OCR Rendition - approximate

84 EUGENICS supis our national religion? Suppose that people come to recognise the appalling amount of misery induced by the marriages of people whom society is perfectly willing to let live, but who in return owe it to society not to burden' it with any more of their kind. Social approval and disapproval are already most potent, even in connection with the tender passion, which posed to admit of no criticism or external dictation. Every one knows that social disapproval prevents all but a very few marriages between people of very unequal social status. Still more obvious is it that under certain conditions of close relationship, marriage is never even contemplated by young persons who might otherwise easily fall in love with one another. Already the marriages of first cousins are often interfered with, in defe~ence to a belief the evidence for which is very far from convincing. Beyond question the present century will not be out before public opinion and the unwritten laws of society will effectively interfere with the marriages of unsuitable persons. No legal enactment is necessary. The risk of social ostracism will be a powerful deterrent. You ask why such and such an one should be deprived of the privileges of life. But public opinion, obviously, will be cruel to be kind. In time to come, the number of people unfit to play their part in the great task of continuing man's mysterious pilgrimage on this dying planet will be practically negligible. If for two generations there were none but eugenic marriages, the failures of the third generation would be practically nil. So much for one side of the question-the discouragement of the unworthy. Equally important is the encouragement of the worthy. We must have a national roll of distinguished families, says Mr. Galton. Men must learn to be as proud of being inscribed, and of having their children inscribed, on that roll as of having had an ancestor, probably worthless, who came over with the Conqueror. In truth, a new ideal of patriotism will arise from the practicable dream of this great biologist of the nineteenth century, who has been spared to preach a new gospel to the youth of the twentieth. It will come to be seen that one can do better things than die for one's country, and that one does not need to wear a uniform or cross the seas, in order to serve her. The real patriots will number those-not that many sonnets will be written to them-who renounce the satisfaction of even such noble desires as that of parenthood, because they regard themselves as unlikely to father worthy children. Thus, though they will not die in their own persons, they will die in their race. Similarly, family pride will take a new aspect. The man or woman whose name is enrolled as member of a family already distinguished for intellectual achievement will seek, for the sake of the family honour, a partner whose mental equipment is higher than the average ; and so the Eugenic cause will be served. The man who knows himself to be intellectually superior will, if he be a patriot, make many sacrifices in order that he leave as many children like himself as possible. Mr. Galton's proposals may seem timid in comparison with some others ; but they do not always shout the loudest who see furthest. A EUGENIC INVESTIGATION.* INDEX TO ACHIEVEMENTS OF NEAR KINSFOLK OF SOME OF THE FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. By FRANCIS GALTON, F.R.S. PREFACE. It is now practically certain, from wide and exact observation, that the physical characters of all living beings, whether men, other, animals, orr plants, are subject approximately to the same hereditary laws. Also, that. mental qualities, such as ability and character, which are only partially measurable, follow the same laws as the physical and measurable ones. The obvious result of this is that the experience gained in establishing improved breeds of domestic animals and plants [` This additional, paper of Mr. Galton's is, by his kind permission, included here. It appropriately follows his Eugenic address, for it is a type of one of several orders of investigation arising out of that address. It has always been characteristic of Mr. Galton's work that, like all initiating advances, it opens up to scientific research many new lines of investigation. One of the questions immediately springing from his statement of the Eugenic position is the problem of determining the functional groups in a given community, and classifying them on a cultural basis. It would belong to the same investigation to ascertain by observation of family achievements, the main cultural stocks in each group. In this particular paper, Mr. Gabon takes the Royal Society as a type of the higher cultural groups, and gives examples of hereditary strains of talent conspicuously illustrated therein. By extending the investigation to other groups it is clear that data would accumulate towards the compilation of the "Golden Book of Thriving Families," which Mr. Galton counsels the Sociological Society to undertake. In point of theoretical consideration, some of the larger questions to be kept in view throughout eugenic investigations would include the following:-(I) what in any given community are the hereditary sources of progressive culture, physical and psychical; (2) by what criteria may the relative cultural worth of different human stocks be estimated ; (3) under what conditions do the higher cultural varieties of stock originate and develop; and (a) how may existing selective agencies be relatively modified with a view to the encouragement of the higher types.-EDITORS.] CIibPDF - www.fastio.com