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Show 1()8 THE DESCENT OF MAN. PAaT r. by Mr. "'allace and Mr. Galton.11 Most of my remarks are taken from these three authors. ·with savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We ci vihsed men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination ; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick ; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert theii· utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the 'reak members of civilised societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of ?~m~stic animals will doubt that this must be highly lllJUrwus to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race ; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed. ~rh.e aid. which w~ ~eel impelled to give to the helpless 1s mamly an mCidental result of the instinct of sympat~y, .whi.ch was originally acquired as part of the soCJal mstmcts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, if so urged by hard reason, without deterioration in the and a rejo~nder in the ' Spectator,' Oct. 3rd and 17th 1868. It has. also been chscus.se_d in the ' Q. Journal of Science,' 1869, p. 152, and by Mr. Lawson Tmt m the 'Dublin Q. Journal of Medical Science,' Feb. 1869, and ~y M~. ~· Ra_y Lankester in his ' Comparative Longevity,'' 1870, p. 128. S1mllar vwws appeared previously in the' Australasian,' July 1~, 1867. I have borrowed ideas from several of these writers. 11 For 1\'I:r: ~allace,. see 'Anthropolog. Review,' as before citecL Mr. Galton 111 Macm1llan's Magazine,' Aug. 1865, p. 318; also his. great work, 'Hereditary Genius,' 1870. CHAP. v. CIVILISED NATIONS. 169'- noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows· that he is acting for the good of his patient; but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit~ with a certain anfl. great present evil. Hence we must bear without complaining the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind; but there appears to be at least one check in steady action, namely the· weaker and inferior members of society not marrying so freely as the sound; and this check might be indefinitely increased, though this is more to be hoped for than expected, by the weak in body or mind refraining from marriage. In all civilised countries man accumulates property· and bequeaths it to his children. So that the children· in the same country do not by any means start fair in the race for success. But this is far from an unmixed evil ; for without the accumulation of capital the arts could not progress; and it is chiefly through their power that the civilised races have extended, and are now everywhere extending, their range, so as to take the place· of the lower races. Nor does the moderate accumulation of wealth interfere with the process of selection. When· a poor man becomes rich, his children enter trades or professions in which there is struggle enough, so that the able in body and mind succeed best. The presence· of a body of well-instructed men, who have not tolabour for their daily bread, is important to a degree which cannot be over-estimated ; as all high intellectual work is carried on by them, and on such work material progress of all kinds mainly depends, not to mention other and higher advantages. No doubt wealth when very great tends to convert men into useless drones, bnt their num her is never large ; and some degree of elimi- |