Ch. i. Wallace. Cojidorcet. 15 



animals, to a certain degree, no person can possi- 

 bly doubt. A clear and decided progress has al- 

 ready been made; and yet I think it appears that 

 it would be highly absurd to say, that this pro- 

 gress has no limits. In human life, though there 

 are great variations from different causes, it may 

 be doubted whether, since the world began, any 

 organic improvement whatever of the human 

 frame can be clearly ascertained. The founda- 

 tions, therefore, on which the arguments for the 

 organic perfectibility of man rest are unusually 

 weak, and can only be considered as mere con- 

 jectures. It does not, however, by any means, 

 seem impossible that, by an attention to breed, 

 a certain degree of improvement similar to that 

 among animals might take place among men. 

 Whether intellect could be communicated may 

 be a matter of doubt; but size, strength, beauty, 

 complexion, and, perhaps, even longevity, are in 

 a degree transmissible. The error does not lie in 

 supposing a small degree of improvement possi- 

 ble, but in not discriminating between a small 

 improvement, the limit of which is undefined, 

 and an improvement really unlimited. As the 

 human race, however, could not be improved in 

 this way, without condemning all the bad speci- 

 mens to celibacy, it is not probable that an atten- 

 tion to breed should ever become general; in- 

 deed I know of no well-directed attempts of this 

 kind, except in the ancient family of the Bicker- 

 staffs, who are said to have been very successful 

 in whitening the skins and increasing the height 



