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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6fe3b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50289 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50289) diff --git a/old/50289-0.txt b/old/50289-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ea61dad..0000000 --- a/old/50289-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4234 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Social Environment and Moral Progress, by -Alfred Russel Wallace - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Social Environment and Moral Progress - -Author: Alfred Russel Wallace - -Release Date: October 23, 2015 [EBook #50289] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT *** - - - - -Produced by MWS, Adrian Mastronardi, Michael Zeug, Lisa -Reigel, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net, in celebration of Distributed -Proofreaders' 15th Anniversary, using images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as -in the original. A row of asterisks represents a thought break except -in poetry where a row of asterisks indicates an ellipsis. A complete -list of corrections follows the text. - - - - - SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT - - AND - - MORAL PROGRESS - - - - -[Illustration: Alfred R. Wallace - - _Photo: Reginald Haines_] - -[Illustration: Alfred R. Wallace signature] - - - - - Social Environment - and - Moral Progress - - BY - - Alfred Russel Wallace - O.M., D.C.L.Oxon. - F.R.S., &c. - - Author of "The Malay Archipelago," "Darwinism," - "Man's Place in the Universe," "The World of Life," - &c. &c. - - - Cassell and Company, Ltd - London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne - 1913 - - - - First Edition _March 1913_. - _Reprinted April and June 1913._ - - - - -Contents - - - PART I.—HISTORICAL - - CHAPTER PAGE - - 1. INTRODUCTORY 1 - - 2. MORALITY AS BASED UPON CHARACTER 4 - - 3. PERMANENCE OF CHARACTER 8 - - 4. PERMANENCE OF HIGH INTELLECT 15 - - 5. SPEECH AND WRITING AS PROOFS OF INTELLIGENCE 28 - - 6. SAVAGES NOT MORALLY INFERIOR TO CIVILISED RACES 31 - - 7. A SELECTIVE AGENCY NEEDED TO IMPROVE CHARACTER 36 - - 8. ENVIRONMENT DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 40 - - 9. INSANITARY DWELLINGS AND LIFE-DESTROYING TRADES 47 - - 10. ADULTERATION, BRIBERY, AND GAMBLING 55 - - 11. OUR ADMINISTRATION OF "JUSTICE" IS IMMORAL 62 - - 12. INDICATIONS OF INCREASING MORAL DEGRADATION 67 - - - PART II.—THEORETICAL - - 13. NATURAL SELECTION AMONG ANIMALS 75 - - 14. SELECTION AS MODIFIED BY MIND 93 - - 15. THE LAWS OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 103 - - 16. MORAL PROGRESS THROUGH A NEW FORM OF SELECTION 125 - - 17. HOW TO INITIATE AN ERA OF MORAL PROGRESS 150 - - INDEX 159 - - - - - Social Environment - and - Moral Progress - - - - -PART I.—HISTORICAL - - - - -CHAPTER I - -INTRODUCTORY - - -Before entering on the question of the relation of morality to our -existing social environment, it will be advisable to inquire what -we mean by moral progress, and what evidence there is that any such -progress has occurred in recent times, or even within the period of -well-established history. - -By morals we mean right conduct, not only in our immediate social -relations, but also in our dealings with our fellow citizens and with -the whole human race. It is based upon the possession of clear ideals -as to what actions are right and what are wrong and the determination -of our conduct by a constant reference to those ideals. - -The belief was once prevalent, and is still held by many persons, that -a knowledge of right and wrong is inherent or instinctive in everyone, -and that the immoral person may be justly punished for such wrongdoing -as he commits. But that this cannot be wholly, if at all, true is shown -by the fact that in different societies and at different periods the -standard of right and wrong changes considerably. That which at one -time and place is held to be right and proper is, at another time or -place, considered to be not only wrong, but one of the greatest of -crimes. The most striking example of this change of opinion is that as -to slavery, which was held to be quite justifiable by the most highly -civilised people of antiquity, and hardly less so by ourselves within -the memory of persons still living. The owners of sugar estates in -Jamaica cultivated by slaves were not stigmatised as immoral by their -relatives in England or by the public at large; and it was the horror -excited by the slave-trade in Africa, and in the "middle passage" on -the slave ships, rather than by the slavery itself, that so excited -public opinion as to lead to the abolition first of the one and then of -the other. - -We are obliged to conclude, therefore, that what is commonly termed -morality is not wholly due to any inherent perception of what is -right or wrong conduct, but that it is to some extent and often very -largely a matter of convention, varying at different times and places -in accordance with the degree and kind of social development which -has been attained often under different and even divergent conditions -of existence. The actual morality of a community is largely a product -of the environment, but it is local and temporary, not permanently -affecting the character. - -To bring together the evidence in support of this view, to distinguish -between what is permanent and inherited and what is superficial and not -inherited, and to trace out some of the consequences as regards what we -term "morality" is the purpose of the present volume. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -MORALITY AS BASED UPON CHARACTER - - -Though much of what we term morality has no absolute sanction in human -nature, yet it is to some extent, and perhaps very largely, based -upon it. It will be well, therefore, to consider briefly the nature -and probable origin of what we term "character"—in individuals, in -societies, and especially in those more ancient and more fundamental -divisions of mankind which we term "races." - -Character may be defined as the aggregate of mental faculties and -emotions which constitute personal or national individuality. It is -very strongly hereditary, yet it is probably subject to more inherent -variation than is the form and structure of the body. The combinations -of its constituent elements are so numerous as, in common language, -to be termed infinite; and this gives to each person a very distinct -individuality, as manifested in speech, in emotional expression, and in -action. - -The mental faculties which go to form the "character" of each man or -woman are very numerous, a large proportion of them being such as are -required for the preservation of the individual and of the race, while -others are pre-eminently social or ethical. These latter, which impel -us to truth, to justice, and to benevolence, when in due proportion to -all the other mental faculties, go to form what we distinguish as a -good or moral character, and will in most cases result in actions which -meet with the general approval of that section of society in which we -live; and this approval reacts upon the character so that it often -appears to be better than it really is. - -So great is the effect of this approval of our fellows that it -sometimes leads to behaviour quite different from what it would -be if this approval were absent. This is especially the case when -the approval leads to wealth or positions of dignity or advantage. -Occasionally, in cases of this kind the individual cannot resist his -natural impulses, and then acts so as to show his underlying real -character. We term such persons hypocrites for making us believe that -they were inherently good, instead of being so in appearance only -when the good action was profitable to them. Hence in a highly complex -state of civilisation it becomes exceedingly difficult correctly to -appraise characters as moral or immoral, good or bad; while there is no -such difficulty as regards the intellectual and emotional aspects of -character, which are less influenced by the general environment, and -which there is less temptation to conceal. - -All the evidence we possess tends to show that although the actions -of most individuals are to a considerable extent determined by their -social environment, that does not imply any alteration in their -character. Everyone's experience of life, and especially the example of -his friends and associates, leads him to repress his passions, regulate -his emotions, and in general to use his judgment before acting, so as -to secure the esteem of his fellows and greater happiness for himself; -and these restraints, becoming habitual, may often give the appearance -of an actual change of character till some great temptation or violent -passion overcomes the usual restraint and exhibits the real nature, -which is usually dormant. - -Now it is this inherent and unchangeable character itself that tends -to be transmitted to offspring, and this being the case, there can be -no progressive improvement in character without some selective agency -tending to such improvement. By means of a general discussion of the -nature and origin of "Character," I have elsewhere shown that there -is no proof of any real advance in it during the whole historical -period.[7:A] I show later on what the required selective agency is, and -how it will come into action automatically when, and not until, our -social system is so reformed as to afford suitable conditions. (_See_ -Chapter XVI.) - - [7:A] See _Character and Life_, edited by P. L. Parker, pp. - 19-31. (Williams and Norgate; November, 1912.) - - - - -CHAPTER III - -PERMANENCE OF CHARACTER - - -I will now call attention to a few of the facts which lead to the -conclusion as to the stationary condition of general character from -the earliest periods of human history, and presumably from the dawn of -civilisation. In the earliest records which have come down to us from -the past we find ample indications that general ethical conceptions, -the accepted standard of morality, and the conduct resulting from -these, were in no degree inferior to those which prevail to-day, though -in some respects they differed from ours. - -As examples of great moral teachers in very early times we have -Socrates and Plato, about 400 B.C.; Confucius and Buddha, one -or two centuries earlier; Homer, earlier still; the great Indian Epic, -the Maha-Bharata, about 1500 B.C. All these afford indications -of intellectual and moral character quite equal to our own; while their -lower manifestations, as shown by their wars and love of gambling, -were no worse than corresponding immoralities to-day. - -In the beautiful translation by the late Mr. Romesh Dutt, of such -portions of the Maha-Bharata as are best fitted to give English readers -a proper conception of the whole work, there is a striking episode -entitled "Woman's Love," in which the heroine, a princess, by repeated -petitions and reasonings persuades Yama, the god of death, to give back -her husband's spirit to the body. It is described in the following -verses: - - "And the sable King was vanquished, and he turned on her again, - And his words fell on Savitri like the cooling summer rain: - 'Noble woman, speak thy wishes, name thy boon and purpose high, - What the pious mortal asketh gods in heaven may not deny!' - - "'Thou hast,' so Savitri answered, 'granted father's realm and might, - To his vain and sightless eyeballs hath restored the blessed light; - Grant him that the line of monarchs may not all untimely end, - That his kingdom to Satyavan and Savitri's sons descend!' - - "'Have thy wishes,' answered Yama; 'thy good lord shall live again, - He shall live to be a father, and your children, too, shall reign; - For a woman's troth endureth longer than the fleeting breath, - And a woman's love abideth higher than the doom of death.'" - -And when at the end of the epic, the kings and warriors welcome each -other in the spirit world, we find the following noble conception of -the qualities and actions which give them a place there: - - "These and other mighty warriors, in the earthly battle slain, - By their valour and their virtue walk the bright ethereal plain! - They have lost their mortal bodies, crossed the radiant gate of - heaven, - For to win celestial mansions unto mortals it is given! - Let them strive by kindly action, gentle speech, endurance long, - Brighter life and holier future unto sons of men belong!" - -Mr. Dutt informs us that he has not only reproduced, as nearly as -possible, the metre of the original, but has aimed at giving us a -literal translation. No one can read his beautiful rendering without -feeling that the people it describes were our intellectual and moral -equals. - -The wonderful collection of hymns known as the Vedas is a vast system -of religious teaching as pure and lofty as those of the finest portions -of the Hebrew scriptures. A few examples from the translation by Sir -Monier Monier-Williams will show that its various writers were fully -our equals in their conceptions of the universe, and of the Deity, -expressed in the finest poetic language. The following is a portion of -a hymn to "The Investing Sky": - - "The mighty Varuna, who rules above, looks down - Upon these worlds, his kingdom, as if close at hand. - When men imagine they do aught by stealth, he knows it. - No one can stand or walk, or softly glide along - Or hide in dark recess, or lurk in secret cell - But Varuna detects him and his movements spies. - - * * * * - - This boundless earth is his, - His the vast sky, whose depth no mortal e'er can fathom. - Both oceans find a place within his body, yet - In the small pool he lies contained; whoe'er should flee - Far, far beyond the sky would not escape the grasp - Of Varuna, the king. His messengers descend - Countless from his abode—for ever traversing - This world, and scanning with a thousand eyes its inmates. - Whate'er exists within this earth, and all within the sky, - Yea, all that is beyond King Varuna perceives. - May thy destroying snares cast sevenfold round the wicked, - Entangle liars, but the truthful spare, O King." - -The following passage from a "Hymn to Death," shows a perfect -confidence in that persistence of the human personality after death, -which is still a matter of doubt and discussion to-day: - - "To Yama, mighty king, he gifts and homage paid. - He was the first of men that died, the first to brave - Death's rapid rushing stream, the first to point the road - To heaven, and welcome others to that bright abode. - No power can rob us of the home thus won by thee. - O king, we come; the born must die, must tread the path - That thou hast trod—the path by which each race of men, - In long succession, and our fathers too, have passed. - Soul of the dead! depart; fear not to take the road— - The ancient road—by which thy ancestors have gone; - Ascend to meet the god—to meet thy happy fathers, - Who dwell in bliss with him. - Return unto thy home, O soul! Thy sin and shame - Leave thou behind on earth; assume a shining form— - Thy ancient shape—refined and from all taint set free." - -In this we find many of the essential teachings of the most advanced -religious thinkers—the immediate entrance to a higher life, the -recognition of friends, the persistence of the human form, and the -shining raiment, typical of the loss of earthly taint. - -But besides these special deities, we find also the recognition of the -one supreme God, as in the following hymn: - - "What god shall we adore with sacrifice? - Him let us praise, the golden child that rose - In the beginning, who was born the Lord— - The one sole lord of all that is—who made - The earth, and formed the sky, who giveth life, - Who giveth strength, whose bidding gods revere, - Whose hiding place is immortality, - Whose shadow, death; who by his might is king - Of all the breathing, sleeping, waking world— - Who governs men and beasts; whose majesty - These snowy hills, this ocean with its rivers, - Declare; of whom these spreading regions form - The arms by which the firmament is strong, - Earth firmly planted, and the highest heavens - Supported, and the clouds that fill the air - Distributed and measured out; to whom - Both earth and heaven, established by his will, - Look up with trembling mind; in whom revealed - The rising sun shines forth above the world." - -If we make allowance for the very limited knowledge of Nature at this -early period, we must admit that the mind which conceived and expressed -in appropriate language, such ideas as are everywhere apparent in -these Vedic hymns, could not have been in any way inferior to those of -the best of our religious teachers and poets—to our Miltons and our -Tennysons. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -PERMANENCE OF HIGH INTELLECT - - -Accompanying this fine literature and moral teaching in Ancient -India was a civilisation equal to that of early classical races, in -grand temples, forts and palaces, weapons and implements, jewelry -and exquisite fabrics. Their architecture was highly decorative and -peculiar, and has continued to quite recent times. Owing perhaps to the -tropical or sub-tropical climate, with marked wet and dry seasons, the -oldest buildings that have survived, even as ruins, are less ancient -than those of Greece or Rome—but those corresponding in age to the -period of our Gothic cathedrals are immensely numerous, and show an -originality of design, a wealth of ornament, and a perfection of -workmanship equal to those of any other buildings in the world. - -Two other great civilisations of which we have authentic records are -those of Egypt and Mesopotamia, both of which appear to have been -much older than those of India or Greece. But whereas Egypt has left -us the most continuous series of tombs, temples, and palaces in the -world, abundant works of art in statues and sculptures, together with -characteristic reliefs and wall paintings, showing the whole public -and domestic life of the people, Mesopotamia is represented only by -vast masses of ruins on the sites of the ancient cities of Nineveh -and Babylon, from which have been disinterred many fine statues and -reliefs, exhibiting a very distinct style of art. For more than 2,000 -years the history and remains of this once greatest of civilisations -was absolutely unknown, except by a few doubtful facts and names in -Greek and Hebrew writings. But during the latter half of the nineteenth -century a band of explorers and students, such as Layard and Rawlinson, -made known, first the works of art, and, latterly, an enormous quantity -of small bricks and stone slabs, thickly covered with a peculiar -kind of writing known as the cuneiform inscriptions, which, after -an enormous amount of labour, have at length been translated. Whole -libraries of these brick-books have been discovered, and as the reading -and translating goes on, we obtain a knowledge of the history, laws, -customs, and daily life of this ancient people almost equal to that we -now possess of the ancient Indians and Egyptians. - -For our present purpose, however, Egyptian civilisation is the most -important, because it presents us with the most definite proof of the -attainment of a high degree of what is specially scientific attainment -at the very dawn of historical knowledge. This is well exhibited by -that most wonderful work of constructive art—the Great Pyramid of -Gizeh—which, though not quite the earliest, is the largest and most -remarkable of about seventy pyramids in various parts of Egypt, and has -been more thoroughly explored and studied, both as to its proportions, -construction and uses, than any of the others. - -This pyramid is known historically to have been built by the order of -King Cheops (or Khufu), and the date of its design and erection can be -pretty accurately fixed as about 3700 B.C., or nearly 2,000 -years earlier than that of the civilisation depicted in the Indian -and Greek epics. The internal structure of this pyramid is its most -interesting feature, because it shows clearly that it was designed -to be not only the tomb of the king who built it, but also a true -astronomical observatory during his life. This has been denied by some -modern historians. In Harmsworth's _History of the World_ (p. 2034) -it is said: "For the pyramids are nothing but tombs. They have no -astronomical meaning or intention whatever." And then, after referring -to the ideas of Piazzi Smyth and others as "vain imaginings," it is -added: "There is nothing marvellous about these great tombs, except -their size and the accuracy of their building." An almost exactly -similar statement is made in the great _Historian's History of the -World_, and in "Chambers's Encyclopædia." - -If the writers of these histories had read Mr. R. A. Proctor's book, -_The Great Pyramid: Observatory, Tomb and Temple_, they would have -known that this statement is entirely erroneous. The size, shape, -and angles of the internal passages have been described and measured -by many competent students, among the most careful and exact of whom -was Piazzi Smyth, then Astronomer Royal of Scotland. It is true he -had many "vain imaginings," but his measurements were among the most -trustworthy. The "pyramid religion," which he helped to establish by -a series of "coincidences" in the dimensions of various parts of the -pyramid with astronomical dimensions, of which the pyramid builders -could have had no knowledge whatever (such as the distance of the -sun, the precession of the equinoxes, etc.), was no doubt a "vain -imagining," but he frankly claimed it as a divine inspiration. All -these are rejected by Mr. Proctor, who clearly explains the purpose -of the greater part of the internal structure as only an experienced -practical astronomer could do. I will now state as briefly as possible -what are the well-established facts, as well as the conclusions at -which Mr. Proctor arrives. - -The Great Pyramid and the two smaller ones near it, forming the -pyramids of Gizeh, are placed on a small rocky plateau near the apex -of the delta of the Nile. The largest of these is situated so that its -northern face rises from the very edge of this plateau. The reason of -this seems to have been that the builders wished to place it as nearly -as possible on the 30th parallel of latitude. It is really about a -mile and a third south of that parallel, and it is shown that such an -error is a small one for that early period, and would matter but very -little for the purpose required. The next feature is that it is truly -oriented; that is, the four sides run north and south, east and west. -It is also a true square, the four sides being of equal length, and the -four corners are on a truly level plane. - -The first thing the builders had to do was to get a true meridian -line, and they could have done this in two ways—by observations of -the sun or of the pole star, the latter being much the more accurate, -though more laborious and costly. At the time the pyramid was built -the pole star was Alpha Draconis, which was farther from the pole than -our pole star and revolved around the true pole in a circle of 7° 24′ -in diameter. In order to observe the direction of this star at its -lowest point, the builders excavated in the solid rock a tunnel about -4 feet in diameter, so as to keep this star visible each day at the -lowest point of its circuit. This tunnel extended 350 feet through the -rock to a point nearly under the centre of the pyramid, where, by a -small vertical boring, a plumb-line could have been dropped so as to -obtain the exact line of the meridian on the surface, and afterwards -on each successive step of the pyramid as it was built up. While the -building went on the sloping tunnel was continued backwards to its -northern face; and a tunnel ascending to the south was formed of the -same size and making the same angle with the horizon. This had puzzled -all previous explorers of the pyramid till Mr. Proctor showed that, by -stopping up the downward passage at the angle and filling the hollow -with water the pole star could be observed by reflexion and thus give -the exact direction of the meridian on the upper surface of the pyramid -with extreme accuracy, as it was built up slowly year by year. - -But at a distance of 127 feet a new feature appears. The ascending -tunnel is changed into what is called the Great Gallery, which, while -continuing exactly the same floor line as the tunnel, is suddenly -raised to a height of 28 feet, with a width of 7 feet on the floor -and 3½ feet at the top. Along each side there is a ledge or seat, -20 inches broad and 21 inches high. The sides do not slope inwards, -but are formed of seven courses of stone, each one overlapping the -one below by about 3 inches. The whole of this gallery, or inclined -corridor, is formed of limestone beautifully smooth, or even polished. -The length of this gallery is 156 feet, and its floor terminated at -the platform of the pyramid, upon the central line from east to west, -when it had reached two-thirds of its total height. This is on the -level of the King's Chamber; and it was probably only after the king -was dead and his body embalmed and placed in his sarcophagus that the -pyramid was completed, the openings of the passages carefully closed -up, and the whole exterior covered with a smooth casing of stone, very -small portions of which now remain. There are two other features of -this gallery which have puzzled the merely antiquarian explorers. These -are square holes cut in the sloping benches close to the side walls, -and about 5½ feet apart, there being eighteen on each side exactly -opposite each other. On each side of the gallery, about half-way -up, is a longitudinal groove, which would serve to carry transverse -screens which could be slid up or down, and easily wedged in position -in order