NECESSITY FOR A REORGANISED EDUCATION 307 



struggle for existence than the boy who is ignorant of these 

 important matters. The latter may very possibly escape the 

 dangers which menace him, but it will be thanks to luck ; but 

 the former will have nine chances in ten of coming out intact 

 from the critical bachelor period, as against one chance in ten 

 possessed by the latter. Here we touch upon the larger ques- 

 tion of the relations of the individual to the race, and of the 

 duties of the former to the latter. One of the great defects of 

 our time is the setting up of the individual as an end in himself ; 

 whereas the force of a society is to be measured rather by the 

 quantity of strength which it can place in reserve, so to speak, 

 for the benefit of future generations. The aim of all education 

 to-day seems to be the concentration of the present generation 

 on itself. The great fact of the soUdarity between successive 

 generations, the full comprehension of which is indispensable to 

 the eugenic progress of the race, is lost sight of in the mists of 

 economic and metaphysical individuaUsm. Here, again, we 

 come to the necessity of social cohesion, to the necessity of a 

 supreme co-ordinating principle, which shall co-ordinate the 

 divergent activities of all the different members of society, and 

 direct them in view of a common aim, interestiag them all in 

 an equal degree ; and this principle is the welfare of the race. 

 Only when the individual is more convinced of his solidarity 

 with the generations to come can we hope for social progress. 

 When his eyes are cast only on himself, the individual appears 

 not to be worth the struggle for life, with it's accompanjdng suffer- 

 ing ; and it appears not to matter as to whether the organic 

 constitution of the individual be adversely affected or not. 

 But all this changes when the individual considers himself as 

 but the hnk of a chain, as responsible in a large degree for the 

 destinies, for the happiness or misery, of generations yet unborn. 

 From this new point of view actions which might formerly seem 

 indifferent appear now as affecting the fate of the race ; conse- 

 quently, we must ponder before doing them. The extent to 



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