INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT 363 



tion stayed, oi- a better race of men, with 

 greater hereditary abiUties, must be bred. 



The present world-war, with its appeal to 

 the primitive instincts of men and its destruc- 

 tion of the fairest and best fruits of civilization, 

 points one way out of this disharmony between 

 germinal and social inheritance ; but it is a way 

 from which all sane and sober minds recoil. 

 Wars and revolutions shake off the burdens of 

 social inheritance but they destroy the good 

 along with the bad and afford only local and 

 temporary rehef. Mankind cannot return 

 permanently to barbarism or savagery; civili- 

 zation must be and will be preserved; but if 

 society is to really advance from age to age the 

 natures of men must improve as well as their 

 environment. 