to mark exactly the central line, like the cross hairs in an -astronomical telescope. The holes on the benches would serve to carry -cross seats on which the observer could be firmly and comfortably -seated while observing a transit of sun, star, or planet. - -Being open to the south, the Great Gallery would give a magnificent -view of the southern sky, and enable observers to determine the -altitudes and azimuths of many stars, and of the superior planets -Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The star Alpha Centauri, which was at that -period of the first magnitude though now much diminished in brightness, -would, when crossing the meridian, have been situated about the centre -of the field of view as seen from this remarkable feature of the -pyramid which, Mr. Proctor considers, was the finest transit-instrument -ever constructed for naked-eye observations. Tycho Brahé, with his -celebrated Quadrant at Uranienburg, did not attain such a degree of -accuracy as did these Eastern astronomers nearly 6,000 years ago. One -great superiority of the subterranean observatory over any open-air -observations that can be made without telescopes is, that by closing up -the end, except for the small aperture required to see the object, the -brighter stars could be well observed in the daytime. - -When we remember that the Great Pyramid covers 13½ acres of ground, -that it is truly square and on a truly horizontal base, that each side -is accurately directed to a point of the compass, that the angle of its -slope is such that the area of each of the four triangular faces is -equal to that of a square whose sides are equal to the height of the -pyramid; and, further, that the slope of the long descending tunnel is -precisely such as to point accurately to the pole star of the epoch -at the lowest part of its circuit round the true pole; and, lastly, -that all this could only be done, as accurately as it has been done, -by the system of subterranean tunnels and galleries that actually -exists, while almost all the details of their construction are shown to -be adapted for astronomical observations of the nature required, the -conclusion becomes irresistible that they were designed and used for -such observations, and that by no other means could the same amount of -accuracy have been attained. - -I have given a rather full account of what the Pyramid builders really -did, because it forms a very important part of the argument I am -developing as to the stationary condition of the human intellect during -the historical period. - -The great majority of educated persons hold the opinion that our -wonderful discoveries and inventions in every department of art and -science prove that we are really more intellectual and wiser than -the men of past ages—that our mental faculties have increased in -power. But this idea is totally unfounded. We are the inheritors of -the accumulated knowledge of all the ages; and it is quite possible -and even probable, that the earliest steps taken in the accumulation -of this vast mental treasury required even more thought and a higher -intellectual power than any of those taken in our own era. - -We can perhaps best understand this by supposing any one of our great -men of science to have been born and educated in one of the earliest -of the civilisations. If Newton had been born in Egypt in the era of -the Pyramid builders, when there were no such sciences as mathematics, -perhaps even no decimal notation which makes arithmetic so easy to -us, he could probably have done nothing more than they have actually -done. In building up the sciences each of the early steps was the work -of a genius. But now that there has been nearly a hundred centuries of -discovery and specialisation by thousands or even millions of workers, -that by means of writing and of the printing press every discovery is -quickly made known, and that ever larger and larger numbers devote -their lives to study, the rate of progress becomes quicker and quicker, -till the total result is amazingly great. But that does not prove -any superiority of the later over the earlier discoveries. There is, -therefore, no proof of continuously increasing intellectual power. - -But we have now evidence of another kind, which adds to the force of -this argument. - -Quite recently, papyri have been discovered which give us information -as to the ideas, the beliefs, and the aspirations of a period even -earlier than that of the Great Pyramid. The result of the study of -these and other records of early Egypt is thus stated by Professor -Adolf Erman in _The Historian's History of the World_: - - "But when one considers the ancient resident of the valley - of the Nile as a human being, with desires, emotions, and - aspirations almost precisely like our own; a man struggling - to solve the same problems of practical Socialism that we are - struggling for to-day—then, and then only, can the lessons of - ancient Egyptian history be brought home to us in their true - meaning, and with their true significance. And clearest of all - will that significance be, perhaps, if we constantly bear in - mind the possibility that the whole sweep of Egyptian history, - during the three or four thousand years that separated the - Pyramid builders from the contemporaries of Alexander, was a - time of national decay—a dark age, if you will—in Egyptian - history." - -That a great historian, from a study of the ideas and social -aspirations of the earliest known civilisations, should have arrived at -similar views as to the identity of their mental capacity with our own -as I have deduced from their scientific attainments, must be held to be -a very strong argument in support of the accuracy of our independent -conclusions. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -SPEECH AND WRITING AS PROOFS OF INTELLIGENCE - - -There is yet another proof that the faculties of mankind at a very -early epoch were fully equal to those of our own time. There is -perhaps nothing more difficult in its nature, more utterly beyond the -mere lower animal, than the faculty of articulate speech possessed -by every race of mankind. We cannot but believe that its acquisition -was an extremely slow process, and that it is rendered possible by -special cerebral developments giving the necessary mental power for its -acquirement. - -How long a process this would be, it is impossible to say, but it -would certainly have had to reach a high degree of perfection before -the equally difficult process of inventing a mode of writing could -have been brought to such perfection as to facilitate the further -development of the higher faculties through poetry on the one hand -and the preservation of facts and discoveries, as well as trains of -reasoning, on the other. - -Now, I wish to call attention to the very important fact that the -origin and development of speech, and later, of writing, were -apparently almost simultaneous, and certainly quite independent of -each other, in countries not very distant apart. This is shown by the -radical diversity of the different groups of languages in Europe, -Eastern Asia and North Africa, and the equal diversity of Egyptian, -Assyrian, and Chinese writing. All other written characters are -believed to be derived from one or other of these, and it is known that -the forms and peculiarities of alphabetic characters have been greatly -modified by the various materials employed, such as wood and stone -slabs, clay, or wax; papyrus, paper or parchment; and whether engraved, -impressed or painted, whether written with a reed or quill pen, or with -a small brush. - -But if intellectual man as a species of mammal had developed by the -preservation of variations of survival-value, we should expect to -find such an important faculty as speech to have originated in one -centre and to have spread rapidly over the world with only slight -modifications in isolated communities. The fundamental diversities -we find seem to accord better with the conception that when, as a -mere animal, his material organism had reached the required degree of -perfection, there occurred the spiritual influx which alone enabled -him to begin that course of intellectual and moral development, and -that marvellous power over the forces of Nature, in which speech and -writing, followed by printing, have been such important factors. - -In order for man to develop speech he must have possessed a brain and -an intellect far above that of the brutes. As in the more fundamental -problem of the origin of life, it is admitted that organisation is a -product of life—not life of organisation—so we must believe that -speech was a product of a brain and an intellect sufficient for their -development. But such brain and intellect were not necessary for the -lower animals, which have reached their highest lines of development in -the dog, horse, elephant, and ape without making any definite approach -to the acquirement of such higher faculties. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -SAVAGES NOT MORALLY INFERIOR TO CIVILISED RACES - - -If the facts and arguments set forth in the preceding chapters are -correct we should not expect to find any living examples of the -unspiritualised man, since the assumption is that the whole race -received the influx which started them on their course of purely human -development within a strictly limited period, perhaps of a very few -generations or even one generation. The ancestral form—the supposed -missing link—would then have become extinct. - -If this were not so we should expect to find some isolated groups of -speechless man, and of this there is no example; but, on the contrary, -the very lowest of existing races are found to possess languages which -are often of extreme complexity in grammatical structure and in no way -suggestive of the primitive man-animal of which they are supposed to be -surviving relics. So long as we got our knowledge respecting them from -the low-class Europeans who captured them for slaves or shot them down -as wild beasts, we could not possibly acquire any real knowledge of -them as human beings. But now that we have more trustworthy accounts of -them by intelligent travellers or missionaries, we find ample evidence -that when by kindness and sympathy we penetrate to their inner nature, -we discover that they possess human qualities of the same kind as our -own. A few examples of what unprejudiced witnesses say of them will be -very instructive. - -Darwin, after attending a meeting between Captain Fitzroy and the chief -of a small island near Tahiti to settle a question of compensation for -injury to an English ship, says: "I cannot sufficiently express our -surprise at the extreme good sense, the reasoning powers, moderation, -candour, and prompt resolution which were displayed on all sides." - -Captain Cook himself, who saw them in their primitive condition, -speaks of the natives of the Friendly Isles as being "liberal, brave, -open and candid, without either suspicion or treachery, cruelty, or -revenge"; and a century later Admiral Erskine remarks that "they carry -their habits of cleanliness and decency to a higher point than the -most civilised nations"; while all the Polynesian races are kind and -attentive to the sick and aged, and unlimited hospitality is everywhere -practised by them. - -Even the Australian aborigines, who are often said to be one of the -lowest of human races, are found to possess many good qualities by -those who know them best. Mr. Curr, who was for forty years protector -of the aborigines in Victoria, says: - - "Socially, the black is polite, gay, fond of laughter, and - has much _bonhomie_ in his composition. . . . The natives are - very strict in obeying their laws and customs, even under - great temptation. The horror of marrying a woman within the - prohibited degrees of relationship, the extreme grief they - manifest at the death of children or relatives, and sometimes - even for white men, as illustrated by the native boy who - was the sole companion of the unfortunate Kennedy when he - was murdered, are sufficient to indicate that they possess - affections and a sense of right and wrong not very different - from our own." - -The fact that the physical characteristics of the Australians are -substantially those of the Caucasian race in its lowest types has led -me to conclude that these interesting people may have been descended -from much more civilised remote ancestors, and are thus an example of -degradation rather than of survival.[34:A] - - [34:A] See my _Australia and New Zealand_, Chap. V., "The - Australian Aborigines," where this view was first set forth. - (Stanford, 1893.) For cases of _morality_ among savages see my - _Natural Selection and Tropical Nature_, pp. 199-201. - -Many other illustrations of both intelligence and morality are -met with among savage races in all parts of the world; and these, -taken as a whole, show a substantial identity of human character, -both moral and emotional, with no marked superiority in any race or -country. In intellect, where the greatest advance is supposed to -have occurred, this may be wholly due to the cumulative effect of -successive acquisitions of knowledge handed down from age to age. -Euclid and Archimedes were probably the equals of any of our greatest -mathematicians of to-day, while the architecture of Greece, of India, -and of Central America is little inferior to mediæval Gothic. But none -of these, though so different in style, can be said to prove any real -advance in intellectual power from that of the builders of the much -more ancient temples and pyramids of Egypt. This latter country, too, -in its high material civilisation and its remarkable religious system, -shows itself the equal of any that has succeeded it. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -A SELECTIVE AGENCY NEEDED TO IMPROVE CHARACTER - - -The general result of the facts and arguments now set forth in the -merest outline leads us to conclude that there has been no definite -advance of morality from age to age, and that even the lowest races, at -each period, possessed the same intellectual and moral nature as the -higher. The manifestations of this essentially human nature in habits -and conduct were often very diverse, in accordance with diversities -of the social and moral environment. This is quite in accordance with -the now well-established doctrine that the essential character of man, -intellectual, emotional, and moral, is inherent in him from birth; -that it is subject to great variation from individual to individual; -and that its manifestations in conduct can be modified in a very high -degree by the influence of public opinion and systematic teaching. -These latter changes, however, are _not_ hereditary, and it follows -that no definite advance in morals can occur in any race _unless there -is some selective or segregative agency at work_. - -As there is a great amount of misconception on this subject some -explanation may be advisable. Many well-educated and intelligent -persons seem to think that whatever characters or faculties are -hereditary are also necessarily cumulative. They hear that mental as -well as physical characteristics are hereditary; their own observation -tells them that there are musical families as well as tall families. -They hear that the late Sir Francis Galton wrote a book on _Hereditary -Genius_, and perhaps they have read it; but they do not observe that -neither he nor anyone else has proved that genius of any kind is -cumulative, that is that a man or woman of genius will have, on the -average, some one or more children with a greater amount of that -special power or faculty than their own. The very contrary of this is -really the case. The more a person's talent or mental power is above -the average the less chance there is that any of his or her children -will have still more of that power than he has. A really great poet, or -painter, or musician, appears suddenly in a family of mediocre ability -or of no ability at all in that special direction. A few examples may -be instructive. - -Sir William Herschell was the son of a German musician, and was himself -a musician by profession; but he became an astronomical genius, one -of the greatest of his age. His son, Sir John Herschell, was a very -clever man, with advantages of education and position. He followed his -father as an astronomer, and was a great mathematician, but is never -considered to be equal to his father. Darwin's most eminent son was a -mathematician, not a naturalist. - -The reason of this is that heredity follows the law of "recession to -mediocrity." This is, that all groups of living things vary around an -average or mean as regards each of their characters; and those near -the average are always numerous, while as we approach the extremes in -either direction the numbers become less and less. Families follow the -same law. If you take a family for three or four generations, including -perhaps some hundreds of persons, some will be short, some tall; but -the majority will be near the mean, and the tallest of all will be -less likely to have taller descendants than themselves than those -nearer the average. But the children of the tallest, though generally -shorter than their parents, will still tend to be above the average -height. - -When a character is so useful to its possessor in the struggle for -existence as to be of what is termed "survival value," then those that -vary most above the average will be preserved or selected generation -after generation as long as the increase is useful. - -It is because the higher intellectual or moral powers are so rarely of -life-preserving value, and are not unfrequently the reverse, that they -are not _cumulative_, though they are _hereditary_. - - * * * * * - -With this explanation we will now proceed to examine somewhat closely -our moral position as a nation; what is the nature of our social -environment; how it came to be what it is, and what lessons we may -learn from it. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -ENVIRONMENT DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY - - -During the eighteenth century our material civilisation, which had -long been almost stationary, began to advance with the growth of the -physical sciences, but at first with extreme slowness. The earliest -steps were made by the application of machinery to some of the domestic -arts. Some refinements were made in the manners and customs of our -daily life; but there were few, if any, indications of permanent or -widespread change, either for better or worse, in our intellectual or -moral nature. - -The nineteenth century, however, saw the initiation of a great change -in the economic environment due to the rapid invention of labour-saving -machinery; which, with the equally rapid application of steam power, -led to an increase of wealth production such as had never been known -on the earth before. During the same period new modes of locomotion -were brought into daily use, the facilities for inter-communication -were increased a hundred-fold, scientific discoveries opened up to us -new and unthought-of mysteries of the universe, and the whole earth -was ransacked for its treasures, both vegetable and mineral, to an -extent that surpassed all that had been accomplished since the dawn of -civilisation. - -But this rapid growth of wealth, and increase of our power over Nature, -put too great a strain upon our crude civilisation and our superficial -Christianity, and it was accompanied by various forms of social -immorality, almost as amazing and unprecedented. Some of these may be -here briefly referred to. - -Our vast textile factory system may be said to have commenced with -the nineteenth century, and the profits were at first so large and so -dependent on the supply of labour that the mill-owners hired children -from the workhouses of the great cities by hundreds and even thousands. -These children, from the age of five or six upwards, were taken as -apprentices for seven years, and they really became the slaves of the -manufacturers, whose managers made them work from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., -or sometimes longer; and, in order to keep them awake in the close -atmosphere of the factories it was found necessary to whip them at -frequent intervals. It was not till 1819 that the age of children -employed in factories was raised to nine years, while in 1825 the -working hours were _limited_ to seventy-two a week! - -From that time onward, during the whole of the nineteenth century, -there was a continued succession of "Factory Acts," each aiming at -abolishing or ameliorating the worst results of child labour—its -inhumanity, its cruelty, and its immorality. These legislative efforts -were always opposed by the employers, who usually succeeded in so -mutilating them in Committee of the House of Commons as to render them -almost useless. Mrs. E. B. Browning's noble verses, _The Cry of the -Children_, show that after nearly fifty years of struggle the condition -of the child-workers was still, in a high degree, cruel, degrading, and -therefore immoral; while that of the half-timers who succeeded them was -almost as injurious. - -As the century wore on, other evils of a similar nature were -gradually brought to light. Children and women were found to be -working underground in coal mines, under equally vile conditions as -regards health and morality; and an enormous loss of life was caused -by inadequate ventilation, insecure roof-propping, imperfect winding -machinery, and other causes, all due to want of proper precautions by -the owners of the mines. As a matter of simple justice, such owners -should be held responsible to the injured person not only to the full -extent of his wages and for medical attendance, but should also pay a -liberal compensation for the pain suffered, and for the extra labour, -expense and anxiety to his family. But all such things are ignored -in the case of poor workers, so that even the money compensation is -reduced to the smallest amount possible. - -It is one of the great defects of our law that deaths due to -preventable causes _in any profit-making business_ are not criminal -offences. Till they are made so, it will be impossible to save the -hundreds, or even thousands, of lives now lost owing to neglect of -proper precautions in all kinds of dangerous or unhealthy trades. -However costly such precautions may be, expense should not be -considered when human life is risked; and the present state of the law -is therefore immoral. - -Notwithstanding Acts of Parliament and numerous Inspectors (whose -salaries should be paid by the mine owners), explosions and other -accidents underground continue to increase, the year 1910 being a -record year, with its 1,775 deaths; and even the number in proportion -to the workers employed is the highest for the last twenty years. - -Yet no one is punished, or even held responsible for these deaths. -Surely, this shows a deplorable absence of moral feeling, both in the -general public and in Parliament. The responsibility of Parliament is -really criminal, since it always allows its legislation to be made -ineffective by the fear of diminishing the employers' profits, thus -deliberately placing money-making above human life and human well-being. - -In the case of mines and quarries, Parliament is especially -responsible, because the possession of the mineral wealth of our -country by private individuals is itself a gross usurpation of public -rights, and should have been long ago declared illegal. Whatever -arguments—and they are very strong—show us that the land itself -should not be private property, are ten times stronger in the case -of the minerals within its bowels. The value of land increases with -its proper use, but in the case of minerals, the value is absolutely -destroyed. Surely, it is a crime against posterity to allow the -strictly limited mineral wealth of our country to be made private -property, and very largely sold to foreigners, solely to increase the -wealth of individuals and to the absolute impoverishment of ourselves -and our children.[45:A] - - [45:A] I pointed this out forty years ago in an article - entitled _Coal a National Trust_, which I republished twelve - years ago in my _Studies, Scientific and Social_ (Vol. II., - Chap. VIII.). - -I will here add one other argument which goes to the root of the -matter by showing that the alleged owners of minerals have not even -a legal title to them. It is, I believe, a maxim of law that public -rights cannot be lost by disuse. Landed estates were, in our country, -created by the Norman Conqueror to be held subject to the performance -of feudal duties. Deep-seated minerals were then not known to exist, -and were not (I believe) specifically included in the original grants. -Except, therefore, where they have since been made private property -by _Act of Parliament_, they still remain public property. I submit, -therefore, that they may be both legally and equitably resumed by the -Government as public property, and worked for the good of the public -and of posterity. Compensation to the supposed present owners would be -a matter of favour, _not of right_. