Makch 5, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



343 



upon the public at large, their very growth 

 threatens our civilization with future sub- 

 mergence, if not with annihilation. With 

 this condition confronting us, it behooves 

 us to make every effort to ward off possible 

 calamity, and it has, therefore, become a 

 common duty for us to acquaint ourselves 

 with the nature of the situation, to enquire 

 into such remedies as have been proposed, 

 and to support every measure, both private 

 and public, that gives reasonable promise 

 of staying and correcting an impending 

 €vil. In the time allotted to me, it .is my 

 intention to bring before you certain as- 

 pects of man's nature that seem to me of 

 first importance in establishing a sound 

 basis for passing upon such problems as I 

 have suggested. I shall attempt this from 

 the standpoint of a zoologist, not from 

 that of a eugenist, for the obvious reason 

 that I am not an expert in the field of 

 eugenics. If I fail in this effort you must 

 lay the blame at the door of the retiring 

 vice-president of Section F, who in his 

 kindly way has trapped me in a moment of 

 unwariness for this occasion. 



Although we are awakening to the fact 

 that man after all is only one of the mil- 

 lions of animal species on the surface of 

 the globe, we are also well assured that he 

 is a species of very unusual character. The 

 particular traits in which he differs from 

 most other species are to be found in his 

 social habits. As a community builder, a 

 founder of civilizations, he is far in advance 

 of any other animal. One of the results of 

 his social activities in many communities 

 has been the development of institutions 

 for the preservation and care of his less 

 fortunate fellows. Thus asylums, retreats, 

 hospitals, and so forth, have been estab- 

 lished by private munificence or public 

 grants. More or less under the protection 

 of these institutions has grown up a body 

 of semidependents and defectives whose 



increase it is that excites the apprehension 

 of the eugenists. That in the past such 

 individuals have always formed a part of 

 our race can not be doubted, but that they 

 ever showed a tendency to increase com- 

 parable with what seems to be occurring at 

 present is highly improbable. The occasion 

 of this increase is not, in my opinion, 

 merely the exigencies of modern civiliza- 

 tion; it is at least in part due to the im- 

 mense spread of humanitarian activities 

 which have characterized the last century 

 of our civilization. 



That this increase of an undesirable stock 

 should afford an argument against such 

 humane activities is far from my meaning. 

 To my way of thinking this threatening 

 feature is indicative of a minor defect in 

 the workings of modern humanitarianism, 

 and its correction when discovered and ap- 

 plied will, I believe, put that movement on 

 a stronger footing than ever before. 



Biologically considered, the situation is 

 described by a simple formula. Most of us 

 have given up the idea that natural selec- 

 tion is a factor of prime importance in 

 organic evolution. Its operations are not 

 detailed enough to yield with any complete- 

 ness the finished product as we know it in 

 nature, an organic species. But most of 

 us are also thoroughly convinced that selec- 

 tion is a real factor in the development of 

 animals. Its function seems to be that of 

 the elimination of the obviously unfit. As 

 we look about in nature we meet on every 

 side evidences of the ruthless destruction 

 of the strikingly ill-adapted. Among the 

 savage races, as among the lower animals, 

 the defective individual meets an early end. 

 It is only the humanitarianism of our higher 

 civilization that reaches out and protects in 

 a measure such members of our race. 

 Stated biologically then it may be said 

 that we as social beings have devised means 

 whereby the slight effectiveness of natural 



