fully their normal individualities we should be able to cultivate in
them more independence of character. On this subject Prof. Mills says:
"With all its imperfections, I am bound to say that the individuality
of the pupils in the old log school-house was often more developed than
in the city public schools of today, where for a boy to be himself
frequently brings with it the ridicule of his fellows--a condition of
things that has its effect afterward on the lad at college. I find that
this fear of being considered odd,--out of harmony with what others may
think,--one of the greatest drawbacks to the development of independent
investigating students at college. The case is still worse for girls.
When women begin to be really independent in thought, in feeling, in
action, I shall be more hopeful of the progress of mankind. Happily, the
dawn of this day is already begun."
We must not forget that there is also a spectre of heredity. It is seen
under different forms. The physician is often reminded by his patients
that they have inherited this or that disease from father or mother, or
an ancestor farther back. Now, there are few diseases which come to us
directly through inheritance. In a majority of cases they are not
transmitted. Even consumption is not. If we accept the modern theory of
its origin, as we must, this plague is the result of germs floating in
the air being introduced into our bodies by respiration, or in food, or
through contact with abraided Surfaces. Those with weakened
constitutions are more liable to it than the strong, and a weakened
constitution may be inherited, for in this case the germ-plasm will not
be well nourished and will suffer; but those thus handicapped in the
race of life will get on far better by endowing themselves with
knowledge and obeying the laws of life than they can by living under the
shadow of the great spectre of heredity, and casting anathemas at their
ancestors for not having done more for them. No doubt most of them have
done the best they could; and if life is worth living, as most of us
believe, we owe them many thanks for having brought us into the world.
THE SPECTRE OF HEREDITY.--There is a spectre of heredity of a more
serious nature. It is the spirit of the dead past, with its mighty hand
on society, on institutions, on modes of life. Wendell Phillips used to
tell a story, in his anti-slavery addresses, which illustrates the evil
effect of this inherited spectre. It ran in this wise. In an Eastern
temple, an idol, in the image of a god, stood calmly on its pedestal. It
was sacrilege to touch it with human hands; but rats having no such
feelings of awe in the presence of a deity, began to gnaw about it in
various places, yet no one was bold enough to remove it to a place of
safety; and so the rats gnawed on and on, and built their nests within
the sacred image. In time they loosened it from its firm foundation, and
one morning, when the worshippers came in to pay their devotions, they
found their god had fallen prostrate on the floor. So it is sometimes
with our inherited beliefs. They hold us back from progress like a heavy
weight. We fear to remove them, for they are sacred inheritances, idols,
gods, and so our institutions decay, perish.
FOOTNOTES:
[106:A] Darwin did not regard this experiment as settling this question.
He had great affection, so to speak, for this poor, despised theory, and
believed it would finally be established as in the main true.
EVOLUTION'S HOPEFUL PROMISE FOR A HEALTHIER RACE.
_Given before the Greenacre Conference of Evolutionists._
We have most of us in the past looked upon health as a matter of
inheritance, or temperance and moderation in working, in eating and
drinking; or as depending on climate; or exercise, or plenty of sleep,
pure water and a morning bath, or some other secret, one or more of
which is pretty sure to be in the possession of most persons who have
lived long enough to have had some experience with those things that do
them good or harm. All these agencies have great value; but I think few
of us realize that nature, through the laws of evolution, has long been
working to produce a brave and strong, healthy and hardy race of men and
women by other methods than those health habits which most of us value
so highly.
Nature has been doing this chiefly by two methods, and it seems
necessary that I should say something about them in order to present my
subject as I wish to present it. The methods to which I refer are those
of sexual and natural selection. It is to these two processes that we
are largely indebted for race improvements--more perfect bodies, more
active brains, and the high degree of health which a considerable
portion of the race enjoys.
SEXUAL SELECTION.--By sexual selection is meant that preference which
the male or the female has for certain characteristics of the other sex.
It also includes the advantages which the stronger and more capable male
has over the weaker one in obtaining a choice, or, among polygamous
animals, a larger number of females, thus allowing offspring to be
generated by the most capable, and preventing the most incapable from
procuring mates.
The first principle of sexual selection, that of preference, would imply
a considerable development of the intellect, and some taste, but I do
not think it has had great influence on the lower forms of life. It is
difficult to study the preferences of insects, for instance; but I have
studied the moth of the silkworm, and could never observe that either
male or female had a choice for any particular mate. They always appear
to take the first one that comes along. I think this is the conclusion
come to by those entomologists who have had opportunities for studying
other insects. The spider might perhaps be studied in this relation to
advantage, as the female is ferocious, often eating her male suitors
while they are trying to woo her. Nor do I believe that it is a very
important matter in many other animals. Certainly among the domestic
ones--the sheep, the horse, the bull and the cow--a superior male and
female will mate with inferior ones of the opposite sex, apparently
without the slightest objection. I have sometimes thought I had observed
in pigeons a preference, having occasionally seen a male leave his mate
for a more attractive female; at least one that seemed more attractive
to me.