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -INSANITARY DWELLINGS AND LIFE-DESTROYING TRADES - - -The enormous difference between town and country dwellers as regards -duration of life and the prevalence of zymotic diseases has been known -statistically since the era of registration, and a body of Health -Officers have been set up to report upon the worst cases. The local -authorities have power to compel the owners of unhealthy dwellings to -put them into a sanitary condition, or even order them to be entirely -rebuilt. But as many of the members of Corporations and other Local -Boards are often themselves owners of such property, or have intimate -friends who are so, very little has been done to remedy the evil. Again -and again, in all parts of the country, the Health Officers have duly -reported, but their reports have been ignored. In some cases where the -Health Officer has been too persistent, he has been asked to resign or -has been discharged. A few general facts may be here given. - -By the last complete Census returns (1901), there are in England and -Wales 7,036,868 tenements, and of these 3,286,526, or nearly half, have -from one to four rooms only. In London, out of a total of 1,019,646 -tenements, 672,030, or considerably more than half, have from one to -four rooms; while there are about 150,000 tenements of only _one room_, -in which are living 313,298 persons, or about two and a quarter persons -in each room on the average. There are, however, about 20,000 persons -living _five in a room_, and 20,000 more who have _six, seven, or -eight in a room_. As most of these one-roomed tenements are either the -cellars or attics of houses in the most crowded parts of large towns, -where there is impure air, little light, and scanty water supply, -the condition of those who dwell in them may be imagined—or rather -_cannot_ be imagined, except by those who have explored them. - -Equally inhuman, immoral, and even criminal, is the neglect of -all adequate measures to check the loss of infant life through -the overwork, poverty, or starvation of the mother, together with -overcrowded and insanitary dwellings. In the mad race for wealth -by capitalists and employers most of our towns and cities have -been allowed to develop into veritable death-traps for the poor. -This has been known for the greater part of a century, yet nothing -really effective has been done, notwithstanding abundant health -legislation—again made useless by the dread of diminishing the -excessive profits of manufacturers and slum-owners. One of the Labour -newspapers calls our attention to the following facts for 1911 as to -Infant mortality per 1,000 born: - - PER 1,000 - Deptford, East Ward (poor) 197 - Deptford, West Ward (rich) 68 - Bournville Garden Village 65 - St. Mary's Ward, Birmingham 331 - -Such facts exist all over the kingdom. They have been talked about -and deplored for the last half-century at least. Who has murdered the -100,000 children who die annually before they are one year old? Who -has robbed the millions that just survive of all that makes childhood -happy—pure food, fresh air, play, rest, sleep, and proper nurture -and teaching? Again we must answer, our Parliament, which occupies -itself with anything rather than the immediate saving of human life and -abolishing widespread human misery, the whole of which is remediable. -And all for fear of offending the rich and powerful by some diminution -of their ever-increasing accumulations of wealth. No thinking man or -woman can believe that this state of things is absolutely irremediable; -and the persistent acquiescence in it while loudly boasting of our -civilisation, of our science, of our national prosperity, and of our -Christianity, is the proof of a hypocritical lack of national morality -that has never been surpassed in any former age. - -A new set of evils has grown up in the various so-called "unhealthy -trades"—the lead glaze in the china manufacture, the steel dust in -cutlery work, and the endless variety of poisonous liquids and vapours -in the numerous chemical works or processes, by which so many fortunes -have been made. These, together, are the cause of a large direct loss -of life, and a much larger amount of permanent injury, together with a -terrible reduction in the duration of life of all the workers in such -trades. Yet in one case only—that of phosphorus matches—has any such -injurious process of manufacture been put an end to. Wealth has been -deliberately preferred to human life and happiness.[51:A] - - [51:A] An account of some deadly trades is given in Mr. R. H. - Sherard's book, _The White Slaves of England_. - -One of the most deadly of trades seems to have remained unnoticed -till it has been brought to light by the new Labour paper, _The Daily -Citizen_, in a series of articles by Mr. Keighley Snowden, entitled -_The Broken Women_. Never was a title better deserved, since large -numbers of girls and young women are employed at Lye and Cradley Heath, -in what is commonly named the "Hollow Ware" works. This is the tinning, -or galvanising, as it is usually termed, of buckets and other domestic -utensils, in which lead is used; and it produces one of the most -virulent forms of lead-poisoning. The symptoms are, among other more -painful ones, the loss of hair and the loosening and ultimate loss of -teeth, culminating either in chronic illness or death, sometimes in a -few months or years. Five years ago there was a Home Office inquiry, -which, after full examination, reported that the process used was -dangerous to life, that no precautions could render it harmless, and -that it should be _totally discontinued_. - -An order was then issued by the Home Office that after a time-limit -(two years) the process should be no longer used; but that order has -not been obeyed (except by a few employers) to this day. The deadly -nature of this work was accompanied by miserably low wages, as shown -by the fact that the women workers have at length struck to obtain a -minimum of 10s. a week! Helped by some humane friends, they have at -length succeeded in obtaining this miserable wage, and for the present -are in a state of comparative happiness! How long it will be before the -Government abolishes this deadly process we cannot tell. The following -is a brief statement of what these poor women have to suffer, extracted -from _The Daily Citizen_ of November 20th, 1912:— - - "They had, without power to resist them, suffered repeated and - ruthless reductions of wages. They had seen their industry - brought down by reckless competition, and the manufacture - of shoddy goods, to the point at which men could no longer - earn enough to support their families. They had seen their - wives and daughters and boys forced by want at home into - workshops, where, as official inquiry has shown, health was - sucked out of their bodies as though they had been the victims - of vampires. They had seen the introduction and growth of - the sub-contracting 'stint' system, under which boyhood and - girlhood and motherhood were driven as though they had been - slaves under the lash, and their earnings cut down to a penny - an hour. Meanwhile, they lived in the hovels and holes of a - place which can only be fitly described as one of the dirtiest - ashpits of a civilisation reckless of dirt where profit is a - question." - -Those who want to know what horrors can exist to-day in England -should read Mr. Snowden's series of articles on the subject. They are -restrained in language, and state the bare facts from careful personal -observation. That such things should still exist in a country claiming -to be civilised would be incredible, were there not so many others of a -like nature and almost as bad. - -In an almost exhaustive volume on _Diseases of Occupation_ by Sir -Thomas Oliver, M.D. (1908), there is only a short reference to the -hollowware trade of the "black country" near Birmingham. But the -tin plate industry of South Wales is more fully described, with the -same pitiable condition of the women workers and the same terrible -results to health and life. Yet nothing whatever seems to be done by -the manufacturers; and though two Home Office Inspectors have fully -reported on its horrors from 1888 onwards, no notice appears to have -been taken of them, nor has there been any Government interference with -conditions of labour which are a disgrace to civilisation. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -ADULTERATION, BRIBERY, AND GAMBLING - - -After the terrible national crime of deadly employments it is almost -an anti-climax to enumerate the vast mass of dishonesty and falsehood -that pervades our commercial system in every department. Almost every -fabric, whether of cotton, linen, wool, or silk, is so widely and -ingeniously adulterated by the intermixture of cheaper materials -that the pure article as supplied to our grandparents is hardly to -be obtained. Of this one example only must serve. Calicoes have been -successively dressed with such substances as paste and tallow; then -with the still cheaper china clay and size; and in some cases from 50 -to 90 per cent. of these latter materials have been sold as calico -for exportation to countries inhabited by what we term savages. -These people only found out the deception when the need for washing -or exposure to tropical rains reduced the material to a flimsy and -worthless rag, as I have myself witnessed in some parts of the Malay -Archipelago.[56:A] - - [56:A] These facts are given in the Ninth Edition of the - "Encyclopædia Britannica." In recent editions the article - _Adulteration_ is limited to food and drugs. In "Chambers' - Encyclopædia," cotton, linen and woollens are included among - adulterated fabrics. - -Even worse is the adulteration of almost every kind of prepared -food—including the showy sweetmeats which tempt our children—with -various chemicals, which are often injurious to health, and sometimes -fatal; while even the drugs we take in the endeavour to cure our -various ailments are frequently so treated as to be useless or even -hurtful. Along with this form of dishonesty is what may be termed -simple cheating in the description of goods sold, especially as to -quantity. Threads and fabrics are generally shorter or narrower than -stated, giving a larger profit when sold in enormous quantities in our -great retail shops. - -Then, again, there is a widespread system of bribery of servants -or other employees in order to obtain more customers or to secure -contracts; and though these are all criminal offences, and a great -host of inspectors and official analysts are employed to discover and -convict the offenders, yet so few people are willing to take the -trouble and lose the time and money involved in putting the law into -motion, that a very large percentage of these offences go undiscovered -and unpunished. - -Yet another and more serious form of plunder of the public is carried -on by means of Joint Stock Companies, of which there are now more -than 50,000 in England and Wales. In the year 1911 the number of new -companies was 5,959, while 4,353 ceased to exist, giving an increase -of 1,606 in the year. The Limited Liability Act was passed in 1855, -in order that the public might invest their savings in companies, and -thus share in the profits of our industry and commerce. It was supposed -to be quite proper that anyone should benefit by the enterprise and -industry of others; but to do so is essentially immoral, and has -resulted in a vast system of swindling and terrible losses to the -innocent investors. The promoters, directors, secretaries and bankers -of these companies always gain; those that take up the shares often -lose; and the amount of misery and absolute ruin of those who fondly -hoped to add to their scanty incomes, and have been deluded by the -names of well-known public men among the directors, is incalculable. - -Our Stock Exchanges, too, are used largely for pure gambling which, -owing to its vast extent and being carried on under business forms, is -perhaps more ruinous than any other. But this form of gambling goes -on unchecked, and is generally accepted as quite honest business. -Yet ordinary betting on races and other forms of direct gambling are -hypocritically condemned as immoral and criminal. - -The vast fabric of our Foreign Trade in food, or the raw materials of -our manufactures, is also used to support perhaps the greatest system -of gambling the world has ever seen. The fluctuating prices of corn or -cotton, of coal or mineral oil, of iron and other metals, in the great -markets of the world, are used in two ways by a large community of -gamblers, who not only do not require the goods they buy, but who never -see nor possess them. The ordinary speculator who buys when prices are -low, to sell again at a profit, without himself being able to influence -the rise or fall of price, is a pure gambler who thinks he can foresee -the changes of the market price in the immediate future. But the great -capitalists who, either singly or by means of what are called rings or -combines, purchase such vast quantities of the special product as to -create a scarcity in the market, leading to a large rise of price, are -ingenious robbers rather than gamblers, because, by clever dealings -with such a monopoly, often aided by false rumours widely circulated -in newspapers owned or bribed by them, they are able to make enormous -profits at the expense of those who are obliged to purchase for actual -business purposes or for daily use. This is one of the methods by which -the great millionaires and multi-millionaires of the world accumulate -their wealth, every penny of which is at the cost of the consuming -public. - -This is certainly as immoral as any of the petty forms of swindling -with marked cards, loaded dice, or the wilful losing of a race; yet the -possessors of such wealth are usually held to be clever business men, -whose morality is not questioned. - -All these inconsistencies as regards the moral status of various kinds -of gambling or dishonest speculation arise from our inveterate habit -of dealing with limited cases, each judged on its supposed merits as -to consequences, instead of looking to fundamental principles. Why is -gambling immoral? Not because it is a game of chance, entered into -for mere amusement, even when played for small money stakes which are -of no importance to any of the players. The fundamental wrong arises -whenever it is used for obtaining wealth or any part of the player's -income; and the reason is, that whatever one wins, someone else loses; -while its evil nature, socially, depends upon the fact that whoever -acquires wealth by such means contributes nothing useful to the social -organism of which he forms a part. If it were taught to every child, -and in every school and college, that it is morally wrong for anyone to -live upon the combined labour of his fellow-men without contributing -an approximately equal amount of useful labour, whether physical or -mental, in return, all kinds of gambling, as well as many other kinds -of useless occupation, would be seen to be of the same nature as direct -dishonesty or fraud, and, therefore, would soon come to be considered -disgraceful as well as immoral. - -We see, then, that the whole commercial fabric of our country—our -immense mills and factories, our vast exports and imports, our home -trade, wholesale and retail, and innumerable transactions in our Stock -Exchanges—is permeated with various forms of dishonesty, gambling, and -direct robbery of individuals or of the public. No class is wholly free -from it, and it increases in volume from decade to decade, just as our -boasted commerce and accumulated wealth increases. - -I have here called attention to these various forms of immoral -practices because they are so often ignored. Yet they are all -officially admitted by the enormous mass of the various Royal -Commissions, Parliamentary and other Reports, as well as by the -hundreds of "Acts" by which successive Parliaments have endeavoured to -deal with them, but which have, one and all, proved to be either wholly -or partially ineffective. The reason of this failure is that in every -case symptoms and isolated results only have been considered, while -the underlying causes of the whole vast mass of social corruption have -never been sought for, or, if known, have never influenced legislation. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -OUR ADMINISTRATION OF "JUSTICE" IS IMMORAL - - -When we read about the Turkish or other Eastern law courts, in which -direct bribery of every official up to the judge himself is a regular -feature, we are horrified, and are apt to proclaim the fact that our -judges never take bribes. But, practically, it comes to very nearly -the same thing in England. No single step can be made for the purpose -of getting justice without paying fees; while the whole process of -bringing or defending an action-at-law is so absurdly complex as to -be almost incredible. Jeremy Bentham satirised this by supposing a -father of a large family to adopt the same method of settling a dispute -between two of his sons. He would not hear either of them himself, but -each must tell his story to a stranger (a solicitor), who wrote it -down and then instructed another stranger (a barrister) to explain it -to the father (as judge) and twelve neighbours (the jury). Then the -stranger (barrister) on each side asked questions of all the family who -knew anything about it; and the barristers, who had only third-hand -knowledge of the facts, tried to make each witness contradict himself, -or to acknowledge having done something as bad another time; till the -jury became quite puzzled, and often decided as the cleverest of the -barristers told them. - -That is really the system of law courts to this day; and it is grossly -unfair, because the party who can pay the highest fees for the -services of the most experienced counsel is most likely, through the -lawyer's skill and eloquence, to secure a verdict in his favour. Yet -there is no effective protest against this unjust and absurd system, -which absolutely denies all redress of wrongs to the poor man when -oppressed by a rich one. One would think it self-evident that justice -ceases to be justice when it has to be paid for. But the system is -so time-hallowed, the profession of a barrister so honoured, and its -rewards so great, that it will never be abolished till there comes -about in our social system that fundamental change which will cut at -the very root-cause of almost all our existing law-suits, immorality -and crime. - -In our criminal as well as our civil law and procedure there is equal -injustice. When the poor man is accused of the slightest offence -and brought before a magistrate by the police, he is, even though -perfectly honest and respectable, treated from the very first as if he -were guilty, often refused communication with his friends; and, when -the accusation is serious, he is remanded to prison again and again -till evidence has been hunted up, or even manufactured, against him. -Experience shows that the latter is often done and a quite innocent man -not infrequently punished. The dictum of the law, that an Englishman -should be held to be innocent till he is proved to be guilty, is -absolutely reversed, and he is treated as if he were guilty till, -against overwhelming odds, he is able to prove himself innocent. There -is no possible excuse for this now, and at the very least every man who -has a home or a permanent employment should be at once discharged on -his own recognizances. - -Equally unjust and barbarous is the system of money-fines, often for -merely nominal offences, with the alternative of imprisonment. To the -well-off, or to the habitual criminal, the fine is a trifle; but to -the poor man charged with being drunk, with begging, or with sleeping -under a haystack, or any such act which is no real offence, the common -punishment of 10s. or a week's imprisonment, leaving perhaps wife and -children to starve or be sent to the workhouse, is really far more -immoral than the alleged offence. - -Again, our Poor Law itself, as usually administered, is utterly -immoral. This is what a competent authority—Mr. Sidney Webb—says of -it: - - "Underneath the feet of the whole wage-earning class is the - abyss of the Poor Law. I see before me a respectable family - applying for relief. What do we do to them? We, the Government - of England, break up the family. We strip each individual of - what makes life worth living. When the man enters the workhouse - he is stripped of his citizenship—branded as too infamous - to vote for a member of Parliament. Once in the workhouse, - we put him to toil or to loiter under conditions that are so - demoralising that we turn him into a wastrel. And we strip - the wife of her children. We send her to the wash-tub or - the sewing-room, where she associates with prostitutes and - imbeciles. The little children, if they are under five, are - taken to the workhouse nursery, where they also are tended by - prostitutes and imbeciles. There they remain, day after day, - without ever going down the workhouse steps until they are old - enough to go to the Poor Law school, or until they are taken - down in their coffins, owing to the terrible mortality among - the workhouse babies." - -Of course, all workhouses are not so bad as this, but many are, and -have been during the three-quarters of a century of their existence. -Can we, therefore, wonder that week by week some poor and honest -parents commit suicide rather than see their children starve, or be -separated from them in the workhouse! The people we thus drive to death -are many of them as good as we ourselves are; yet the "Guardians of the -Poor"—well-to-do gentlemen and ladies—go on administering it week -after week and year after year without protest or apparent compunction. -Such is the deadening effect of long-continued custom. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -INDICATIONS OF INCREASING MORAL DEGRADATION - - -There are in the Reports of the Registrar-General a few statistics of -special importance because they clearly point to certain kinds of moral -degradation which have been increasing for the last half-century, thus -coinciding with our exceptionally rapid increase in wealth; and also, -as I have shown in preceding chapters, with various forms of national, -economic, and social deterioration. - -The first of these is the continuous increase in deaths from -alcoholism, in proportion to population, since the year 1861. Most -persons will be amazed to find that this is the case, because the -drinking habit has certainly diminished; but when the habit becomes -so powerful and lasts so long as to be the direct cause of death, we -are able to see the dimensions of the most exaggerated form of the -drink evil. The following figures are taken from the successive Reports -referred to:— - - _Deaths from - _Average Alcoholism per - of Years_ Million living_ - 1861-1865 41.6 - 1866-1870 35.4 - 1871-1875 37.6 - 1876-1880 42.4 - 1881-1885 48.2 - 1886-1890 56.0 - 1891-1895 67.8 - 1896-1900 85.8 - 1901-1905 78.4 - 1906-1910 54.6 - -There are some irregularities, the ratio being nearly equal for the -first twenty years, after which there is such a continuous large -increase that from 1876-80 to 1896-1900 the mortality is doubled, but -for the last ten years there has been a decrease, which in the last -five years is very marked. - -But a still worse and more disquieting feature is the recent large -increase of mortality from alcoholism in women. Figures for the -separate sexes were not given till 1876, and the following table shows -the comparison up to 1910:— - - _Deaths from - _Average Alcoholism - of Years_ per Million_ - - _Men_ _Women_ - 1876-1880 60.1 24.0 - 1881-1885 66.6 31.0 - 1886-1890 73.6 39.2 - 1891-1895 86.6 50.2 - 1896-1900 106.2 66.6 - 1901-1905 95.0 63.0 - 1906-1910 66.6 43.6 - -These figures, however deplorable and startling in themselves, are as -nothing in comparison with what they imply. Death from drink, more -than in the case of any other disease, is the ultimate and rarely -attained result of the vice of habitual intoxication. Men and women may -greatly injure their health, ruin their families, and be disgraceful -drunkards, and yet not die of it, or make any near approach to doing -so. What is the proportion of those who are morally and physically -injured by drink to those who kill themselves by it, is, I suppose, -unknown, but I imagine that one in a thousand is, probably, too high -an estimate, and that one death among ten thousand moderate drinkers -who also occasionally or frequently become intoxicated, would be nearer -the mark. This would imply an increase in the consumption of alcoholic -drinks, instead of which there has been an actual diminution. The fact -probably is that a very large number of moderate drinkers have ceased -to consume alcohol in any form, and this would account for a much -larger reduction in the total than has actually occurred. - -On the other hand, owing to the increase of those who are only casually -employed in our great cities, and whose one luxury is the excitement of -drink, a larger quantity of cheap, and injuriously adulterated spirits -and other liquors is consumed, which, combined with a deficiency of -wholesome food, leads more frequently to a fatal result. - - -_Increase of Suicide_ - -The increase has been long known and generally admitted. It is supposed -to be largely due to the ever-increasing struggle for subsistence in -our great cities, the consequent increase of unemployment, and the -dread of the workhouse as the only alternative to starvation. The -following are the figures for the last forty-five years for which -official data have been published:— - - _Deaths by - _Average Suicide per - of Years_ Million living_ - 1866-1870 66.4 - 1871-1875 66.0 - 1876-1880 73.6 - 1881-1885 73.8 - 1886-1890 79.4 - 1891-1895 88.6 - 1896-1900 89.2 - 1901-1905 100.6 - 1906-1910 102.2 - -Such a table as this, occurring in a country which boasts of its -enormous wealth, of its ever-increasing commercial prosperity, of its -marvellous advance in science and the arts, and command of natural -forces, should, surely, give us pause, and force upon us the conviction -that there is something radically wrong in a social system which brings -about such terrible evils. - -And this should be the more certainly seen to be the case because the -same increase is taking place in all those countries which approach us -in their wealth and their commercial prosperity. - - * * * * * - -There is a group of diseases which are fatal to infants soon after -birth. They have been steadily increasing during the last half-century, -and call for special notice here, as they seem to indicate physical -degeneration as well as personal immorality of a dangerous and perhaps -even a criminal nature. - - _Five-year _Proportion of Deaths - Average_ to 1,000 Births_ - - _Premature _Congenital - Births_ Defects_ - 1861-1865 11.19 1.76 - 1866-1870 11.50 1.84 - 1871-1875 12.60 1.85 - 1876-1880 13.38 2.39 - 1881-1885 14.18 3.23 - 1886-1890 16.1 4.2 - 1891-1895 18.4 4.7 - 1896-1900 19.6 4.9 - 1901-1905 20.2 5.9 - 1906-1909 20.0 6.6 - -The large increase during the last forty-five years of very early -infantile deaths, involving abnormalities of mother or child, seems -very significant. The first may be connected with the increasing -dislike of child-bearing, and unsuccessful attempts to avoid it. The -second indicates some injurious condition of life of the mother, such -as working at unhealthy or even deadly trades, which has certainly been -largely increasing during the same period. Such work for young married -women should be impossible in a civilised community. - - * * * * * - -On the vast subject of prostitution, of which the present movement for -the suppression of what is called "The White Slave Traffic" is but -one of the aspects, I do not propose to dwell, because I can find no -statistics to show whether it has increased or decreased during the -last century. But as the conditions have all been favourable for it, I -have little doubt that it has increased in proportion to population. -Such conditions are, the enormous growth of great cities; an increasing -number of unmarried and wealthy young men; with an enormous number of -girls and young women whose wages are insufficient to provide them with -the rational enjoyments of life. - -The proceedings of the Divorce Courts show other aspects of the result -of wealth and leisure; while a friend who had been a good deal in -London Society assured me that both in country houses and in London -various kinds of orgies were occasionally to be met with which could -hardly have been surpassed in the Rome of the most dissolute emperors. - -Of war, too, I need say nothing. It has always been more or less -chronic since the rise of the Roman Empire, but there is now -undoubtedly a disinclination for war among all civilised peoples. -Yet the vast burden of armaments, taken together with the most pious -declarations in favour of peace, must be held to show an almost total -absence of morality as a guiding principle among the governing classes. -In this respect, the increasing power of Labour-parties all over the -world seems to afford the only hope of a real moral advance. - - - - -PART II.