io8 A STUDY IN HEREDITY 



have possessed a cheap and abundant supply of 

 palm wine, and have, therefore, undergone alcoholic 

 selection. The same is true of some Polynesians. 

 Almost alone amongst savages, these widely 

 separated races have achieved some degree of 

 alcoholic evolution. 



It is sometimes argued, since certain nations — 

 the French, for example — are more intemperate 

 to-day than they were a decade ago, that, there- 

 fore, there has been no evolution against alcohol. 

 In effect, this argument amounts to a contention 

 that unless we are able to perceive an even rate of 

 evolution, we must not suppose that any evolution 

 has occurred. But other things besides the craving 

 for drink influence the amount of drinking. Did 

 the other things, accessibility of alcohol, moral 

 influences, purchasing power, and the like, always 

 remain equal, the argument might have some 

 validity. Since they do not, it is absurd. The 

 course of a river is not judged by watching the 

 eddies in a backwater. In the case of a being, 

 who, like man, has, on the average, only three 

 generations in a century, we must not compare 

 decade with decade, but century with century, or 

 even longer periods. If alcohol were made cheaper 

 or trade grew better in England, or if religious 

 influences and temperance efforts lost strength, no 

 doubt we should become more intemperate than 