When it comes to sexual selection through struggle, no doubt there has
been great advantage, and it has produced important effects. This occurs
among polygamous and also among non-polygamous animals, and the strong
males are certain to secure the largest number of females and,
consequently, leave the largest number of offspring. This would, no
doubt, through the laws of inheritance, be beneficial in producing
animals of greater vigor and more perfect health. But even in this case,
the males seem to have little preference for any particular female; and
so while the least vigorous ones would leave few, and many no offspring,
the least vigorous females would leave nearly as many as the more
vigorous ones. Still, through pure-blooded males alone, stockbreeders
tell us, herds of cattle can be brought up to a high degree of
perfection in three or four generations, even if the females, at the
beginning of the experiment, are inferior. The first generation would
be half pure blood; the second three-fourths; the third, seven-eighths,
and the fourth fifteen-sixteenths, or almost thoroughbred.
When it comes to man, however, the case is different. With him sexual
selection is more important, and the preference shown by both sexes is
very marked. Many women have strong prejudices against marrying men with
certain characteristics, and nothing will induce them to such a union.
So strong are the desires many of them have for mates with particular
qualities, that they prefer to remain single rather than marry one not
possessing these qualities. Through this preference, on the whole, the
better and those most adapted mate with those most suited to them, and a
considerably larger class of physically and mentally inferior ones do
not mate at all, or, if they do, leave few offspring. The idiot would
stand no chance of securing a mate, although, if left free, he would
unite with another idiot, like an animal. Such things have happened, and
the offspring were not idiots, as might have been expected; but they
were not superior beings. The most deformed in body would, in most
cases, unless they had mental traits of a high order to counterbalance
them, rarely find mates. Thus, through this agency, some of the poorest
specimens of both sexes do not produce offspring, and this raises the
standard of the health and ability of the race.
There are many characters which have come into existence, it is
believed, through sexual selection. One is beauty in women, greater
beauty of form, of hair, of eyes, of grace, fidelity, chastity, power of
love, etc. These all give pleasure to the opposite sex, and have an
element of usefulness in them. Whenever these characters have appeared
in women they have given the possessors a better chance to find a
partner with superior characters. The same is true of men. Woman being
debarred from the hardest labor through maternity has found it useful,
even in early times, to choose men who were strong, brave, courageous
and capable of defending and caring for her, so far as was possible, and
thus by sexual selection she has indirectly promoted health and vigor in
man, for these qualities are inseparable from it.
But the results of sexual selection are by no means perfect. The sexes
are nearly equally divided, and as polygamy is not to any great extent
practiced among human beings, with the exception of those already named,
most men and women can find mates if they wish, even though they may
have many serious imperfections of body and mind, and from them many
children will be born physically and mentally incompetent.
There is no doubt that sexual selection is coming more and more into
play, however. We have abundant evidence of this in the growing
sentiment against the marriage of those with a tendency to any serious
disease, as insanity, syphilis, etc. Only a little while ago was
published an account of a suit for a breach of promise brought by a
young woman in an English court against her suitor. He, having in view
the value of a healthy wife, and also of children well endowed
physically, asked her before the engagement if any of her near relatives
had died of consumption, and she replied that none had, which he
afterwards found was not true. On learning of it he refused to marry
her. I am sorry to say that she won her suit. One of the questions asked
in court was: "Is it possible that a lover would ask such questions of
his sweetheart as would be asked of a candidate for life insurance?"
Courtship is such a delightful occupation for the young, that it seems a
pity to mar it by bringing in questions of health. Yet men and women are
often such deceivers, and frequently so ignorant, that some way must be
devised to prevent deception if sexual selection is ever expected to
have its full influence on race improvement.
HUMAN SELECTION.--Under the head of human selection Galton and Wallace
have made some interesting and valuable suggestions for improving the
health and quality of man. Mr. Galton proposed a system of marks for
family health, intellect and morals, and those members of families
having the highest number were to be encouraged to marry early by state
endowments sufficient to enable them to make a good start in life, early
marriages being favorable to large families. It was a bold suggestion,
savoring too strongly of socialism or state control of marriage to suit
many of us.
