The less fit die: the more fit survive. In the
earlier stages of society, man interfered little with natural selection.
But during the last century the increase of the philanthropic spirit and
the progress of medicine have done a great deal to interfere with the
selective process. In some ways, selection in the human race has almost
ceased; in many ways it is actually reversed, that is, it results in the
survival of the inferior rather than the superior. In the olden days the
criminal was summarily executed, the weakly child died soon after birth
through lack of proper care and medical attention, the insane were dealt
with so violently that if they were not killed by the treatment they
were at least left hopelessly "incurable" and had little chance of
becoming parents. Harsh measures, all of these, but they kept the
germ-plasm of the race reasonably purified.
To-day, how is it? The inefficients, the wastrels, the physical, mental,
and moral cripples are carefully preserved at public expense. The
criminal is turned out on parole after a few years, to become the father
of a family. The insane is discharged as "cured," again to take up the
duties of citizenship. The feeble-minded child is painfully "educated,"
often at the expense of his normal brother or sister.
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