THE DESCENT OB ORIGIN OF MAN 181 



formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak 

 members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No 

 one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals 

 will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race 

 of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care 

 wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic 

 race; but, excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any 

 one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed. 



The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless 

 is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, 

 which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, 

 but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indi- 

 cated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could 

 we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, 

 without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The 

 Burgeon may harden himself while performing an operation, 

 for he knows that he is acting for the good of his patient; 

 but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and help- 

 less, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an over- 

 whelming present evil. We must therefore bear the un- 

 doubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating 

 their kind; but there appears to be at least one check in 

 steady action, namely, that the weaker and inferior mem- 

 bers of society do not marry so freely as the sound; and 

 this check might be indefinitely increased by the weak in 

 body or mind refraining from marriage, though this is more 

 to be hoped for than expected. 



In every country in which a large standing army is kept 

 up, the finest young men are taken by the conscription or 

 are enlisted. They are thus exposed to early death during 

 war, are often tempted into vice, and are prevented from 

 marrying during the prime of life. On the other hand, the 

 shorter and feebler men, with poor constitutions, are left 

 at home, and consequently have a much better chance of 

 marrying and propagating their kind." 



" Prof. H. J'ick ("Einfluss der Naturwissenschaft auf das Rechb," June, 

 1872) lias some good remarks on this head, and on other such points. 



