CHAPTER VI 



NATURAL SELECTION OF FAMILY RELATIONS 



Parental wealth tends to lengthen the helpless 

 infancy of offspring, and parental poverty to shorten 

 it. For motion is always in the line of least resist- 

 ance. When wealthy parents continue to provide 

 for their offspring long after the natural necessity 

 for it has ceased, the infancy of the children length- 

 ens by relaxation of the efforts which otherwise 

 would be made by the young creatures. Contrari- 

 wise, when savage or poor parents lack resources, 

 and are therefore obliged, in the search for them, 

 to abandon their children before they are able to 

 take care of themselves, under the operation of the 

 same law the helplessness of infancy is shortened by 

 the putting forth of earlier efforts. 



Thus far has the progress of civilization in large 

 measure been characterized by progressively greater 

 concentrations of wealth in the possession of certain 

 classes. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume 

 that among these classes, at least, the duration of 

 helpless infancy has been lengthening ever since 

 the beginning of civilization. 



Here is not the place to discuss the question 

 whether "the growth of human intelligence" has 



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