—THEORETICAL - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -NATURAL SELECTION AMONG ANIMALS - - -While writing the present volume I was led to refer to it during some -of the numerous interviews on the occasion of my recent birthday. -This led to some misrepresentation of my views, and showed me how -few popular press-writers have any real knowledge of the nature and -extent of "natural selection," more especially as it affects the human -race. There is also the same ignorance as regards "heredity"; and this -latter has become almost a word to conjure with, and is thought by -most writers to explain many things to which it is quite inapplicable, -and as the present work is a very condensed argument founded to a -considerable extent upon these great natural laws, I propose devoting -two chapters to explaining and demonstrating the effect of natural -selection in the case of the lower animals and of man respectively. - -That such an explanation is necessary may be seen from the following -extract from one of our most influential and well-written daily papers, -the _Pall Mall Gazette_. After referring to the view of the utter -rottenness of our present civilisation, it quotes me as saying: "And -the average of mankind will remain the same until natural selection -steps in to save it." (What I actually said to the interviewer was -"until some form of selection improves it.") The writer then goes on: - - "These words must have struck the interviewer like the crack of - doom. For, stated popularly, the theory of natural selection is - the doctrine of 'Devil take the hindmost.' If natural selection - had fair play there would be no Children's Care Committees; - there would be no Poor Law, no Hospitals; there would be no - Old Age Pensions. All the humanitarian effort to care for the - weak and to help them along the path of life, every effort to - bind up the broken-hearted, every combination of labour to - secure equality among the members of a trade, stand condemned - as futile or worse by the doctrine which Dr. Russel Wallace - thinks can alone raise the average of man. His own remedies - for the ills of society—the levelling up which he believes to - be impossible without levelling down, the disinheriting of the - unborn heir, the 'striking' which he applauds, the universal - education which he favours—all these are directly antagonistic - to the workings of natural selection." - -Now, as I am credited by all my scientific friends with having -discovered the theory of natural selection more than fifty years ago, -and as the whole reading public have had this hammered into them with -needless repetition during the whole of that period, it is rather -amusing to be told now that I do not know what natural selection is, -nor what it implies. It is also a striking proof that the whole subject -is now held to be so old and commonplace as not to be worth studying by -a popular teacher before writing about it so strongly and dogmatically. -If he had done so he would not deliberately assert that I hold opinions -in regard to the matter which in several of my books I have shown the -fallacy of. - -I propose, therefore, to give here a short account of the essential -features of the theory of natural selection; how it has operated in -bringing about the evolution of the almost infinitely varied forms of -plants and of the lower animals; and also to explain as clearly as I -can why, and to what extent, it has acted differently in the case of -man. - - -_Lamarckism and Darwinism—How they Differ_ - -The first great naturalist who put forward a detailed explanation of -how he supposed the varied forms of animal life to have been produced -was Lamarck, a contemporary of Buffon and Goethe, both of whom believed -in evolution but offered no explanation of how it could have been -brought about. Lamarck, however, suggested that the various organs -of animals were modified by voluntary effort producing increased -development, as when an antelope escapes from a lion by its swiftness, -which swiftness is increased by the straining of its limbs in flight; -while the long neck and fore-limbs of the giraffe were explained by the -continual stretching of these parts of the body to obtain foliage for -food during severe droughts. In addition to this other causes are at -work, as described in the following passage, translated or paraphrased -by Sir Charles Lyell in his _Principles of Geology_: - - "Every considerable alteration in the local conditions under - which each race of animals exists causes a change in their - wants, and these new wants excite them to new actions and - habits. These actions require the more frequent employment of - some parts before but slightly exercised, and then greater - development follows as a consequence of their more frequent - use. Other organs, no longer in use, are impoverished and - diminished in size; nay, are sometimes entirely annihilated, - while in their place new parts are insensibly produced for the - discharge of new functions." - -Again, he says: - - "Thus otters, beavers, water-fowl, turtles, and frogs were - not made web-footed in order that they might swim; but their - wants having attracted them to the water in search of prey, - they stretched out the toes of their feet to strike the water - and move rapidly along its surface. By the repeated stretching - of their toes the skin which united them at the base acquired - a habit of extension, until, in the course of time, the broad - membranes which now connect their extremities were formed." - -In the case of plants, where no voluntary movements occur, the cause -of modification was said to be due almost exclusively to the change of -local conditions, as the various kinds of plants became dispersed over -the earth's surface. The influence of soil, of temperature, of light -and shade, are supposed to produce definite changes which are gradually -increased; just as plants long cultivated in our gardens have become so -changed that the wild progenitors cannot now be recognised. - -Sir Charles Lyell, who made a careful study of Lamarck's great work, -notes especially that the whole of the argument is vague and general, -and that no cases are given in which is shown how the alleged causes -can be supposed to have acted so as to bring about the innumerable -changes that must have occurred. What is more important, however, is -the failure to explain how the numerous minute adaptations of each -species to its environment could have arisen by the direct action of -that environment—in plants, the infinitely varied forms of leaves, -flowers, and fruits; in animals, the forms and sizes of the teeth of -mammalia and of the beaks, wings and feet of birds to the food they -obtain; while the enormous range of colour and marking in most groups -of animals are such as no amount of desire or exertion on the one -hand, or direct action of external causes on the other, could possibly -have brought about. It is not, therefore, surprising that, although -a vast amount of evidence was adduced to show that changes had taken -place leading to the evolution of species from pre-existing species, -yet causes adequate to bring about the changes, and especially those -necessary to produce the marvellous adaptations continually being -discovered, had not been shown to exist. - -It is necessary to point this out, because the difference between the -almost universal rejection of Lamarck's attempted solution of the -problem of evolution, and the almost immediate and universal acceptance -of that adduced by Darwin, is otherwise unexplained. The belief in the -doctrine of evolution as the only rational explanation of the gradual -development of the innumerable forms of living things became more and -more general. The great body of arguments in its favour were admirably -set forth by Robert Chambers in his _Vestiges of Creation_, published -anonymously in 1844; while Herbert Spencer's masterly exposition of -the argument for universal evolution convinced a large number of -naturalists and men of science. But still the nature of the laws and -forces by which the evolution of the organic world in all its variety -and beauty, could have been brought about remained not only unknown -but unimagined, so that even so great a thinker as Sir John Herschel -termed it "the mystery of mysteries." I will now state as briefly as -possible the essential features of Darwin's solution of the mystery in -his epoch-making work, _The Origin of Species_. - - -_Natural Selection as the Essential Factor in the Origin of Species_ - -There are two great, universal, and very conspicuous characteristics of -the whole organic world which, because they are so very common, were -almost ignored before Darwin showed their importance. These are (1) the -great _variability_ in all common and widespread species, and (2) their -enormous powers of _increase_. - -The facts of variability are recorded in every book on Darwinism or -on organic evolution, and it is only necessary here to appeal to -the reader's own observation or to state a few illustrative facts. -Everybody sees that among a hundred or a thousand people he knows or -frequently meets no two are alike. This is _variability_. He also -knows that the amount of the differences between them is often very -large, and always, if you have any two of them side by side, easily -perceptible and capable of being described. He also knows that they -differ in every part and organ that can be seen: the height, the bulk -of body; the shape of the hands, feet, head, ears, nose, and mouth; the -proportions of the legs, arms, and body to each other; the abundance -and character of the hair—coarse or fine, straight or curly, and -of all colours between flaxen and intense black. To declare that -variability among men and women, even of the same race and in the same -country, is a rare phenomenon, and that in amount it is infinitesimal, -would be a ludicrous misstatement of the facts or a wilful perversion -of the truth. But, as regards animals or plants in a state of nature, -this misstatement has been made and has been used as an argument -against the Darwinian theory. It is, however, now well known, as a -matter of direct observation and measurement, that when a few scores -or hundreds of individuals are compared, even in the same district and -at the same season, they differ in their proportions to about the same -amount, and to some extent in every visible part or organ, as do human -beings. - -This, however, was not well known when Darwin collected the materials -for his various works, and he even sometimes makes the proviso—"if -they vary, for without variation selection can do nothing"; and this -has been taken as an admission that variation is a rare instead of -being a universal phenomenon. He also often spoke of the accumulation -of _small_ or _minute_ variations, and this has led to the statement -that variations are _infinitesimal_ in amount, and therefore could, at -first, be of no use to the possessor in the struggle for existence. - - -_Rapid Increase of All Organisms_ - -This is another fact of Nature which requires to be kept in mind in -all discussions of the action of natural selection, yet it is often -altogether ignored by critics of the theory. As an illustrative fact, -a not uncommon European weed of the Cruciferæ family has been found -to produce about 700,000 seeds on a single plant, whence it can be -calculated that if every seed had room to grow for three successive -years their produce would cover a space of about 2,000 times as large -as the whole land surface of the globe. Some of the minute aquatic -forms of life which increase by division in a few hours would, if they -all had the means of living, in the same period occupy a space equal to -that of the entire solar system. Even the largest and slowest breeding -of all known mammals, i.e. the elephant, would, if allowed space to -live and breed freely for 750 years, result in no less than nineteen -million animals. - -By far the larger part of the criticisms of Darwinism by popular -writers are due to their continually forgetting these two great natural -facts: enormous _variability_ about a _mean value_ of every part and -organ; and such ever-present powers of multiplication that, even in -the case of vertebrate animals, of those born every year only a small -proportion—one-tenth to one-hundredth or thereabouts—live over the -second year. If they all lived their numbers would go on continually -increasing, which we know is not the case. Hence arises what has been -termed "the struggle for existence," resulting in "the survival of the -fittest." - -This "struggle for life" is either against the forces of inorganic or -those of organic nature. Among the former are storms, floods, intense -cold, long-continued droughts, or violent blizzards, all of which take -toll of the weaker or less wary individuals of each species—those that -are less adapted to survive such conditions. In judging how this would -act, we must always remember the enormous scale on which Nature works, -and that although now and then a few of the weaker individuals may live -and a few of the stronger be killed, yet when we deal with hundreds -of millions, of which eighty or ninety millions inevitably die every -year while about ten or twenty millions only survive, it is impossible -to believe that those which survive, not one year only but year after -year throughout the whole existence of each species, are not on the -average better adapted to the complex conditions of their environment -than those which succumb to it. It is a mere truism that the _fittest -survive_. - -Exactly the same thing occurs in the case of the organic environment, -to which each species must also be well adapted in order to live. The -two great essentials for animal existence are, to obtain abundant -food through successive years, and to be able to escape from their -various enemies. When food is scarce the strongest, or those who -can feed quickest and digest more rapidly, or those that can detect -food at greater distances or reach it more quickly, will have the -advantage. Enemies are escaped by strength, by swiftness, by acute -vision, by wariness, or by colours which conceal the various species -in their natural surroundings; and those which possess these or any -other advantages will in the long run survive. The weaker, the less -well-defended, and the smaller species often have special protection, -such as nocturnal habits, making burrows in the earth, possessing -poisonous stings or fangs, being covered with protective armour; while -great numbers are coloured or marked so as exactly to correspond with -their surroundings, and are thus concealed from their chief enemies. - - -_Natural Selection, or Survival of the Fittest_ - -It may be here noted that the term "Natural Selection," which has often -been misunderstood, was suggested to Darwin by the way in which almost -all our varieties of cultivated plants and domestic animals have been -obtained from wild forms continually improved for many generations. The -method is to breed large quantities, and always preserve or "select" -the best in each generation to be the parents of the next. This -method, carried on by hundreds of farmers, gardeners, dog, horse or -poultry breeders, and especially by pigeon-fanciers, has resulted in -all those useful, beautiful and even wonderful varieties of fruits, -vegetables and flowers, dray-horses and hunters, greyhounds, spaniels -and bull-dogs, cows which give large quantities of the richest milk, -and sheep with the greatest quantity and finest quality of wool. All -these were produced gradually for the special purposes of mankind; but -a similar result has been effected by Nature through rapid increase, -great variability, and continual destruction of all the individuals -less adapted to the conditions of their special environment, so that -only the strongest or the swiftest, the best-concealed or the most -wary, the best armed with teeth, horns, hoofs or claws, those who could -swim best, or those that protected each other by keeping in flocks or -herds—lived the longest and tended to improve still further the next -generation. "Survival of the fittest" was suggested by Herbert Spencer -as best describing exactly what happens, and it is a most useful -descriptive term which should always be kept in mind when discussing -or investigating the process by which the infinitely varied and -beautiful productions of Nature have been developed. There is really -not one single part or organ of any plant or animal that cannot have -been derived by means of the fundamental facts of variability and -reproduction from some allied plant or animal. - -It is interesting here to note, that the two _essential factors_ of the -process of constant adaptation to the environment by great variability -and rapid multiplication, formed no part of Lamarck's theory, which -some people still think to be as good as Darwin's. Equally suggestive -is the fact that, while extensive groups of life-phenomena, such as -colour, weapons, hair, scales, and feathers, can hardly be conceived as -having been produced or modified by _effort_ or by the direct action of -the environment, they are yet, every one of them, perfectly explained -by the fundamental and necessary processes of variability and survival, -acting slowly and continuously, but with intermittent periods of -extreme activity at long intervals, on all living things. - -One of the weakest and most foolish of all the objections to the -Darwinian theory is, that it does not explain _variation_, and is -therefore worthless. We might as well say that Newton's discovery of -the laws of gravitation was worthless because its _cause_ was not and -has not yet been discovered; or that the undulatory theory of light -and heat is worthless, because the origin of the ether, the thing -that _undulates_, is not known. The _beginnings_ of things can never -be known; and, as Darwin well said, it is foolish to waste time in -speculation about them. I think I have shown in my _World of Life_ -that infinite variability is a basic law of Nature, and have suggested -its probable purpose. That purpose seems to have been the development -of a life-world culminating in Man—a being capable of studying, and -enjoying, and to some extent comprehending, the vast universe around -him, from the microscopic life in almost every drop of water to the -whirling nebulæ of the glittering star-depths extending to almost -unimaginable distances around him. - -Looking at him thus, man is as much above, and as different from, the -beasts that perish as they are above and beyond the inanimate masses of -meteoritic matter which, as we now know, occupy the apparently vacant -spaces of our solar system, and from which comets and stars are in all -probability the aggregations due to the action of the various cosmic -forces which everywhere seem capable of producing variety and order out -of a more uniform but less orderly chaos. - -But besides this lofty intellect, man is gifted with what we term a -moral sense: an insistent perception of justice and injustice, of right -and wrong, of order and beauty and truth, which as a whole constitute -his moral and æsthetic nature, the origin and progress of which I have -endeavoured to throw some light upon in the present volume. The long -course of human history leads us to the conclusion that this higher -nature of man arose at some far distant epoch, and though it has -developed in various directions, does not seem yet to have elevated the -whole race much above its earliest condition, at the time when, by the -influx of some portion of the spirit of the Deity, man became "a living -soul." - -We will now consider some of the changes which this higher nature of -man has produced in the action of the laws of variation and natural -selection. These are very important, and are so little understood that -almost all popular writers on the subject of the future of mankind are -led into stating as scientific conclusions what are wholly opposed to -the actual teaching of evolution. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -SELECTION AS MODIFIED BY MIND - - -The theory of natural selection as expounded by Darwin was so -completely successful in explaining the origin of the almost infinitely -varied forms of the organic world, step by step, during the long -succession of the geological ages, that it was naturally supposed to be -equally applicable to mankind. This was thought to be almost certain -when, in his later work, _The Descent of Man_, Darwin proved by a -series of converging facts and convincing arguments that the physical -structure of man was in all its parts and organs so extremely similar -to that of the anthropoid apes as to demonstrate the descent of both -from some common ancestor. - -So close is this resemblance that every bone and muscle in the human -body has its counterpart in that of the apes, the only differences -being slight modifications in their shape and position; yet these -differences lead to external forms, attitudes, and modes of life so -divergent that we can hardly recognise the close affinity that really -exists. This affinity is so real and unmistakable that such a great -and conservative zoologist as the late Sir Richard Owen declared that -to discover and define any important differences between them was -the anatomist's difficulty. It was in the dimensions, the shape, and -the proportions of the brain that Owen found a sufficient amount of -distinctive characters to enable him to place Man in a separate order -of mammals—Bimana, or two-handed—while the remainder of the whole -monkey tribe—including the apes, baboons, monkeys, and lemurs—formed -the order Quadrumana, or four-handed animals. This classification has -been rejected by most modern biologists, who consider man to form a -distinct family only—Hominidæ—of the order Primates, which order -includes all four-handed animals as well as man. - -But if we recognise the brain as the organ of the mind, and give due -weight to the complete distinctness and enormous superiority of the -mind of man as compared with that of all other mammals, we shall be -inclined to accept Owen's view as the most natural; and this becomes -almost certain when we realise the enormous effect his mind has -produced, in modifying and almost neutralising the action of that great -law of natural selection which has held supreme sway in every other -portion of the organic world. - -We have seen in the preceding chapter how every form of organic life -during all the vast extent of geological time has been subject to the -law of natural selection, which has incessantly moulded their bodily -form and structure, external and internal, in strict adaptation to -the successive changes of the world around them; while that world was -itself hardly, if at all, modified by them. A few isolated cases—such -as the formation of islands by the coral-forming zoophytes, or the -damming of a few rivers by the rude though very remarkable labours of -the beaver—can hardly be considered as forming exceptions to this law. - -But so soon as man appeared upon the earth, even in the earliest -periods at which we have any proofs of his existence, or in the -lowest state of barbarism in which we are now able to study him, we -find him able to use and act upon the forces of Nature, and to modify -his environment, both inorganic and organic, in ways which formed a -completely new departure in the entire organic world. - -Among the very rudest of modern savages the wounded or the sick are -assisted, at least with food and shelter, and often in other ways, -so that they recover under circumstances that to most of the higher -animals would be fatal. Neither does less robust health or vigour, or -even the loss of a limb or of eyesight, necessarily entail death. The -less fit are therefore not eliminated as among all other animals; and -we behold, for the first time in the history of the world, the great -law of natural selection by the survival only of "the fittest" to some -extent neutralised. - -But this is only the first and least important of the effects produced -by the superior faculties of man. In the whole animal world, as we have -seen, every species is preserved in harmony with the slowly changing -environment by modifications of its own organs or faculties, thus -gradually leading to the production of new species equally adapted to -the new environment as its ancestor was before the change occurred. - -In the case of man, however, such bodily adaptations were unnecessary, -because his greatly superior mind enabled him to meet all such -difficulties in a new and different way. As soon as his specially -human faculties were developed (and we have as yet no knowledge of -him in any earlier condition), he would cease to be influenced by -natural selection in his physical form and structure. Looked at as -a mere animal he would remain almost stationary, the changes in the -surrounding universe ceasing to produce in him that powerful modifying -effect which they exercise over all other members of the entire organic -world. In order to protect himself from the larger and fiercer of the -mammalia he made use of weapons, such as stone-headed clubs, wooden -spears, bows and arrows, and various kinds of traps and snares, all of -which are exceedingly effective when families or larger groups combine -in their use. Against the severity of the seasons he protected himself -with a clothing of skins, and with some form of shelter or well-built -house, in which he could rest securely at night, free from tempestuous -rains or the attacks of wild beasts. By the use of fire he was enabled -to render both roots and flesh more palatable and more digestible, thus -increasing the variety and abundance of his food far beyond that of any -species of the lower animals. Yet further, by the simplest forms of -cultivation, he was able to increase the best of the fruits, the roots, -the tubers, as well as the more nutritious of the seeds, such as those -of rice and maize, of wheat and of barley, thus securing in convenient -proximity to his dwelling-place an abundance of food to supply all his -wants and render him almost always secure against scarcity or famine or -disastrous droughts. - -We see, then, that with the advent of Man there had come into -existence a being in whom that subtle force we term _mind_ became of -far more importance than mere bodily structure. Though with a naked -and unprotected body, _this_ gave him clothing against the varied -inclemencies of the seasons. Though unable to compete with the deer in -swiftness or with the wild bull in strength, _this_ gave him weapons -with which to capture or overcome both. Though less capable than most -other animals of living on the herbs and the fruits that unaided Nature -supplies, this wonderful faculty taught him to govern and direct Nature -to his own benefit, and compelled her to produce food for him almost -where and when he pleased. From the moment when the first skin was used -as a covering, when the first rude spear was formed to assist him in -the chase, when fire was first used to cook his food, when the first -seed was sown or shoot planted, a grand revolution was effected in -Nature—a revolution which in all previous ages of the earth's history -had had no parallel. A being had arisen who was no longer subject to -bodily change with changes of the physical universe—a being who was in -some degree superior to Nature, inasmuch as he knew how to control and -regulate her action, and could keep himself in harmony with her, not -through any change in his body, but by means of his vast superiority in -mind. - - * * * * * - -The view above expounded of the transference of the action of natural -selection from the bodily structure to the mind of early man was my -first original modification of that theory, having been communicated to -the _Anthropological Review_ in 1864. It received the approval both of -Darwin himself and of Herbert Spencer, and I am not aware that anyone -has shown any flaw in the reasoning by which it is established. It is -certainly of high importance, since if true it renders impossible any -important change in the external form of mankind, while it serves -as an explanation of the complete identity of specific type of the -three great races of man—the Caucasian or white, the Mongolian or -yellow, and the Negroid or black—in every essential of human form and -structure, while in their best examples they approach very nearly to -the same ideal of symmetry and of beauty. Yet so little attention has -been given to this view that most popular and even some scientific -writers take it for granted that no such difference exists between man -and the lower animals. They assume that we are destined to have our -bodies modified in the remote future in some unknown way, and that the -idea that there is anything approaching final perfection in the human -form is a mere figment of the imagination. - -Others are so imbued with the universality of natural selection as -a beneficial law of Nature that they object to our interfering with -its action in, as they urge, the elimination of the unfit by disease -and death, even when such diseases are caused by the insanitary -conditions of our modern cities or the misery and destitution due -to our irrational and immoral social system. Such writers entirely -ignore the undoubted fact that affection, sympathy, compassion form -as essential a part of human nature as do the higher intellectual and -moral faculties; that in the very earliest periods of history and among -the very lowest of existing savages they are fully manifested, not -merely between the members of the same family, but throughout the whole -tribe, and also in most cases to every stranger who is not a known or -imagined enemy. The earliest book of travels I remember hearing read -by my father was that of Mungo Park, one of the first explorers of the -Niger. He was once alone and sick there, and some negro women nursed -him, fed him, and saved his life; and while lying in their hut he heard -them singing about him as the poor white man, of whom they said:— - - "He has no mother to give him milk, - No wife to grind his corn." - -Hospitality is, in fact, one of the most general of all human virtues, -and in some cases is almost a religion. It is an inherent part of -what constitutes "human nature," and it is directly antagonistic to -the rigid law of natural selection which has universally prevailed -throughout the lower animal world. Those who advocate our allowing -natural selection to have free play among ourselves on the ground that -we are interfering with Nature, are totally ignorant of what they are -talking about. It is Nature herself, untaught, unsophisticated _human_ -nature, which they are seeking to interfere with. They seek to degrade -the higher nature to the level of the lower, to bring down Heaven-born -humanity, in its essential characteristics only a little lower than the -angels, to the infinitely lower level of the beasts that perish. - - * * * * * - -The conclusion reached in the earlier portion of this volume, that the -higher intellectual and moral nature of man has been approximately -stationary during the whole period of human history, and that the cause -of the phenomenon has been the absence of any selective agency adequate -to increase it, renders it necessary to give some further explanation -as to the probable or possible origin of this higher nature, and also -of that admirable human body which also appears to have reached a -condition of permanent stability. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE LAWS OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT - - -In dealing with the great problems of organic development there is -probably no department in which so much error and misconception -prevails as on the nature and limitations of Heredity. These -misconceptions not only pervade most popular writings on the subject -of evolution, but even those of men of science and of specialists in -biology, and they are the more important and dangerous because their -promulgators are able to quote Herbert Spencer, and to a less extent -Darwin, as holding similar views. - -The subject is of special importance here because it involves the -question of whether the effects of the environment, including education -and training, are in any degree transmitted from the individuals so -modified to their progeny—whether they are or are not cumulative. -It is, in fact, the much discussed and vitally important problem of -the Heredity of Acquired Characters. The effects of use and disuse, -another form of the same general phenomenon, were assumed by Lamarck to -be inherited, and a large portion of his theory of evolution rested on -this assumption; it seemed so probable, and was apparently supported by -so many facts, that Darwin, like most other naturalists at the time, -accepted it without any special inquiry, and when he worked out his -theory of Pangenesis in order to explain the main facts of heredity, -his suppositions were adapted to include such phenomena. Let us then -first explain what is meant by the "acquired characters" which it was -thought that a true theory of heredity must explain. - -As a rule, the great majority of the peculiarities of any species -of animal or plant are constantly reproduced in its offspring. The -short tail of the wren, the much longer tail of the long-tailed tit, -the crest of the crested tit and of innumerable other birds, always -when full-grown exhibit the same characters as in their parents. -These are said to be _innate_ characters. In rare cases, however, -offspring are born which differ materially from their parents, as when -a white blackbird or a six-toed kitten appears, but these are equally -_innate_, and are often strongly inherited. All these are subject -to variation, and can therefore be modified by selection, whether -natural or artificial, and the effects of such selection in the case of -domestic animals is often enormous. Such are the pouters and tumblers -among pigeons, the bull-dog and the greyhound, the numerous breeds of -poultry, all of which are known to have been produced by artificial -selections of favourable variations extending over many centuries; and -the characters of these varieties are all strongly inherited. - -Characters which are acquired during the life of the individual owing -to differences in the use of certain organs or of exposure to light, -heat, drought, wind, moisture, etc., are comparatively very slight, -and are liable to be so combined with _innate_ characters and with the -effects of natural or artificial selection, that it is exceedingly -difficult to ascertain, without such careful and long-continued -experiments as have not yet been made, whether they are in any degree -transmissible from parent to offspring, and therefore cumulative. - -Almost every individual case of supposed inheritance of such -characters, when carefully examined, has been found to be explicable -in other ways; but there is a very large amount of _general_ evidence, -demonstrating that even if a certain small amount of such inheritance -exists, it can certainly not be a factor of any importance in the -process of organic evolution, all the factors of which must be -universally present because the process itself is universal. I will -therefore here limit myself to a short enumeration of a few of the -very numerous cases in which the continued use of an organ does not -strengthen or improve it, but often the reverse; and of others in which -it cannot be asserted that the action of the environment can have had -any part whatever in the continuous change or specialisation of the -part or organ. The number, size, form, position, and composition of -the teeth of all the mammalia are extremely varied, and throughout -the whole class afford the best characters to distinguish family and -generic groups; they are therefore of great value in determining the -affinities of extinct forms, because the jaws and teeth, especially -the latter, are most frequently preserved. But as the permanent teeth -are always fully formed while buried in the jawbones and covered by -the gums, it is quite certain that the special adaptation of the teeth -of each species to seize, crush, tear, or grind up its particular food -cannot possibly have been produced by the act of feeding, the effect -of which is almost always to grind away the teeth and render them less -serviceable. Such adaptation could not possibly have been produced -by _use_ alone, or any other direct action of the environment. Yet, -as the adaptation is clear, and often very remarkable, some eminent -palæontologists have declared it to be proved that the changes in -them were _produced_ by the changes in the environment, and that -they constitute very strong evidence of the "inheritance of acquired -characters"—a statement unsupported by any direct evidence. - -The same objection applies to most of the special organs of sense. -The internal organ of hearing is a highly complex series of bones and -membranes, protected by the outer ear; but it cannot be even imagined -to have been gradually developed by the action of the air waves the -vibrations of which it conveys to the brain. - -The eye is a still more striking case, as too much use injures or even -destroys it; while specialities of vision, as long or short sight, are -undoubtedly _innate_, and usually persist throughout life. - -So the wonderfully varied bills of birds cannot be conceived as having -been modified by use, and are, in fact, unchangeable when once formed. -Yet, as they vary largely in every species, they are readily modified, -so as to become adapted to new conditions by the "survival of the -fittest." - -Equally impossible is it to connect any use or disuse, or environmental -action, in the production, the gradual development, or complete -adaptation to their conditions of life of the outer coverings of almost -all living things—the hair of mammalia, the feathers of birds, the -scales or horny skins or solid shields of reptiles, the solid shells -of molluscs, wonderfully ribbed or spined, whorled, or turreted, and -infinitely varied in surface colour and markings. Even more conclusive -are the facts presented by the vast hosts of the insect world, from -the massive armour of the ever-present beetle tribe, more varied in -form, structure, ornament, and colour than any other comparable group -of living things, to the widely different lepidoptera, equalling, or -perhaps surpassing, the whole class of birds in their marvellous grace -and beauty, yet all utterly beyond any possible direct action of the -environment or of use and disuse in their development, and their close -adaptation to that environment. - -Organic nature is indisputably one and indivisible. It has been -developed throughout by means of the fundamental _forces_ of life, -of growth and reproduction, and the equally fundamental _laws_ of -variation, heredity, and enormous increase, resulting in a perpetual -adaptation in form, structure, colour, and habits to the slowly -changing environment. These forces and laws are _universal_ in their -action; they are demonstrably adequate to the production of the whole -of the phenomena we are now discussing. We see, then, that over by -far the greater part of the whole world of life any modification -of external structure, form, or colouring during the life of the -individual is impossible; while in the remainder its action, if it -exists at all, is of very limited range. No adequate _proof_ of the -inheritance of the slight changes thus caused has ever yet been given, -and it is therefore wholly unnecessary and illogical to assume its -existence and to adduce it as having any part in the ever-active and -universal process of evolution. - -Throughout the whole series of the animal world, and especially in the -higher groups which approach nearest to ourselves, mental and physical -characters are so inextricably intermixed in their relation to the -laws of evolution and heredity, that either of them studied separately -leads us to the same conclusions. We are not, therefore, surprised to -find that breeders of animals of all kinds act upon the principle that -all the qualities of the various stocks, whether bodily or mental, -are _innate_ and have been due to selection; while training, though -necessary to bring out the good qualities of the individual, has had -no part in the _production_ of those qualities. When a horse or dog of -good pedigree is accidentally injured so that it cannot be regularly -trained, it is still used for breeding purposes without any doubt as to -its conveying to its progeny the highest qualities of its parentage. - -In the case of the human race, however, many writers thoughtlessly -speak of the hereditary effects of strength or skill due to any -mechanical work or special art being continued generation after -generation in the same family, as among the castes of India. But of -any progressive improvement there is no evidence whatever. Those -children who had a natural aptitude for the work would, of course, form -the successors of their parents, and there is no proof of anything -hereditary except as regards this _innate_ aptitude. - -Many people are alarmed at the statement that the effects of education -and training are _not_ hereditary, and think that if that were really -the case there would be no hope of improvement of the race; but closer -consideration will show them that if the results of our education in -the widest sense, in the home, in the shop, in the nation, and in the -world at large, had really been hereditary, even in the slightest -degree, then indeed there would be little hope for humanity; and there -is no clearer proof of this than the fact that we have not _all_ been -made much worse—the wonder being that any fragment of morality, or -humanity, or the love of truth or justice for their own sakes still -exists among us. - - * * * * * - -If we glance through the past history of mankind we see an almost -unbroken succession of aggression and combat between the various races, -nations, and tribes. We can dimly see that this continual struggle did -lead to a rather severe process of selection, as in the lower animal -world. It can hardly be doubted that as a result of these struggles the -strongest physically, the most ingenious in the use of weapons, and -the best organised for war did survive, and that the weaker and lower -were either exterminated or kept as slaves by the conquerors. This -leads to alternation of success and failure. We see great conquerors -and great material civilisations as a result of their accumulations -of wealth and of slaves. Then, for a time, luxury and the arts -flourished, and with them came rulers who encouraged degradation and -vice at home, supported by more and more remote conquests. Then new -conquerors arose, often lower in civilisation—barbarians, as they were -termed—but higher in the simple domestic virtues and a more natural -life of productive labour. These again, or some portions of them, rose -to luxury and civilisation, to lives of gross sensuality and the most -cruel despotism, till outraged humanity raised up new conquerors to go -over again the old terrible routine. - -The periods of culmination of these old civilisations, founded always -on conquest, massacre, and slavery, are marked out for us by the ruins -of great cities, temples, and palaces, often of wonderful grandeur, and -with indications of arts, science, and literature which still excite -our admiration in Egypt and India, Greece and Rome; and thence through -the Middle Ages down to our own time. But the inhumanities and horrors -of these periods are inconceivable. A gloomy picture of them is given -in that powerful book, _The Martyrdom of Man_, by Winwood Reade; and -they are summarised in Burns' fine lines: - - "Man's inhumanity to man - Makes countless thousands mourn." - -Think of the horrors of war in the perpetual wars of those days before -the "Red Cross" service did anything to alleviate them. Think of the -old castles, many of which had besides the dungeons a salaried torturer -and executioner. Think of the systematic tortures of the centuries, of -the witchcraft mania and of the Inquisition. Think of the burnings in -Smithfield and in every great city of Europe. Think of - - "Truth for ever on the scaffold, - Wrong for ever on the throne." - -Freedom of speech, even of thought, were everywhere crimes: how, -then, did the love of truth survive as an ideal of to-day? To escape -these horrors, the gentle, the good, the learned, and the peaceful -had to seek refuge in monasteries and nunneries, while by means of -the celibacy of the clergy the Church, as Galton tells us, "by a -policy singularly unwise and suicidal, brutalised the breed of our -forefathers." - -Here was the actual _education_ of the world as man rose from barbarism -to civilisation, and it was accompanied by a certain amount of -retrograde selection by the cruel punishments, confinement in dungeons, -or torture and death of those who opposed the rulers, and by the -survival of the worst tools of the lords and tyrants. Ought we not to -be thankful that such education and custom, the varied influences of -such an environment, _were not_ hereditary? And is not the fact that -the whole world has _not_ become utterly degraded, and that anything -good remains in our cruelly oppressed human nature, an overwhelming -proof that such influences _are not_ hereditary? - -When we remember that many of these degrading laws and customs, -oppressions, and punishments have extended down to our own times; that -the terrible slave-trade and the equally terrible slavery have only -been abolished within the memory of many of us; and that the system -of wage-slavery, the distinction of classes, the gross inequality of -the law, the overwork of our labouring millions, the immoral luxury -and idleness of our upper-class thousands, while far more thousands -die annually of want of the bare necessaries of life; that millions -have their lives shortened by easily preventable causes, while other -millions pass their whole lives in continuous and almost inhuman labour -in order to provide means for the enjoyments and pernicious luxuries of -the rich—we must be amazed at the fact that there is nevertheless so -much real goodness, real humanity, among us as certainly exists, in -spite of all the degrading influences that I have been compelled here -to enumerate. - -To myself, there seems only one explanation of the very remarkable and -almost incredible result just stated. It is, that the Divine nature -in us—that portion of our higher nature which raises us above the -brutes, and the influx of which makes us men—cannot be lost, cannot -even be permanently deteriorated by conditions however adverse, by -training however senseless and bad. It ever remains in us, the central -and essential portion of our _human_ nature, ready to respond to every -favourable opportunity that arises, to grasp and hold firm every -fragment of high thought or noble action that has been brought to its -notice, to oppose even to the death every falsehood in teaching, every -tyranny in action. The ethics of Plato and of the great moralists of -the Ciceronian epoch, together with those of Jesus and of His disciples -and followers, kept alive the sacred flame of pure humanity, and their -preservation constitutes perhaps the greatest service the monastic -system rendered to the human race. This service is finely expressed by -an almost unknown poet, J. H. Dell, in the prefatory to his volume, -_The Dawning Grey_. Never has our indebtedness to the classical writers -been more powerfully insisted on than in the following lines:— - - "Hear ye not the measured footfalls echoing solemn and sublime, - From the groves of Academus down the avenues of Time; - See'st thou not the giant figures of the Sages of the Past, - Through the darken'd long perspective on the living foreground cast; - Feel'st thou not the thrilling rhythm of the grand old Grecian line, - Pulsing to the march of Progress, cadencing her hymn divine, - All the forces of the present by the subtle sparks controlled, - Of the quickening Grecian fire, of the mighty Lights of old. - - "Through the dark and desolation of the centuries between, - Still 'The Porch's' glories glimmer, still 'The Garden's' wreaths - are green. - Still the Zeno, still the Plato, still the Pyrrho points the page, - Still the Philip fears the pebble—still Melitus dreads the Sage, - Still the Dionysius trembles at the stylus of the age. - Still the dauntless ranks of Freedom kindle to Tyrtæus' song; - Still they bear aloft the symbol—bear the glorious torch - along."