Professor Wallace's plan is that women shall, so far as possible, be
made independent, so that they will not feel the necessity of marrying
for a home. Her time might be occupied either in public duties or
self-culture, or any occupation she might prefer. She should be educated
to believe it degrading to marry for a home, without love and
adaptation, and equally wrong to marry her inferior. This would compel
men to be more manly, to leave off their bad habits and many vices, in
order to obtain wives; and the idle, selfish, sickly and deformed would
not easily get them. One difficulty in the way of carrying out this plan
is the greater number of women in society as it exists today, owing to
the larger mortality among boys. But by a better hygiene which is likely
to result from the evolution of the race, this greater mortality of the
masculine sex is certain in the future to be prevented, and there will
then be an excess of men instead of women. This will be a real
advantage, for a scarcity of women would give her a greater influence
in selection, and the result would be, the worst men would not be able
to get wives.
Being in a minority, women would be held in higher esteem, be more
sought for, and have a real choice in marriage by being able to reject
unsatisfactory suitors, which is certainly not the case now to any
considerable extent.
Mr. Wallace's plan would not require such early marriages as that of Mr.
Galton's, and this would be a positive benefit to the physical vigor of
the children, for we know that the progeny of too early marriages are
more delicate, and reproduction before bodily maturity lowers the
standard of health in parents as well as of their offspring. Marriage
being delayed, and the culture of the mind being more attended to than
is possible when it is early, would reduce the number of children in any
family, and this would enable parents to bestow more care upon them. It
would also prevent, to a limited extent, over-multiplication of the
race, which is a real evil, for if every couple left three or four
children the whole world would soon be full, and over-population would
result in much disease.
Mr. Wallace's scheme has in view the prevention of marriage by the weak
and worthless. He believes that if this can be done little more will be
required, for the superior would be the only ones to procreate, and this
would be quite sufficient in a few generations to produce a strong and
healthy race. He calls his plan that of "human selection," but it may
be considered practically as a modification of sexual selection.
NATURAL SELECTION.--Natural selection is another process which takes
place on an enormous scale and constantly among all organisms, whether
animal or vegetable. Natural selection is the result of the operation of
certain laws in the natural world which brings about the survival of
those best fitted for their environment. It is a weeding-out system by
the destruction of a certain portion, at least, if not all, of the weak
and the bad, and it occurs because there is such a rapid increase of
most organisms. We speak of it as the survival of the fittest, but it is
also, at the same time, the destruction of the unfit.
Mr. Darwin says: "We have seen that man is variable in body and mind,
and that the variations are induced either directly or indirectly by the
same general causes, and obey the same general laws as with the lower
animals. Man has spread widely over the face of the earth, and must have
been exposed during his incessant migrations to the most diversified
conditions. They must have passed through many climates and changed
their habits many times before they reached their present homes. They
must have been exposed to a struggle for existence and, consequently, to
the rigid law of natural selection. Beneficial variations of all kinds
have been preserved and injurious ones eliminated. If, then, the
progenitors of man, inhabiting any district, especially one undergoing
some changed conditions, were divided into two equal bodies, the
one-half including those with the best adapted powers for movement, for
gaining a subsistence, for self-defence, would, on the average, have
more offspring than the other and the less well endowed half."
We may have a good object lesson in the elimination of the unfit going
on about us constantly. In New York City, for 1891, the deaths of
children under five years of age was 18,112; for 1892 it was 17,577, or
slightly less. This is more than one-third, but not quite one-half, of
the total deaths at all ages for these years. A very large proportion of
these deaths occurred in the tenement house districts, and a very
natural question arises in the mind: Are the children of those who live
in tenement houses more unfit to survive than those who live in houses
in which only one family dwells. No doubt in most cases the children of
those are most fit who are most able to provide them with hygienic
surroundings, the better food and most suitable care; such are usually
the prudent and the capable. The love of children is usually stronger in
them. The intelligent affection of parents for their young is one of the
incentives to their best training. It certainly is not nearly so strong
among the residents of the crowded quarters of a city as among the more
prosperous. Any one may observe this by going with a company of mothers
on the excursions of some fresh air society, which may be seen in most
cities. It is hard to find one of these mothers who shows what we may
call intelligent affection or intelligent care of her young. Some
pathetic instances illustrating this might be mentioned.
When it comes to the question of their physical or mental inferiority, a
cursory inspection is all that is required to show they are far below
the average. There is a great want of symmetry of body and
mind--evidence of degeneration. In order to test the strength of
constitution, which is a good way to get at one form of physical fitness
for survival, it seems to me, I made a study of the blood of a
considerable number of these children and found the amount of protoplasm
in the colorless blood corpuscles deficient. This shows that their power
to resist disease is slight. It must be borne in mind, however, that a
strong constitution alone is not evidence of fitness for survival. A
strong person may not have prudence, foresight, keenness of perception,
judgment, and many other qualities equally important. The characters
just mentioned may constitute fitness when there is only a moderately
vigorous body. Mr. Darwin recognized this when he said: "We should bear
in mind that an animal possessing great size, strength and ferocity, and
which, like the gorilla, could defend itself from all enemies would not,
perhaps, have become sufficiently social, and this would effectually
have checked the acquirement of the higher mental qualities, such as the
sympathy and love of his fellows. Hence, _it might have been of immense
advantage to men to have sprung from some comparatively weak but social
creature_."
