g6 ADAPTATION AND PROGRESS 



Weismannian and with him emphasizes the good of the species 

 rather than that of the individual. In the former work, also, he 

 traces the operation of the law of evolution and selection through 

 the three stages which he names individualism, socialism and 

 humanism, but in National Life from the Standpoint of Science and 

 in his published lectures the emphasis is almost entirely on the 

 national group in its competition with other groups. 



The contributions of Galton and Pearson to our subject may be 

 summarized as follows: — 



i. Passive Physical Adaptation. They have endeavored to 

 prove by the biometric method that social progress is largely by 

 natural selection: e. g., that from 60 to 70 per cent of deaths are 

 " selective "; 1 that 12 per cent of one generation, and from those 

 of inferior ability, produce 50 per cent of the next generation; 2 

 that there is correlation between physical stature and race vigor 3 

 and that urbanization leads to degeneration; 4 that " nature " 

 is stronger than " nurture "; 5 that alcoholism is not so much the 

 cause as the symptom of degeneration; 6 that intermarriage with 

 inferior races is fatal to the higher race; 7 that health and vigor are 

 the best selective qualities known at present and that the best 

 qualities are to a large extent correlated; 8 but most important of 

 all is the emphasis laid by Pearson on the importance of inter- 

 group struggle and on the teaching that co-operation within 

 the group is essential to make it strong in competition with 

 other groups. 9 



2. Active Material Adaptation. The chief contribution in this 

 department comes from Pearson's Grammar of Science where he 

 points out the utility of scientific training not only to increase the 



1 Lecture Series, no. ii, p. 22. 2 Ibid., p. 28. 



3 Inquiries into Human Faculties, p. 22. 



4 Ibid., p. 24. Weakened, however, by the following: " Sickly looking and 

 puny residents in towns may have a more suitable constitution for the special 

 conditions of their lives, and may in some sense be better knit and do more work 

 and live longer than much haler men imported to the same locality from elsewhere." 



6 Cf. Galton's studies of twins, Inquiries into Human Faculties, p. 235. 



6 Memoirs, nos. x and xiii. 



7 National Life, pp. 14 f. 



8 Sociological Papers, ii, p. 50. 



9 National Life, pp. 44 f . 