[118:A] - - [118:A] See Note on page 124. - -If the Christian Church had done nothing for us but preserve in its -monasteries and abbeys the finest examples of classic literature -that have come down to us, and given us those glories of Gothic -architecture which seem to express in stone the grandeur and sublimity, -the peacefulness and the beauty of a pure religion, it would, -notwithstanding its many defects, its cruelty and oppression, its -opposition to the study of nature and to freedom of thought, have fully -justified its existence as helping us to realise whatever more advanced -and purer civilisation the immediate future may have in store for us. - - -_Some Light on the Problem of Evil_ - -Before passing on to another branch of my subject I feel it necessary -to make a few suggestions in reply to the objection that will certainly -and very properly be made, as to why, if our higher human nature -is in its essence Divine, it has suffered such long and terrible -eclipses—why has the lower so often and for so long prevailed over -the higher? This is, of course, one of the many forms of the old -problem of the origin of evil, which is no doubt insoluble by us. But -as it is a fairly well-defined and limited portion of that problem it -may be possible to obtain some idea of a possible solution, and as such -an one has occurred to myself during the composition of the present -volume, I will give it as briefly as possible in the hope that it may -interest some of my readers. - -In my recent works, _Man's Place in the Universe_ and _The World of -Life_, the conclusion was forced upon me, that the scheme of the -development of the universe of stars and nebulæ with which we are -acquainted, and especially of our sun and solar system, was such as to -furnish the exact conditions on our earth, and there only, which should -allow of the origin and evolution of the organic world culminating in -man. Yet further, that the conditions should be such as to produce the -maximum of diversity both of inorganic and organic products useful -to man, and such as would aid in the development of the greatest -possible diversity of character and especially of his higher mental -and moral nature. What I have here termed the Divine influx, which -at some definite epoch in his evolution at once raised man above the -rest of the animals, creating as it were a new being with a continuous -spiritual existence in a world or worlds where eternal progress was -possible for him. To prepare him for this progress with ever-increasing -diversity, faculties of enormous range were required, and these needed -development in every direction which earthly conditions rendered -possible. In order that this extreme diversity of character should -be brought about, a great space of time, as measured by successive -generations, was necessary, though utterly insignificant as compared -with the preceding duration of organic life on the earth, and still -more insignificant as compared with the spirit-life to succeed it. It -is for this purpose, perhaps, that languages become so rapidly diverse -and mutually unintelligible after a moderate period of isolation, -binding together small or moderate communities in distinct tribes or -nations, which each develop in their own way under the influence of -special physical surroundings and originate peculiarities of habits, -customs, and modes of thought. Antagonisms soon arise between adjacent -tribes, leading each to protect itself against others by means of -chiefs and some quasi-military combinations. This requires organisation -and foresight, and after a time the most powerful conquers the weaker, -they intermingle, and still greater diversity arises. By this constant -struggle the less advanced suffer most, and the race as a whole takes a -step forward in the march of civilisation. - -We see the best example of this mode of progress by antagonism in the -small States of Ancient Greece, where each little kingdom developed -its peculiar form of art, of government, and of civilisation, which -it transferred to all parts of Europe; and after two thousand years -of degradation by Roman and Turkish conquest, its language still -remains but little altered, while its ancient literature and art are -still unsurpassed. In like manner Rome brought law, literature, and -military discipline to an equally high level; and it too sank into -a state of ruin and degradation, while its literature and its law -continued to illuminate the civilised world during its long struggle -towards freedom. Wherever conditions were favourable to progress in -art or science, _time_ was needed for its full growth and development; -while perpetual war necessitated organisation and training against -conquest or destruction. Even the cruelties and massacres by despotic -rulers excited at last the uprising of the oppressed, and so developed -the nobler attributes of patriotism, courage, and love of freedom. In -the very worst of times there was an undercurrent of peaceful labour, -art, and learning, slowly moulding nations towards a higher state of -civilisation. - -The point of view now suggested will perhaps be rendered somewhat more -intelligible if we apply it to the nineteenth century, of which I have -written in such condemnatory terms. The preceding eighteenth century -was undoubtedly a somewhat stationary epoch, of a rather commonplace -character alike in literature, in art, in science, and in social life. -Its vices also were low, its government bad, its system of punishments -cruel, and its recognition of slavery degrading. It was a kind of "dark -age" between the literary and national brilliance of the Elizabethan -age and the wonderful scientific and industrial advance of the -Victorian age. - -But this latter period was also a period of a great uprising of the -specially human virtues of justice, of pity, of the love of freedom, -and of the importance of education; and though the rapid increase of -wealth through the utilisation of natural forces led to all the evils -due to the unchecked growth of individual riches and power, yet these -very evils in all their intensity and horror were perhaps necessary to -excite in a sufficient number of minds the determination to get rid of -them. Time was also required for the workers to learn their own power, -and, very gradually, to learn how to use it. The rick-burning and -machine-breaking of the early part of the century have been succeeded -by combination and strikes; step by step political power has been -gained by the masses; but only now, in the twentieth century, are they -beginning to learn how to use their strength in an effective manner. -There are, however, indications that the whole march of progress has -been dangerously rapid, and it _might_ have been safer if the great -increases of knowledge and the vast accumulations of wealth had been -spread over two centuries instead of one. In that case our higher -nature might have been able to keep pace with the growing evils of -superfluous wealth and increasing luxury, and it might have been -possible to put a check upon them before they had attained the full -power for evil they now possess. - -Nevertheless, the omens for the future are good. The great body of the -more intelligent workers are determined to have JUSTICE. They -insist upon the abolition of monopolies of the forces of nature, and -upon the gradual admission of all to _equal opportunities_ for labour -by free access to their native soil. Thus may be initiated the birth of -a new era of peaceful reform and moral advancement. - - NOTE.—As many of my readers may not understand the allusions - in the second verse of Mr. Dell's poem (pp. 117-118), I append - the explanation: - - "The Porch," the place where the Stoic philosophers taught—The - Painted Porch in Athens. - - "The Garden," scene of Plato's and Socrates' teaching. - - Zeno was the founder of the Stoic philosophy. - - Pyrrho was the founder of the Sceptic school. - - Philip of Macedon lost an eye at the siege of Methone by a - slinger's pebble. - - Melitus was one of the disputants with Socrates, and was always - vanquished by him. - - Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syracuse, was also a Poet and was a - candidate for the prize at the Olympic games, but was conquered - and therefore feared the more skilful "stylus" (pen) of the - victors. - - Tyrtæus, a lame schoolmaster of Athens, inspired the - Lacedæmonians by his patriotic war-songs, and thus contributed - largely to their victories. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -MORAL PROGRESS THROUGH A NEW FORM OF SELECTION - - -Many readers, and some writers of books on organic evolution, seem -quite unaware that Darwin established two modes of selection, both -alike "natural" but acting in different ways and producing somewhat -different results. He termed the second mode "sexual selection," and -in his _Origin of Species_ he briefly describes it as consisting in -the fighting of males for the possession of females, which undoubtedly -occurs in numbers of the higher vertebrates and also in insects. - -But he also includes under sexual selection another mode of rivalry -by the display of the special male ornaments of many birds, and the -choice of the more ornamental by the females. To this latter phase he -devotes nearly half his volume on _The Descent of Man, and on Selection -in Relation to Sex_. Selection by the fighting of males has led to the -development of the stag's antlers, the boar's tusks, and the lion's -mane serving as a shield. These combats rarely lead to the death of the -vanquished, but to a larger number of offspring for the victor; and -this leads to the improvement of the race by keeping up its strength, -vigour, and fighting power. - -The other form of selection, by the display of ornaments by male -birds and the supposed continuous development of those ornaments by -the appreciative choice of the females, I believe to be imaginary. -I have discussed this subject in many of my books, and my views are -now generally adopted by evolutionists. The fact that the colours of -male insects, especially butterflies, are almost exactly parallel to -those of birds, first led me to this conclusion, because we can hardly -suppose insects to be endowed with any æsthetic sense, even if they -really _see_ colour at all, which, in my last book, I have given strong -reasons for doubting. - -But in the human race the conditions are altogether different; -for while, as I have shown in Chapter XIV., the kind of natural -selection which through all the ages had moulded the infinitely varied -animal forms into harmony with their environment, ceased to act -upon man's body and only for a limited time upon his lower mental -faculties, sexual selection tended to act if at all prejudicially, -through polygamy, prostitution, and slavery, though it possesses the -potentiality of acting in the future so as to ensure Intellectual -and Moral Progress, and thus elevate the race to whatever degree of -civilisation and well-being it is capable of reaching in earth-life. - - -_Eugenics, or Race Improvement through Marriage_ - -The total cessation of the action of natural selection as a cause of -improvement in our race, either physical or mental, led to the proposal -of the late Sir F. Galton to establish a new science, which he termed -Eugenics. A society has been formed, and much is being written about -checking degeneration and elevating the race to a higher level by its -means. Sir F. Galton's own proposals were limited to giving prizes -or endowments for the marriage of persons of high character, both -physical, mental, and moral, to be determined by some form of inquiry -or examination. This may, perhaps, not do much harm, but it would -certainly do very little good. Its range of action would be extremely -limited, and so far as it induced any couples to marry each other for -the pecuniary reward, it would be absolutely immoral in its nature, and -probably result in no perceptible improvement of the race. - -But there is great danger in such a process of artificial selection -by experts, who would certainly soon adopt methods very different -from those of the founder. We have already had proposals made for the -"segregation of the Feeble-Minded," while the "sterilization of the -unfit" and of some classes of criminals is already being discussed. -This might soon be extended to the destruction of deformed infants, -as was actually proposed by the late Grant Allen; while Mr. Hiram M. -Stanley, in a work on _Our Civilisation and the Marriage Problem_, -proposed more far-reaching measures. He says: "The drunkard, the -criminal, the diseased, the morally weak, should never come into -society. Not reform, but prevention should be the cry." And he hints -at the methods he would adopt, in the following passages: "In the -true golden age, which lies not behind but before us, the privilege -of parentage will be esteemed an honour for the comparatively few, -and no child will be born who is not only sound in body and mind, but -also above the average as to natural ability and moral force." And he -concludes: "The most important matter in society, the inherent quality -of the members of which it is composed, should be regulated by trained -specialists." - -Of course, our modern eugenists will disclaim any wish to adopt such -measures as are here hinted at, which are in every way dangerous and -detestable. But I protest strenuously against any direct interference -with the freedom of marriage, which, as I shall show, is not only -totally unnecessary, but would be a much greater source of danger -to morals and to the well-being of humanity than the mere temporary -evils it seeks to cure. I trust that all my readers will oppose any -_legislation_ on this subject by a chance body of elected persons who -are totally unfitted to deal with far less complex problems than this -one, and as to which they are sure to bungle disastrously. - -It is in the highest degree presumptuous and irrational to attempt to -deal by compulsory enactments with the most vital and most sacred of -all human relations, regardless of the fact that our present phase of -social development is not only extremely imperfect, but, as I have -already shown, vicious and rotten at the core. How can it be possible -to determine by legislation those relations of the sexes which shall be -best alike for individuals and for the race, in a society in which a -large proportion of our women are forced to work long hours daily for -the barest subsistence, with an almost total absence of the rational -pleasures of life, for the want of which thousands are driven into -wholly uncongenial marriages in order to secure some amount of personal -independence or physical well-being? - -Let anyone consider, on the one hand, the lives of the wealthy as -portrayed in the society newspapers of the day, with their endless -round of pleasure and luxury, their almost inconceivable wastefulness -and extravagance, indicated by the cost of female dress and the fact of -a thousand pounds or more being expended on the flowers for a single -entertainment. On the other hand, let him contemplate the awful lives -of millions of workers, so miserably paid and with such uncertainty -of work that many thousands of the women and young girls are driven -on the streets as the only means of breaking the monotony of their -unceasing labour and obtaining some taste of the enjoyments of life at -whatever cost; and then ask himself if the Legislature which cannot -remedy _this_ state of things should venture to meddle with the great -problems of marriage and the sanctities of family life. Is it not a -hideous mockery that the successive Governments which for forty years -have seen the people they profess to govern so driven to despair by -the vile conditions of their existence that in an ever larger and -larger proportion they seek death by suicide as their only means of -escape—that Governments which have done nothing to put an end to this -continuous horror of starvation and suicide, should be thought capable -of remedying some of its more terrible _results_, while leaving its -_causes_ absolutely untouched? - -It is my firm conviction, for reasons I shall give farther on, -that, when we have cleansed the Augean stable of our present social -organisation, and have made such arrangements that _all_ shall -contribute their share either of physical or mental labour, and that -every one shall obtain the full and equal reward for their work, the -future progress of the race will be rendered certain by the fuller -development of its higher nature acted on by a special form of -selection which will then come into play. - -When men and women are, for the first time in the course of -civilisation, alike free to follow their best impulses; when idleness -and vicious or hurtful luxury on the one hand, oppressive labour and -the dread of starvation on the other, are alike unknown; when _all_ -receive the best and broadest education that the state of civilisation -and knowledge will admit; when the standard of public opinion is set by -the wisest and the best among us, and that standard is systematically -inculcated on the young; then we shall find that a system of _truly -natural_ selection will come spontaneously into action which will -steadily tend to eliminate the lower, the less developed, or in any way -defective types of men, and will thus continuously raise the physical, -moral, and intellectual standard of the race. The exact mode in which -this selection will operate will now be briefly explained. - - -_Free Selection in Marriage_ - -It will be generally admitted that although many women now remain -unmarried from necessity rather than from choice, there are always -considerable numbers who feel no strong impulse to marriage, and accept -husbands to secure subsistence and a home of their own rather than from -personal affection or strong sexual emotion. In a state of society in -which all women were economically independent, were all fully occupied -with public duties and social or intellectual pleasures, and had -nothing to gain by marriage as regards material well-being or social -position, it is highly probable that the numbers of the unmarried -from choice would increase. It would probably come to be considered a -degradation for any woman to marry a man whom she could not love and -esteem, and this reason would tend at least to delay marriage till a -worthy and sympathetic partner was encountered. - -In man, on the other hand, the passion of love is more general and -usually stronger; and in such a society as here postulated there -would be no way of gratifying this passion but by marriage. Every -woman, therefore, would be likely to receive offers, and a powerful -selective agency would rest with the female sex. Under the system of -education and public opinion here supposed, there can be little doubt -how this selection would be exercised. The idle or the utterly selfish -would be almost universally rejected; the chronically diseased or the -weak in intellect would also usually remain unmarried, at least till -an advanced period of life; while those who showed any tendency to -insanity or exhibited any congenital deformity would also be rejected -by the younger women, because it would be considered an offence -against society to be the means of perpetuating any such diseases or -imperfections. - -We must also take account of a special factor, hitherto almost -unnoticed, which would tend to intensify the selection thus exercised. -It is a fact well known to statisticians that although females are -in excess in almost all civilised populations, yet this is not due -to a law of Nature; for with us, and I believe in all parts of the -Continent, more males than females are born to an amount of about -3½ to 4 per cent. But between the ages of five and thirty-five there -were, in 1910, 4·225 deaths of males from accident or violence and only -1·300 of females, showing an excess of male deaths of 2·925 in one -year; and for many years the numbers of this class of deaths have not -varied much, the excess of preventable deaths of males at those ages -being very nearly 3,000 annually. This excess is no doubt due to boys -and young men being more exposed, both in play and work, to various -kinds of accidents than are women, and this brings about the constant -excess of females in what may be termed normal civilised populations. - -In 1901 it was about a million; while fifty years earlier, when the -population was about half, it was only 359,000, or considerably less -than half the present proportion. This is what we should expect from -the constant increase of accidents and of emigration, the effects of -both of which fall most upon males. - -It appears, therefore, that the larger number of women in our -population to-day is not a natural phenomenon, but is almost wholly -the result of our own man-made social environment. When the lives -of _all_ our citizens are accounted of equal value to the community, -irrespective of class or of wealth, a much smaller number will -be allowed to suffer from such preventable causes; while, as our -colonies fill up with a normal population, and the enormous areas of -uncultivated or half-cultivated land at home are thrown open to our -own people on the most favourable terms, the great tide of emigration -will be diminished and will then cease to affect the proportion of the -sexes. The result of these various causes, now all tending to increase -the numbers of the female population, will, in a rational and just -system of society, of which we may hope soon to see the commencement, -act in a contrary direction, and will in a few generations bring the -sexes first to an equality, and later on to a majority of males. - -There are some, no doubt, who will object that even when women have -a free choice, owing to improved economic conditions, they will not -choose wisely so as to advance the race. But no one has the right to -make such a statement without adducing very strong evidence in support -of it. We have for generations degraded women in every possible way; -but we now know that such degradation is not hereditary, and therefore -not permanent. The great philosopher and seer, Swedenborg, declared -that whereas men loved justice, wisdom and power for their own sakes, -women loved them as seen in the characters of men. It is generally -admitted that there is truth in this observation; but there is surely -still more truth in the converse, that they do not admire those men -who are palpably unjust, stupid, or weak, and still less those who -are distorted, diseased, or grossly vicious, though under present -conditions they are often driven to marry them. It may be taken as -certain, therefore, that when women are economically and socially free -to choose, numbers of the worst men among all classes who now readily -obtain wives _will be almost universally rejected_. - -Now, this mode of improvement by elimination of the less desirable -has many advantages over that of securing early marriages of the more -admired; for what we most require is to improve the _average_ of our -population by rejecting its lower types rather than by raising the -advanced types a little higher. Great and good men are always produced -in sufficient numbers and have always been so produced in every phase -of civilisation. We do not need more of these so much as we want a -diminution of the weaker and less advanced types. This weeding-out -process has been the method of _natural selection_, by which the whole -of the glorious vegetable and animal kingdoms have been developed and -advanced. The survival of the fittest is really the extinction of the -unfit; and it is the one brilliant ray of hope for humanity that, just -as we advance in the reform of our present cruel and disastrous social -system, we shall set free a power of selection in marriage that will -steadily and certainly improve the character, as well as the strength -and the beauty, of our race. - - -_Social Reform and Over-population_ - -One of the most general and apparently the strongest of the objections -to any thorough schemes of social reform, and especially to those that -will abolish want and the constant dread of starvation is that, in -any society in which this is done early marriages will be much more -numerous; there will be no prudential checks to large families; and in -a few generations, as Malthus argued, populations will increase beyond -the means of subsistence. Then will commence a continual decrease of -well-being, culminating in universal poverty, worse than any that now -exists, because it will be universal. The following quotation from an -eminent American writer shows that this fear has really been felt: - - "If it be true that reason must direct the course of human - evolution, and if it be also true that selection of the fittest - is the only method available for that purpose; then, if we - are to have any race-improvement at all, the dreadful law of - _destruction of the weak and helpless_ must, with Spartan - firmness, be carried out voluntarily and deliberately. Against - such a course all that is best in us revolts."[139:A] - - [139:A] Professor Joseph Le Conte, in _The Monist_, Vol. - I., p. 334. - -A more recent writer, Dr. W. M. Flinders Petrie, the well-known -Egyptian explorer, has put forward similar views in a tentative manner, -but clearly showing what he thinks our present state of society -requires. Of the compensation to workmen for accident he says: - - "The immediate effect upon character is to save the careless, - thoughtless, and incompetent from the results of their faults; - this at once reduces largely the weeding and educational - effects of the bad qualities." - -And of old-age pensions his concluding remark is: - - "Nature knows of no right to maintenance, but only the - necessity of getting rid of these who need it by mending or - ending them." - -Again, as to the huge waste of infant life now going on, which he -admits is preventable and might be saved, he remarks: - - "We must agree that it would be of the lower, or lowest type - of careless, thriftless, dirty, and incapable families that - the increase would be obtained. Is it worth while to dilute - our increase of population by 10 per cent. more of the more - inferior kind?" - -And he concludes thus: - - "This movement is doing away with one of the few remains of - natural weeding out of the unfit that our civilisation has left - us. And it will certainly cause more misery than happiness in - the course of a century."