Man scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his
horses, cattle, and dogs before he matches them; but when he comes to
his own marriage he rarely, or never, takes any such care. He is
impelled by nearly the same motives as the lower animals, when they are
left to their own free choice, though he is in so far superior to them
that he highly values mental charms and virtues. On the other hand he
is strongly attracted by mere wealth or rank. Yet he might by selection
do something not only for the bodily constitution and frame of his
offspring, but for their intellectual and moral qualities. Both sexes
ought to refrain from marriage if they are in any marked degree
inferior in body or mind; but such hopes are Utopian and will never be
even partially realised until the laws of inheritance are thoroughly
known. Everyone does good service, who aids towards this end. When the
principles of breeding and inheritance are better understood, we shall
not hear ignorant members of our legislature rejecting with scorn a
plan for ascertaining whether or not consanguineous marriages are
injurious to man.
The advancement of the welfare of mankind is a most intricate problem:
all ought to refrain from marriage who cannot avoid abject poverty for
their children; for poverty is not only a great evil, but tends to its
own increase by leading to recklessness in marriage. On the other hand,
as Mr. Galton has remarked, if the prudent avoid marriage, whilst the
reckless marry, the inferior members tend to supplant the better
members of society. Man, like every other animal, has no doubt advanced
to his present high condition through a struggle for existence
consequent on his rapid multiplication; and if he is to advance still
higher, it is to be feared that he must remain subject to a severe
struggle. Otherwise he would sink into indolence, and the more gifted
men would not be more successful in the battle of life than the less
gifted. Hence our natural rate of increase, though leading to many and
obvious evils, must not be greatly diminished by any means. There
should be open competition for all men; and the most able should not be
prevented by laws or customs from succeeding best and rearing the
largest number of offspring. Important as the struggle for existence
has been and even still is, yet as far as the highest part of man s
nature is concerned there are other agencies more important. For the
moral qualities are advanced, either directly or indirectly, much more
through the effects of habit, the reasoning powers, instruction,
religion, etc., than through natural selection; though to this latter
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