Fitness is a complicated condition and not a simple one. It depends upon
so many external conditions. Fitness in one place would be unfitness in
another. Still, other things being equal, strength of constitution is a
very important factor, and must not be left out of consideration. With
it there is a surplus of material in the body beyond what is required
for digestion, assimilation, circulation and other bodily functions, to
enable the parents not only to do hard labor, but also to endow their
offspring with vigor equal to their own, often greater vigor. The feeble
individuals will have a small amount of stored up material in their
bodies which we may designate as physiological capital to give
continuous food, warmth and protection to their young; they will not be
so well adjusted to their environment, and, consequently, natural
selection will cause their non-survival--or their offspring, if not
immediately, at no distant period.
This doctrine of natural selection has been designated as cruel, harsh,
inexorable, and under the influence of the human feeling every effort is
in our time being made to prevent this wholesome check upon the
processes of nature from having its due influence upon evolution and
race progress. Modern hygiene undertakes to put an end to disease, to
save all who are born, to surround them with every influence which can
favor their health and development. It would stamp out diphtheria,
scarlet fever, summer complaint, consumption and a host of other
diseases which now decimate the ranks of the unfit, and often, no doubt,
of the comparatively fit. This would perpetuate a type of feeble,
unhealthy persons. There would not be much hope of more perfect health
for the race if our hygienists could carry out this daring scheme along
the lines now working. There seems an antagonism between nature's
methods of bettering the physical condition of the race and the efforts
of man himself, acting under the guidance of his moral feelings, to
prevent the action of natural law. Mr. Darwin recognized this, and
referred to it in his great work, "The Descent of Man," where he says:
"With savages, the weak in body and mind are soon eliminated, and those
that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized
men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of
elimination. We build asylums for the imbeciles, the maimed and the
sick; we institute poor laws; and our medical men exert their utmost
skill to save the life of every one to the last moment."
"There is," says he, "reason to believe that vaccination has preserved
thousands who from a weak constitution would have succumbed to smallpox.
Thus the weak members of civilized communities propagate their kind. No
one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt but
this must be highly injurious to the human race. Excepting in the case
of man himself hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst
animals to breed."
Other evolutionists, in more recent times, have taken a still more
somber view of this danger of race deterioration through the prevention
of the full action of the law of natural selection.
Dr. John Berry Haycraft, in a recent work entitled "Darwinism and Race
Progress," has sounded the alarm in no uncertain tones. He says: "Races,
therefore, subject to epidemics of a particular fever, suffer selections
in the hands of the microbes of that fever, and those living are
survivals, cast in the most resisting mould. It may not be flattering to
our national vanity to look upon ourselves as the product of the
selection of the micro-organism of measles, scarlet fever, smallpox,
etc.; but the reasonableness of the conclusion seems to be forced upon
us when we consider his immunity from these diseases as compared with
the natives of the interior of Africa, or the wilds of America, whose
races have never been so selected, and who, when attacked for the first
time by these diseases, are ravaged almost to extinction. By
exterminating these diseases we shall no doubt preserve countless lives
to the community who will, in their turn, become race producers; but in
as much as the individuals thus preserved will, in most cases, belong to
the feebler and less resisting of the community, _the race will not
become more robust_."
The same author concludes in these words: "In the meantime we may view,
and not without inquietude, the probability that our statistics, as far
as they go, indicate that race deterioration has already begun as a
consequence of that care for the individual which has characterized the
efforts of modern society. The biologist, from quite another group of
facts, has independently arrived at conclusions which render this view
in the highest degree probable."
"Thus, the great English race, once so hardy, so powerful," says this
modern writer, "by hygiene and better physical conditions, is becoming
weaker and weaker."
This view of the case is growing largely in England and, perhaps, other
European countries. There is already some evidence of its truthfulness
in statistics. The death rate for those in middle life is rather
increasing than diminishing. This arises from the fact that the great
number of children who formerly died in infancy have lived, but being of
more feeble constitutions, they swell the death rate later on. It is
felt, also, in many educational institutions in the larger number of
youths who cannot stand the strain and stress of student life. They are,
high medical authority says, the youth saved from early death by modern
hygienic and medical care. Formerly, natural selection would have chosen
them as unfit to survive, and there would have remained alive few
besides the hardy ones with good constitutions, capable of great strain,
with great powers of endurance.