[140:A] - - [140:A] _Janus in Modern Life._ By W. M. Flinders - Petrie, D.C.L., F.R.S. - -The whole book is full of such statements as the above, for which -neither facts nor arguments are given. It is assumed throughout -that the failures in our modern society are so through their own -fault—they are "wastrels"—and deserve neither pity nor help. He knows -nothing apparently of Dr. Barnardo's work in rescuing these "wastrel" -children from the gutter and the workhouse, treating them well and -kindly, training them in work, and sending many thousands to Canada. A -record of their subsequent life was kept, and it was found that very -few failed to do well, while a very large majority became valuable -citizens in their new home. On the whole, they were in no way inferior -to the average of emigrants who go at their own expense, and who are -admitted to be among the best of our workers. - -None of the writers of the class here quoted seem to have made -themselves acquainted with the researches of Herbert Spencer, Sir F. -Galton, and others, as to the natural laws which determine the rate of -increase of population when those laws are allowed to operate freely -under rational and moral social conditions. A short statement of these -laws will therefore be given. - -In a remarkable essay, first published in 1852, H. Spencer, with his -usual philosophical insight, examined the facts of reproduction and -population throughout the whole of the animal kingdom, and showed -that the duration of the individual life and the increase of the race -varied inversely, those groups which have the simplest organisation -and the shortest lives producing the greatest number of offspring; -in other terms, individuation and reproduction are antagonistic. -But individuation depends almost entirely on the development and -specialisation of the nervous system, through which alone all advance -in instinct, emotion, and intellect is rendered possible. The actual -rate of increase in man has been determined by the necessities of the -savage state, in which, as in most species of mammals, it is usually -what is just required to maintain a limited average population. But -with a true advance in civilisation the average duration of life -increases, and the possible increase of population under favourable -conditions becomes very great, because fertility is greater than is -needed under the new conditions. At present, however, no general -advance in intellectuality has taken place; but that the facts do -accord with the theory is indicated by the common observation that -highly intellectual parents do not have large families, while the most -rapid increase occurs in those classes which are engaged in healthy -manual labour. - -But a law founded on such a broad physiological basis of observation is -sure to continue in action, and we may therefore feel certain that as -the intellectual level of the whole race is raised by general culture -and physical health, the law of diminishing fertility will act, and -will tend in the remote future to bring about an exact balance between -the rate of increase and that of mortality. - -A more immediate and effective check to rapid increase of population -will, however, be brought about by the social reforms already -suggested. When poverty is abolished and neither economic nor social -advantages will be gained by early marriage, there can be no doubt it -will be generally deferred to a later age. Still more effective will -be the extension of the period of education or training for the whole -population for several years longer than at present, together with the -growth of public opinion against all marriages between persons who have -not yet begun the serious work of life. It would also be an essential -part of education to inculcate the delay of marriage till every -opportunity has been afforded both of the parties concerned of becoming -thoroughly acquainted with each other before undertaking so serious a -responsibility as marriage usually involves. - -The effect of even a few years' delay of marriage on population is -very considerable. Sir F. Galton has shown from the best statistics -available that if we compare women married at twenty with those at -twenty-nine, the comparative fertility is as 8 to 5. But this does not -represent the whole effect on increase of population. When marriage is -delayed, the time between successive generations is correspondingly -increased; and yet another effect in the same direction is produced -by the fact that the greater the average age of marriage the fewer -generations are alive at the same time, and it is the combined effect -of these three factors that determines the actual increase of the -population due to this cause. - -Sir F. Galton gives a remarkable table showing this combined result -of these causes. He finds that if one hundred mothers and their -daughters in each successive generation marry at twenty, there will -be an increase of such mothers in each successive generation of 1·15. -If, however, they marry at twenty-nine, each successive generation -of mothers diminishes in the proportion of 0·85. If this goes on for -108 years, the hundred mothers who marry at twenty have increased to -175, and in 216 years to 299; while those who marry at twenty-nine -will have decreased to 61 and 38 respectively. It is therefore shown -that under present social conditions the age of marriage necessary to -preserve a stationary population will be somewhere between twenty and -twenty-nine. The above figures are, however, founded on special cases, -and the actual facts are so complicated by the number of childless -marriages, the rate of infantile mortality and other causes, that they -must be taken only as establishing a _law_ of rather rapid decrease of -fertility with each year's addition to the average age of marriage of -the mother. - - * * * * * - -I have now, I venture to hope, established two important principles -in relation to human progress. In the first place, I have shown that -modern ideas as to the necessity of dealing _directly_ with some of -our glaring social evils, such as race degeneration and the various -forms of sexual immorality, are fundamentally wrong and are doomed -to failure so long as their fundamental causes—widespread poverty, -destitution, and starvation—are not greatly diminished and ultimately -abolished. I have proved that human nature is _not_ in itself such a -complete failure as our modern eugenists seem to suppose, but that it -is influenced by fundamental laws which under reasonably just and equal -_economic conditions_ will automatically abolish all these evils. - -In the second place, I have shown that the dread of over-population -as the result of the abolition of poverty is wholly and utterly -fallacious—a mere bugbear created by ignorance of natural laws and of -presumption in thinking that we can cure social evils while leaving the -man-made causes which produce them unaltered. The three great natural -laws which all our would-be reformers ignore are:— - -(1) That a very moderate advance in the average age of marriage—which -would certainly result from a truly rational system of education -combined with economic equality—necessarily diminishes the rate of -increase of the population. - -(2) That every approach to educational and economic equality by -effecting a large saving of the lives of males who now die from -preventable causes, combined with the fact that male births _exceed_ -those of females, would so diminish the number of the latter that they -would soon become less instead of, as now, more than that of males: -that this would give them an _effective choice_ in marriage which they -do not now possess, together with the power of delay which for many -reasons large numbers of them would exercise. - -(3) The law of diminishing fertility with increase of brain-work -through education and training would further tend to the diminution of -fertility. - -These three natural causes all _tend_ in one direction—the equality of -births with deaths; while their action would be so readily modified by -public opinion as to obviate all danger of either increase or decrease -beyond what was necessary for the well-being of each community, nation, -or race. - - -_The Future Status of Woman_ - -The foregoing statement of the effect of established natural laws, if -allowed free play under rational conditions of civilisation, clearly -indicates that the position of woman in the not distant future will be -far higher and more important than any which has been claimed for or by -her in the past. - -While she will be conceded full political and social rights on an -equality with man, she will be placed in a position of responsibility -and power which will render her his superior, since the future moral -progress of the race will so largely depend upon her free choice in -marriage. As time goes on, and she acquires more and more economic -independence, _that_ alone will give her an effective choice which she -has never had before. But this choice will be further strengthened by -the fact that, with ever-increasing approach to equality of opportunity -for every child born in our country, that terrible excess of male -deaths, in boyhood and early manhood especially, due to various -preventable causes, will disappear, and change the present majority of -women to a majority of men. This will lead to a greater rivalry for -wives, and will give to women the power of rejecting all the lower -types of character among their suitors. - -It will be their special duty so to mould public opinion, through home -training and social influence, as to render the women of the future -the regenerators of the entire human race. We hope and believe that -they will be fully equal to the high and responsible position which, in -accordance with natural laws, they will be called upon to fulfil. - -The certainty that this powerful selective agency will come into -existence just in proportion as we reform our existing social system -by the abolition of poverty and the establishment of full equality -of opportunity in education and economic position, demonstrates that -Nature—or the Universal Mind—has not failed or bungled our world -so completely as to require the weak and ignorant efforts of the -eugenists to set it right, while leaving the great fundamental causes -of all existing social evils absolutely untouched. Let them devote all -their energies to purifying this whitened sepulchre of destitution and -ignorance, and the beneficent laws of human nature will themselves -bring about the physical, intellectual, and moral advancement of our -race. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -HOW TO INITIATE AN ERA OF MORAL PROGRESS - - -In Chapters VIII to XII of this volume I have given in briefest outline -a summary of the growth during the nineteenth century of the actual -social environment in the midst of which we live. - -We see a continuous advance of man's power to utilise the forces of -Nature, to an extent which surpasses everything he had been able to do -during all the preceding centuries of his recorded history. - -We also see that the result of this vast economic revolution has been -almost wholly evil. - -We see that this hundredfold increase of wealth, amply sufficient to -provide necessaries, comforts, and all beneficial refinements and -luxuries for our whole population, has been distributed with such gross -injustice that the actual condition of those who produce all this -wealth has become worse and worse, no efficient arrangements having -been made that from the overflowing abundance produced _all_ should -receive the mere essentials of a healthy and happy existence. - -We have seen huge cities grow up, every one of them with their -overcrowded, insanitary slums, where men, women, and children die -prematurely as surely as though a body of secret poisoners were -constantly at work to destroy them. - -We see thousands of girls compelled by starvation to work in such an -empoisoned environment as to produce horribly painful and disfiguring -disease, which is often fatal in early youth, or in what ought to -have been, and what might have been, the period of maximum enjoyment -of their womanhood. And to this very day no efficient steps have been -taken to abolish these conditions. - -We see millions still struggling in vain for a sufficiency of the -bare necessaries of life (which in their misery is all they ask), -often culminating in actual starvation, or in suicide to which they -are driven by the dread of starvation. Yet our Governments, selected -from among the most educated, the most talented, the wealthiest of the -country, with absolute power to make what laws and regulations they -please, and an overflowing fund of accumulated wealth to draw upon, do -nothing, although more people die annually of want than are killed in a -great war, and more children than could be slaughtered by many Herods. - -And while all this goes on in the depths, where— - - "Pale anguish keeps the heavy gate, - And the Warder is Despair"— - -a little higher up, among the middle-men distributors of the -necessaries and luxuries of life, bribery, adulteration, and various -forms of petty dishonesty are rampant. - -And higher yet, among the great Capitalists, the merchant Princes, the -Captains of industry, we find hard taskmasters who drive down wages -below the level of bare subsistence, and who support a more gigantic -and widespread system of gambling than the world has ever seen. - -And, finally, our administration of what we call "Justice" (and of -which we are so proud because our judges cannot be bribed) is utterly -_unjust_, because it is based on a system of money fees at every -step; because it is so cumbrous and full of technicalities as to need -the employment of attorneys and counsel at great cost, and because -all petty offences are punishable by fine _or_ imprisonment, which -makes poverty itself a crime while it allows those with money to go -practically free. - -_Taking account of these various groups of undoubted facts, many of -which are so gross, so terrible, that they cannot be overstated, it is -not too much to say that our whole system of society is rotten from -top to bottom, and the Social Environment as a whole, in relation to -our possibilities and our claims, is the worst that the world has ever -seen._ - -Such are the evil products of the social environment we have ourselves -created in the course of a single century. We have seen it going from -bad to worse, and have applied petty remedies here and there during -the whole period; but the evils have continued to increase. It has now -become clear to the more intelligent of the workers that if we wish -to improve it—if we wish to prevent it from getting even worse than -it is—we must deal with the root-causes of the evil and, so far as -possible, _reverse the conditions which are so demonstrably bad, such -hideous failures_. And, fortunately, this is by no means so difficult -as it may seem to be, because a large body of our thinkers and a -considerable number of our workers see clearly what these root-causes -are, and, less clearly, how to remedy them. They will, however, -give their energetic support to any Government that devotes itself -to the task of remedying them. The following are my own views as to -how the problem must be attacked in order to solve it thoroughly and -permanently. - - -_The Root-cause and the Remedy_ - -If we review with care the long train of social evils which have grown -up during the nineteenth century, we shall find that every one of them, -however diverse in their nature and results, is due to the same general -cause, which may be defined or stated in a variety of different ways: - -(1) They are due, broadly and generally, to our living under a system -of universal _competition_ for the means of existence, the remedy for -which is equally universal _co-operation_. - -(2) It may be also defined as a system of _economic antagonism_, as of -enemies, the remedy being a system of _economic brotherhood_, as of a -great family, or of friends. - -(3) Our system is also one of _monopoly_ by a few of all the means -of existence: the land, without access to which no life is possible; -and capital, or the results of stored-up labour, which is now in the -possession of a limited number of capitalists and therefore is also a -monopoly. The remedy is freedom of access to land and capital for all. - -(4) Also, it may be defined as _social injustice_, inasmuch as the -_few_ in each generation are allowed to inherit the stored-up wealth of -all preceding generations, while the _many_ inherit nothing. The remedy -is to adopt the principle of equality of opportunity for all, or of -universal _inheritance by the State in trust for the whole Community_. - -These four statements of the existing _causes_ of all our social evils -cannot, I believe, be controverted, and the _remedies_ for them may be -condensed into one general proposition: that it is the first duty (in -importance) of a civilised Government to organise the labour of the -whole community for the equal good of all; but it is also their first -duty (in time) to take immediate steps to abolish _death by starvation -and by preventable disease_ due to insanitary dwellings and dangerous -employments, while carefully elaborating the _permanent_ remedy for -want in the midst of wealth. - -I myself have pointed out how these two ends may be best achieved, -and hope to elaborate them. In the meantime, I call attention to Mr. -Standish O'Grady's letter "To the Leaders of Labour" in _The New Age_ -of November 21st, 1912, in which, after referring to the very natural -dread by the rich of any such radical reorganisation of Society, as -leading to their own financial ruin (which it certainly need not do), -he makes the following suggestive statement, with which I hope all my -readers will agree: - - "But what they fail to perceive is, that, in a world like this, - made by infinite goodness and wisdom, Right is always the great - stand-by for men and for Nations, and for the rich as well as - for the poor; and that Wrong, sooner or later, ends in misery - and destruction." - -That is sound moral teaching. We have been doing the Wrong for -the past century, and we have reaped, and are reaping, "misery and -destruction." It is time that we changed our methods, which are all (as -I think I have sufficiently pointed out) fundamentally Wrong, radically -Unjust, wholly Immoral. - -We have ourselves created an immoral or unmoral Social Environment. To -undo its inevitable results we must reverse our course. We must see -that _all_ our economic legislation, _all_ our social reforms, are in -the very opposite direction to those hitherto adopted, and that they -tend in the direction of one or other of the four fundamental remedies -I have suggested. In this way only can we hope to change our existing -immoral environment into a moral one, and initiate a new era of Moral -Progress. - - * * * * * - -In Chapters XIII to XVI I have shown that the well-established laws of -Evolution as they really apply to mankind are all favourable to the -advance of true Civilisation and of Morality. Our existing competitive -and antagonistic Social System alone neutralises their beneficent -operation. That System must therefore be radically changed into one of -brotherly co-operation and co-ordination for the equal good of all. To -succeed we must make this principle our guide and our pole star in all -Social legislation. - - - - -Index - - - Acquired characters, definition of, 104 - characters, on the heredity of, 103 - - Adaptation, 106 - - Adulteration, 55 - - Alcoholism, deaths from, 67 - in women, 68 - statistics of, 68 - - America, Central, architecture of, 34 - - Animals, natural selection among, 75 - - _Anthropological Review_, 99 - - Apes, anthropoid, affinity with man, 93 - - Aquatic forms of life, increase of, 85 - - Archimedes, 34 - - Australian aborigines, character of, 33 - and Caucasians, 34 - - - Barnardo, Dr., 141 - - Beaver, 95 - - Bimana, 94 - - Brahé, Tycho, 23 - - Brain as organ of the mind, 94 - - Bribery, 56 - - Browning's, Mrs., _Cry of the Children_, 42 - - Buddha, 8 - - - Capitalism, 152 - - Caucasians and Australian aborigines, 34 - - Causes of economic evils, 154 - - Chambers's _Vestiges of Creation_, 81 - - Character, definition of, 4 - difficulty of knowing good from bad, 5 - mental faculties and, 5 - morality based upon, 5 - not cumulative, 37 - of savage races, 32 - permanence of, 8 - public opinion and, 36 - selective agency to improve, 36 - subject to variation, 36 - transmission of, 4, 7, 36 - variability and, 82 - - Characters, acquired, definition of, 104 - acquired, heredity of, 103 - innate, 104, 110 - heredity of, 110 - - Chemical trades, evils of, 50 - - Child labour, evils of, 41, 43 - - Church, the work of the, 118 - - Civil law system, 62 - - Civilisation during 18th century, 40 - evolution and, 157 - of ancient Egypt, 15, 35 - of ancient India, 8 - of ancient Mesopotamia, 15 - - Civilisations, ancient, 112 - - Classical writers, our indebtedness to, 115 - - Coal mines, accidents in, 43 - child labour in, 43 - female workers in, 43 - insecurity in, 43 - who the, belong to, 45 - - Commercial system, immorality of our, 55 - - Companies, Limited Liability, 56 - - Competition, 154 - - Conduct, character and, 5 - environment and, 6 - - Confucius, 8 - - Cook, Captain, opinion of, on natives of Friendly Isles, 32 - - Co-operation, 154, 160 - - Criminal law system, 64 - - Cruciferæ family, increase of, 84 - - Curr, Mr., opinion of, on Australian aborigines, 33 - - Cutlery trade, evils of, 50 - - - _Daily Citizen_ quoted, 51, 52 - - Darwin and heredity, 103 - and natural selection, 87, 93, 125 - and transference of selection to mind, 99 - and variability, 82 - on Tahitians, 32 - - Darwin's _Descent of Man_, 93, 125 - _Origin of Species_, 82 - theory of Pangenesis, 104 - - Darwinism and Lamarckism, 78, 81 - and variability, 82 - objections to, 85, 90 - (_See also_ Evolution, Lamarckism, Natural selection, etc.) - - Deadly trades, 50 - - Dell's, J. H., _Dawning Grey_ quoted, 117 - - _Descent of Man_, Darwin's, 93, 125 - - Divine influx into man, 92, 115, 119 - - Divorce, 74 - - Dutt, Mr. Romesh, quoted, 9 - - Dwellings, insanitary, 47 - - - Economic advance, evils of, 150 - antagonism, 155 - brotherhood, 155 - evils, causes of, 154 - remedies for, 154 - - Education, effects of, not hereditary, 111, 114 - extension of period of, 143 - national system of, needed, 146 - of the world, 111 - - Egypt, astronomy in ancient, 18 - civilisation of ancient, 15, 35 - intellect in ancient, 16 - - Eighteenth century, stationary epoch, 40, 122 - - Elephants, increase of, 85 - - Environment, laws of heredity and, 103 - modified by man, 95 - not always responsible for specialisation, 106 - remedies, 154 - social, and conduct, 6 - social, character of, 153 - social, during 19th century, 40 - social, evils of, causes of, 154 - - Equality of opportunity, 155 - - Erman, Prof. Adolf, quoted, 26 - - Euclid, 34 - - Eugenics, methods of, 127 - science of, established by Sir F. Galton, 127 - - Eugenists, 149 - - Evil, origin of, problem of, 118 - possible solution of, 119 - - Evolution, a rational theory, 81 - acceptance of, 81 - and civilisation, 157 - Lamarckism and, 81 - Chambers and, 81 - Darwin and, 81 - exposition of, by Spencer, 81 - natural selection and, 77 - objections to, 81, 90 - variability of species, 8, 82 - (_See also_ Darwinism, Lamarckism, Natural selection, etc.) - - - Factory system, development of, 41 - evils of, 41 - - Fertility, law of diminishing, 144, 147 - - Fines _v._ imprisonment, 65 - - Friendly Isles, natives of, character of, 32 - - - Galton, Sir Francis, 37 - eugenic theory of, 127 - on laws of increase of population, 127 - - Galvanising trade, evils of, 51 - - Gambling, immorality of, 59 - in trade, 58 - inconsistent attitude to, 59 - Stock Exchange, 59 - - Genius, not cumulative, 37 - not necessarily hereditary, 37; - examples, 38 - - Gothic architecture, 34 - - Greece, 121 - architecture of ancient, 34 - - - Heredity and genius, 37 - and "recession to mediocrity," 38 - beneficence of law of, 115 - Darwin and, 103 - importance of subject, 103 - Lamarck and, 104 - laws of, and environment, 103 - misconceptions regarding, 103 - of innate characters, 110 - - Herschel, Sir John, 82 - - Homer, 8 - - Hominidæ, 94 - - Human nature, faculties of, 100 - - - Imprisonment _v._ fines, 65 - - India, architecture of ancient, 34 - intelligence and morality in ancient, 9, 11, 15 - religious conceptions in ancient, 11 - - Individuation, 142 - - Infantile mortality, Prof. Petrie on, 140 - statistics of, 47, 72 - - Injustice, social, 155 - - Innate characters, 104 - heredity of, 110 - - Insanitary dwellings, 47 - - Intellect in ancient India, 9, 11, 15 - permanence of, 15 - - Intellectual advance not general, 142 - - - Jesus Christ, 116 - - Justice, administration of, 62 - immorality of, 66, 152 - - - Lamarck and evolution, 81 - and heredity, 104 - - Lamarckism, 78, 89 - and Darwinism, 78 - insufficiency of, as a theory, 80 - - Land, access to, 155 - - Language, 28 - diversity of, 120 - lowest races possess, 31 - - Law, civil, system, 62 - criminal, system, 64 - partiality of the, 65 - - Layard, Sir H., 16 - - Le Conte, Prof., quoted, 139 - - Lead glaze trade, evils of, 50 - - Lead poisoning of workers, 51 - - Life-destroying trades, 47 - - Lyell's _Principles