping either for per- 

 sonal distinction as a reward for their exer- 

 tions or for quick returns on their invest- 

 ments; and neither of these benefits is to be 

 obtained in the eugenic market. You can 

 easily enough get your forests cut down and 

 the timber sold for an immediate profit; but 

 the planting of slow growing trees, which will 

 not be worth felling till most of us are dead, is 

 a less attractive venture, though more benefi- 

 cial to the nation. The reforms which the 

 eugenist wishes to plant would certainly bear 

 excellent fruit in due course, even though 

 much of it would only be gathered by our chil- 

 dren and our children's children. Then again 

 your business men not seldom try to sell their 

 goods by running down the wares produced by 

 their rivals, an inexcusable proceeding in so 

 far as merely an outcome of greed and jeal- 

 ousy. !N"ow this same competitive spirit is far 

 too much felt in social work, and I fear we 

 eugenists have often aroused opposition by 

 unnecessarily running down reforms depend- 

 ent on changes in environment. Let us rather 

 strive to show that there is plenty of open 

 ground over which reformers of all kinds can 



strive to advance simultaneously and harmoni- 

 ously; and let us all recognize that jealousy 

 is one of the commonest and probably the most 

 insidious of all human failings. The claims of 

 this generation and of posterity are doubtless 

 sometimes antagonistic, and the genuine diffi- 

 culties thus arising must be openly faced and 

 often met in a spirit of wise compromise. The 

 main obstacles to be overcome by eugenists 

 are, however, dependent on moral failings, and 

 what we have to show is that we are engaged 

 in a moral campaign, with human welfare in 

 the highest sense as the goal for which we are 

 striving. 



Eugenics aims at increasing the rate of mul- 

 tiplication of stocks above the average in heri- 

 table qualities, and at decreasing that rate in 

 the case of stocks below the average. But if 

 the banner under which we are to fight should 

 only have inscribed on it some such arid defi- 

 nition of policy as this, our defeat would be 

 certain. We must prove that we are under the 

 guidance of a noble ideal. "We of this genera- 

 tion are responsible for the production of the 

 next generation and, therefore, of all mankind 

 in the future; and all in whom this sense of 

 racial responsibility acts as a deep-seated sen- 

 timent, greatly affecting their action and their 

 policy, are in truth guided by the eugenic ideal. 

 The belief that man has been slowly developed 

 from some ape-like progenitor came towards 

 the close of the last century to be nearly uni- 

 versally held by thoughtful persons ; this belief 

 gave rise to a new hope that this upward march 

 of mankind might be continued in the future ; 

 and out of this new hope sprang the eugenic 

 ideal. This growing understanding of the past 

 history of the world has led us to see that, if 

 we are to imitate ISTature in her methods, we 

 must be content to advance by means of a 

 long succession of small steps; just as rain 

 falling in drops on the earth has slowly carved 

 out mighty valleys in the hardest rocks. With- 

 out constructing wild Utopias, we must be con- 

 tent if some little racial progress can be en- 

 sured as each generation succeeds another; for 

 to work in this spirit is to work in harmony 

 with the knowledge which gave birth to the 

 eugenic ideal. Progress on eugenic lines will 



