314 FOOT-NOTES TO EVOLUTION. 
The process of evolution makes the embryo more and 
more important; specialization checks waste. Among the 
higher forms the loss of ova and of embryos becomes less 
and less; correspondingly fewer in number are needed. 
To bring forth the young alive and to nourish it with 
milk is greatly to reduce the waste of life. It renders a 
birth important. The fox, in the fable, 
once reproached the lioness that she 
brought forth but one young one at a 
time. “Yes,” she said, “ but that one isa lion.” To bear 
the young and to nourish it separates the lioness further 
and further in function from the lion. This handicap of 
her general activities in the interest of the coming gen- 
eration throws greater stress on his. Should she neg- 
lect her duty, her line of descent would be cut off. 
Hence the coming generations are derived from those 
who do not shrink from the self-sacrifice which parent- 
hood demands. What is true of the lower animals is 
true of man in still higher degree. It is the basis of the 
recognised distinctions in the activities of men and 
women. That every child born should make the most 
of itself is the ideal of social development. As society 
advances, father and mother must furnish more and 
more of the environment of the child. The merely 
physical part of parenthood assumes an importance pro- 
gressively less and less. The higher heredity which 
each individual builds up for himself should be well un- 
der way when parental influences cease. The aggregate 
of these influences constitutes the home. 
The duty of home-making must fall on the mother. 
This is demanded of civilized women, that they shall 
be fit for mothers, not merely for nurses 
and cooks and chambermaids. They 
must be fit for the lifelong environment 
of the strongest and wisest men. 
Specialization of 
the embryo. 
Maternity and 
companionship. 
