NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 295
life. We shall have to consider the possibilities of raising the whole moral stand- ard of the race, so that the eugenic loyalty, shown in instinctive form on the sub- human plane, should be reproduced in humanity, consciously, purposively, and progressively. Finally we shall have to reconsider the two cults of self and happiness, which we are so prone to make ultimate. The truly eugenic conscience will look upon self as a means and an instrument of consecrated service ; and happiness, not as an end or an ideal to strive for, since such striving ignobly defeats its own object, but as sorrow or disappointment may also become a means or a result of purifying and energizing the human activities to an extent as yet difficult to speak of.
MR. GALTON'S REPLY : This Society has cause to congratulate itself on the zeal and energy which have brought together such a body of opinion as is here represented. It is not only what we have heard tonight. We have had contribu- tions from four eminent specialists : Dr. Haddon, Dr. Mott, Mr. Crawley, and Dr. Westermarck ; men who have, all of them, written books which are well known. But this is not all. I have in my hands fifteen different written communications, all of which have been sent in by well-known persons. It was suggested that, as these could not be read, I might make a few remarks on the points in them that seemed more especially to call for observation. First of all, it gives me satisfaction to find that no one impugns the conclusion which my memoir was written to justify, that history tells how restrictions in marriage, even of an excessive kind, have been contentedly accepted very widely, under the guidance of what I called " immaterial motives." This is all I had in view when writing it.
Unfortunately, eugenics is a wide study, with an uncounted number of side issues into which those who discuss it informally are tempted to stray. If, how- ever, sure advance is to be made, these issues must be thoroughly explored, one by one, and as little desultory discussion as possible should be indulged in. To change the simile, we have to deal with a formidable chain of strongholds, which must be severally attacked in force, reduced, and disposed of, before we can proceed freely.
Now, I am bound to say that the greater part of these comments deals with side issues, not relevant to the immediate purpose of the memoir. It would be discourteous to their authors to pass them over in total silence, though I am unable to discuss them properly, each in a short paragraph.
The first of these comments is that we might make great mistakes as to what is, and what is not, eugenics ; therefore, that it is far too early to devise practical regulations. I cannot consider this to be an objection, for it is precisely what I have all along maintained. A partial though long list of subjects that need serious inquiry is given in my second memoir.
it is objected by many that there cannot be unanimity on the " points " that it is most desirable to breed for. I fully discussed this objection in my memoir read here last spring, showing that there were some qualities, such as health and vigor, that all thought desirable, and the opposite undesirable, and that this sufficed to give a first direction to our aims. 12 It is a safe starting-point, though a great deal more has to be inquired into as we proceed on our way.
It is also objected that if the inferior moiety of a race are left to intermarry, their produce will be increasingly inferior. This is certainly an error. The law of " regresson toward mediocrity " insures that their offspring, as a whole, will be superior to themselves, and if, as I sincerely hope, a freer action will be hereafter allowed to selective agencies than hitherto, the portion of the offspring so selected would be better still. The influences that now withstand the free action of selective agencies include indiscriminate charity.
I wish that competent persons would severally take up one or other of the many topics mentioned in my second memoir, or others of a similar kind, and work it thoroughly out, as they would any ordinary scientific problem : in this way solid progress would be made. I must be allowed to re-emphasize my opinion that an immense amount of investigation has to be accomplished before a definite system of eugenics can be safely framed.
"American Journal of Sociology, Vol. X, p. .
