Die THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 
order to inerease the standing army as much as possible, all 
healthy and strong young men are annually selected by a 
strict system of recruiting. The stronger, healthier, and 
more spirited a youth is, the greater is his prospect of being 
killed by needle-guns, cannons, and other similar instru- 
ments of civilization. All youths that are unhealthy, weak, 
or affected with infirmities, on the other hand, are spared by 
the “military selection,” and remain at home during the 
war, marry, and propagate themselves. The more useless, 
the weaker, or infirmer the youth is, the greater is his pros- 
pect of escaping the recruiting officer, and of founding a 
family. While the healthy flower of youth dies on the 
battle-field, the feeble remainder enjoy the satisfaction of 
reproduction and of transmitting all their weaknesses and 
infirmities to their descendants.. According to the laws of 
transmission by inheritance, there must necessarily follow in 
each succeeding generation, not only a further extension, 
but also a more deeply-seated development of weakness of 
body, and what is inseparable from it, a condition of mental 
weakness also. This and other forms of artificial selection 
practised in our civilized states sufficiently explain the sad 
fact that, in reality, weakness of the body and weakness of 
character are on the perpetual increase among civilized 
nations, and that, together with strong, healthy bodies, free 
and independent spirits are becoming more and more scarce. 
To the increasing enervation of modern civilized nations, 
which is the necessary consequence of military selection, 
there is further added another evil. The progress of modern 
medical science, although still little able really to cure 
diseases, yet possesses and practises more than it used to 
«lo the art of prolonging life during lingering, chronic 