of Geology_ quoted, 78 - - - Maha-Bharata, Indian epic, quoted, 8 - - Malthus, 139 - - Mammals, classification of, 94 - - Man, affinity of, with anthropoid apes, 93 - and marriage, 133 - dignity of, 91 - Divine influx into, 92, 115, 119 - external differences between, and apes, 93 - modifies his environment, 95 - moral sense in, 91 - nature of, stationary, 102 - position of, 91 - predominance of mind in, 98 - preparation of, for progress, 120 - selection transferred to mind in, 99 - three great races of, 100 - triumph of, over Nature, 95, 150 - - Marriage, 143 - freedom of, insisted upon, 128 - man and, 133 - women and, 133 - - Mental faculties in formation of character, 5 - - Mesopotamia, civilisation of ancient, 15 - - Mind, brain the organ of the, 94 - predominance of, in man, 98 - selection transferred to, in man, 99 - - Monier-Williams, Sir M., 11 - - Monopoly, 155 - - Moral degradation, indications of, 67 - progress, definition of, 1 - progress, initiating new era of, 150 - progress through new form of selection, 125 - sense in man, 91 - - Morality amongst the ancients, 8 - based upon character, 5 - based upon human nature, 4 - evolution and, 157 - in ancient India, 9 - no definite advance in, 36 - product of environment, 3 - savages and, 31 - standards of, varying, 2 - - Morals, definition of, 1 - - - Natural selection, among animals, 75 - and evolution, 77 - and origin of species, 82 - explanation of, 75, 87 - modification of, by man, 96, 99 - modified by mind, 93 - new form of, 125 - process of, 112 - two modes of, 125 - - Nineteenth century, environment during, 40 - movements during, 122 - reaction against forced civilisation during, 41 - - - O'Grady, Mr. S., quoted, 156 - - Oliver's, Sir T., _Diseases of Occupation_, 53 - - Organic nature, development of, 109 - indivisibility of, 109 - - _Origin of Species_, Darwin's, essential features of, 82 - - Origin of species, natural selection essential factor in, 82 - - Overcrowding, statistics of, 48 - - Owen, Sir Richard, and man's affinity with apes, 94 - - - _Pall Mall Gazette_, reply to, 76 - - Pangenesis, theory of, 104 - - Park, Mungo, 101 - - Petrie, Prof., quoted, 139 - - Plato, 8, 116 - - Poor Law, immorality of the, 65 - - Population, increase of, laws governing, 141 - social reform and, 138 - - Poverty, 130, 143, 151 - - Polynesian races, character of, 33 - - Preventable deaths, responsibility for, 43 - - Primates, 94 - - Proctor, Mr. R. A., quoted, 18 - - Progress, moral, definition of, 1 - moral, how to initiate era of, 150 - moral, through new form of selection, 125 - - Prostitution, 73 - - Pyramid of Gizeh as observatory, 23 - purpose of, 17 - structure of, 19 - - - Quadrumana, 94 - - - Rawlinson, 16 - - Reade's, _Martyrdom of Man_, 113 - - "Recession to mediocrity," heredity and, 38 - - Religious conceptions in ancient India, 11 - - Remedies for economic evils, 154 - - Reproduction, 142 - - Rich, dread of, to social reorganisation, 156 - - Rome, 121 - - - Savage races, morality of, 31 - - Selection, artificial, 105, 127 - free, in marriage, 133 - - Selection, natural, action of, transferred to mind in man, 99 - amongst animals, 75 - and origin of species, 82 - explanation of, 75, 87 - modification of, by man, 96, 99 - modified by mind, 93 - process of, 112 - two modes of, 125 - - Selection, new form of, 125 - sexual, 125 - - Selective agency to improve character, 36 - - Sherard's, Mr. R. H., _White Slaves of England_, 51 (_note_) - - Slavery, 2, 115 - - Slums, 47, 151 - - Smyth, Piazzi, on Pyramids, 18 - - Snowden, Philip, 53 - - Social environment and conduct, 6 - character of, 153 - during 19th century, 40 - evils of, causes and remedies of, 154 - reorganisation, the rich and, 156 - reform, 143; - and over-population, 138 - - Socrates, 8 - - Species, increase of, 82, 84 - origin of, natural selection, and, 82 - variability of, 82 - - Speech as proof of intelligence, 28 - lowest races possess, 31 - origin and development of, 29 - - Spencer, Herbert, 89, 99, 103 - exposition of evolutionary argument by, 81 - on laws of increase of population, 141 - - Stanley, Hiram M., quoted, 128 - - Struggle for existence, 85, 86 - - Suicide, statistics of, 70 - - Survival of the fittest, 85, 87, 139 - - "Survival value," 39 - - Swedenborg, 137 - - - Tahitians, character of, 32 - - Tinning trade, evils of, 51 - - - Unhealthy trades, 50 - - Universe, development and purpose of, 119 - - - Variability, character and, 36 - basic law of nature, 96 - explanation of, 82 - of species, 82 - purpose of, 90 - - Vedas, quoted, 11 - - - War, 74 - - Wealth, increase of, 41, 150 - - Webb, Mr. Sidney, quoted, 65 - - Women and marriage, 133 - excess in numbers of, 134, 147 - future status of, 147 - in trade, 151 - - Workmen's compensation, Prof. Petrie on, 139 - - Writing as proof of intelligence, 28 - origin and development of, 29 - - - Zoophytes, 95 - - Zymotic diseases 47 - - -PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C. - -10.613 - - - - -TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES - - -The following corrections have been made to the original text: - - Page 26: Nile as a human being, with desires,[comma missing in - original] - - Page 113: to luxury and civilisation[original has - "civilisa/tion" split across a line break without a hyphen] - - Page 161: Le Conte[original has "Coute"], Prof., quoted, 139 - - [139:A] Professor Joseph Le Conte[original has "Coute"], in - _The Monist_ - -In the Index, entries repeated across page breaks and columns have been -removed. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Social Environment and Moral Progress, by -Alfred Russel Wallace - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT *** - -***** This file should be named 50289-0.txt or 50289-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/2/8/50289/ - -Produced by MWS, Adrian Mastronardi, Michael Zeug, Lisa -Reigel, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net, in celebration of Distributed -Proofreaders' 15th Anniversary, using images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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- margin-bottom: 5%; - padding: 1em; - border: solid black 1px; - } - -@media print, handheld -{ - h2 { - page-break-before: always; - } - - p { - margin-top: .75em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .75em; - text-indent: 1.25em; - } -} - -@media handheld -{ - body { - margin-left: 2%; - margin-right: 2%; - margin-top: 1%; - margin-bottom: 1%; - } -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Social Environment and Moral Progress, by -Alfred Russel Wallace - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Social Environment and Moral Progress - -Author: Alfred Russel Wallace - -Release Date: October 23, 2015 [EBook #50289] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT *** - - - - -Produced by MWS, Adrian Mastronardi, Michael Zeug, Lisa -Reigel, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net, in celebration of Distributed -Proofreaders' 15th Anniversary, using images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. - - - - - - -</pre> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="newchapter" /> -<p class="firsttitle">SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT<br /> - -AND<br /> - -MORAL PROGRESS</p> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="newchapter" /> -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="280" height="400" alt="Photo of Alfred R. Wallace" /> -<div class="illus20"><i>Photo: Reginald Haines</i></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter wallacesig"> -<img src="images/frontis_signature.jpg" width="250" height="76" alt="signature of Alfred R. Wallace" /> -</div> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <div class="title"> - <h1>Social Environment<br /> - <small>and</small><br /> - Moral Progress</h1> - </div> -</div> - - -<p class="tpother">BY</p> - -<p class="tpauthor">Alfred Russel Wallace<br /> -<small>O.M., D.C.L.Oxon.<br /> -F.R.S., &c.</small></p> - -<p class="tpother">Author of "The Malay Archipelago," "Darwinism,"<br /> -"Man's Place in the Universe," "The World of Life,"<br /> -&c. &c.</p> - - -<div class="decoration"> -<img src="images/decoration.png" width="10" height="15" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<p class="tpcopyright">Cassell and Company, Ltd<br /> -<small>London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne</small><br /> -1913</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> -</div> -<p class="copyright">First Edition <i>March 1913</i>.<br /> -<i>Reprinted April and June 1913.</i></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> -</div> -<p><!-- Page v --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">Contents</h2> - - -<table summary="Table of Contents" border="0"> - <tr> - <td class="tdcenter" colspan="3">PART I.—HISTORICAL</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleftsmall">CHAPTER</td> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdrightsmall">PAGE</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">1.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Introductory</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">2.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Morality as Based upon Character</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">4</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">3.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Permanence of Character</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">8</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">4.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Permanence of High Intellect</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">15</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">5.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Speech and Writing as Proofs of Intelligence</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">28</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">6.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Savages Not Morally Inferior to Civilised Races</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">31</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">7.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">A Selective Agency Needed to Improve Character</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">36</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">8.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Environment during the Nineteenth Century</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">40</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">9.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Insanitary Dwellings and Life-destroying Trades</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">47</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">10.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Adulteration, Bribery, and Gambling</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">55</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright"><!-- Page vi --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>11.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Our Administration of "Justice" is Immoral</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">62</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">12.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Indications of Increasing Moral Degradation</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">67</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdcenterpad" colspan="3">PART II.—THEORETICAL</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">13.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Natural Selection among Animals</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">75</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">14.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Selection as Modified by Mind</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">93</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">15.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">The Laws of Heredity and Environment</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">103</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">16.</td> - <td class="tdleftscpad">Moral Progress through a New Form of Selection</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">125</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdright">17.</td> - <td class="tdleftsc">How to Initiate an Era of Moral Progress</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">150</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdleftsc">Index</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#Index">159</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 1 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - <p class="firsttitle">Social Environment<br /> - and<br /> - Moral Progress</p> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <h2 class="nobreak">PART I.—HISTORICAL</h2> - - - - -<hr class="newchapter" /> -<h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> - -<small>INTRODUCTORY</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>Before entering on the question of the relation of morality to our -existing social environment, it will be advisable to inquire what -we mean by moral progress, and what evidence there is that any such -progress has occurred in recent times, or even within the period of -well-established history.</p> - -<p>By morals we mean right conduct, not only in our immediate social -relations, but also in our dealings with our fellow citizens and with -the whole human race. It is based upon the possession of clear ideals -as to what actions are right and what are wrong and the determination -of our conduct by a constant reference to those ideals.</p> - -<p>The belief was once prevalent, and is <!-- Page 2 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>still held by many persons, that -a knowledge of right and wrong is inherent or instinctive in everyone, -and that the immoral person may be justly punished for such wrongdoing -as he commits. But that this cannot be wholly, if at all, true is shown -by the fact that in different societies and at different periods the -standard of right and wrong changes considerably. That which at one -time and place is held to be right and proper is, at another time or -place, considered to be not only wrong, but one of the greatest of -crimes. The most striking example of this change of opinion is that as -to slavery, which was held to be quite justifiable by the most highly -civilised people of antiquity, and hardly less so by ourselves within -the memory of persons still living. The owners of sugar estates in -Jamaica cultivated by slaves were not stigmatised as immoral by their -relatives in England or by the public at large; and it was the horror -excited by the slave-trade in Africa, and in the "middle passage" on -the slave ships, rather than by the slavery itself, that so excited -public opinion as to lead to the abolition first of the one and then of -the other.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 3 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> -We are obliged to conclude, therefore, that what is commonly termed -morality is not wholly due to any inherent perception of what is -right or wrong conduct, but that it is to some extent and often very -largely a matter of convention, varying at different times and places -in accordance with the degree and kind of social development which -has been attained often under different and even divergent conditions -of existence. The actual morality of a community is largely a product -of the environment, but it is local and temporary, not permanently -affecting the character.</p> - -<p>To bring together the evidence in support of this view, to distinguish -between what is permanent and inherited and what is superficial and not -inherited, and to trace out some of the consequences as regards what we -term "morality" is the purpose of the present volume.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 4 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> - - <small>MORALITY AS BASED UPON CHARACTER</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>Though much of what we term morality has no absolute sanction in human -nature, yet it is to some extent, and perhaps very largely, based -upon it. It will be well, therefore, to consider briefly the nature -and probable origin of what we term "character"—in individuals, in -societies, and especially in those more ancient and more fundamental -divisions of mankind which we term "races."</p> - -<p>Character may be defined as the aggregate of mental faculties and -emotions which constitute personal or national individuality. It is -very strongly hereditary, yet it is probably subject to more inherent -variation than is the form and structure of the body. The combinations -of its constituent elements are so numerous as, in common language, -to be termed infinite; and this gives to each person a very distinct -individuality, as manifested in speech, in emotional expression, and in -action.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 5 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -The mental faculties which go to form the "character" of each man or -woman are very numerous, a large proportion of them being such as are -required for the preservation of the individual and of the race, while -others are pre-eminently social or ethical. These latter, which impel -us to truth, to justice, and to benevolence, when in due proportion to -all the other mental faculties, go to form what we distinguish as a -good or moral character, and will in most cases result in actions which -meet with the general approval of that section of society in which we -live; and this approval reacts upon the character so that it often -appears to be better than it really is.</p> - -<p>So great is the effect of this approval of our fellows that it -sometimes leads to behaviour quite different from what it would -be if this approval were absent. This is especially the case when -the approval leads to wealth or positions of dignity or advantage. -Occasionally, in cases of this kind the individual cannot resist his -natural impulses, and then acts so as to show his underlying real -character. We term such persons hypocrites for making us believe that -they were inherently <!-- Page 6 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>good, instead of being so in appearance only -when the good action was profitable to them. Hence in a highly complex -state of civilisation it becomes exceedingly difficult correctly to -appraise characters as moral or immoral, good or bad; while there is no -such difficulty as regards the intellectual and emotional aspects of -character, which are less influenced by the general environment, and -which there is less temptation to conceal.</p> - -<p>All the evidence we possess tends to show that although the actions -of most individuals are to a considerable extent determined by their -social environment, that does not imply any alteration in their -character. Everyone's experience of life, and especially the example of -his friends and associates, leads him to repress his passions, regulate -his emotions, and in general to use his judgment before acting, so as -to secure the esteem of his fellows and greater happiness for himself; -and these restraints, becoming habitual, may often give the appearance -of an actual change of character till some great temptation or violent -passion overcomes the usual restraint and exhibits the real nature, -which is usually dormant.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 7 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> -Now it is this inherent and unchangeable character itself that tends -to be transmitted to offspring, and this being the case, there can be -no progressive improvement in character without some selective agency -tending to such improvement. By means of a general discussion of the -nature and origin of "Character," I have elsewhere shown that there -is no proof of any real advance in it during the whole historical -period.<a name="FNanchor_7:A_1" id="FNanchor_7:A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_7:A_1" class="fnanchor">[7:A]</a> I show later on what the required selective agency is, and -how it will come into action automatically when, and not until, our -social system is so reformed as to afford suitable conditions. (<i>See</i> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">Chapter XVI</a>.)</p> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_7:A_1" id="Footnote_7:A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7:A_1"><span class="label">[7:A]</span></a> See <cite>Character and Life</cite>, edited by P. L. Parker, pp. -19-31. (Williams and Norgate; November, 1912.)</p> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 8 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> - - <small>PERMANENCE OF CHARACTER</small></h3> -</div> - -<p>I will now call attention to a few of the facts which lead to the -conclusion as to the stationary condition of general character from -the earliest periods of human history, and presumably from the dawn of -civilisation. In the earliest records which have come down to us from -the past we find ample indications that general ethical conceptions, -the accepted standard of morality, and the conduct resulting from -these, were in no degree inferior to those which prevail to-day, though -in some respects they differed from ours.</p> - -<p>As examples of great moral teachers in very early times we have -Socrates and Plato, about 400 <span class="allcapsc">B.C.</span>; Confucius and Buddha, one -or two centuries earlier; Homer, earlier still; the great Indian Epic, -the Maha-Bharata, about 1500 <span class="allcapsc">B.C.</span> All these afford indications -of intellectual and moral character quite equal to our own; while their -lower manifestations, as <!-- Page 9 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>shown by their wars and love of gambling, -were no worse than corresponding immoralities to-day.</p> - -<p>In the beautiful translation by the late Mr. Romesh Dutt, of such -portions of the Maha-Bharata as are best fitted to give English readers -a proper conception of the whole work, there is a striking episode -entitled "Woman's Love," in which the heroine, a princess, by repeated -petitions and reasonings persuades Yama, the god of death, to give back -her husband's spirit to the body. It is described in the following -verses:</p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"And the sable King was vanquished, and he turned on her again,</div> - <div class="line indentq">And his words fell on Savitri like the cooling summer rain:</div> - <div class="line indentq">'Noble woman, speak thy wishes, name thy boon and purpose high,</div> - <div class="line indentq">What the pious mortal asketh gods in heaven may not deny!'</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"'Thou hast,' so Savitri answered, 'granted father's realm and might,</div> - <div class="line indentq">To his vain and sightless eyeballs hath restored the blessed light;</div> - <div class="line indentq">Grant him that the line of monarchs may not all untimely end,</div> - <div class="line indentq">That his kingdom to Satyavan and Savitri's sons descend!'</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <!-- Page 10 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> - <div class="line">"'Have thy wishes,' answered Yama; 'thy good lord shall live again,</div> - <div class="line indentq">He shall live to be a father, and your children, too, shall reign;</div> - <div class="line indentq">For a woman's troth endureth longer than the fleeting breath,</div> - <div class="line indentq">And a woman's love abideth higher than the doom of death.'"</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>And when at the end of the epic, the kings and warriors welcome each -other in the spirit world, we find the following noble conception of -the qualities and actions which give them a place there:</p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"These and other mighty warriors, in the earthly battle slain,</div> - <div class="line indentq">By their valour and their virtue walk the bright ethereal plain!</div> - <div class="line indentq">They have lost their mortal bodies, crossed the radiant gate of heaven,</div> - <div class="line indentq">For to win celestial mansions unto mortals it is given!</div> - <div class="line indentq">Let them strive by kindly action, gentle speech, endurance long,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Brighter life and holier future unto sons of men belong!"</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Mr. Dutt informs us that he has not only reproduced, as nearly as -possible, the metre of the original, but has aimed at giving us a -literal translation. No one can read his beautiful rendering without -feeling <!-- Page 11 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>that the people it describes were our intellectual and moral -equals.</p> - -<p>The wonderful collection of hymns known as the Vedas is a vast system -of religious teaching as pure and lofty as those of the finest portions -of the Hebrew scriptures. A few examples from the translation by Sir -Monier Monier-Williams will show that its various writers were fully -our equals in their conceptions of the universe, and of the Deity, -expressed in the finest poetic language. The following is a portion of -a hymn to "The Investing Sky":</p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"The mighty Varuna, who rules above, looks down</div> - <div class="line indentq">Upon these worlds, his kingdom, as if close at hand.</div> - <div class="line indentq">When men imagine they do aught by stealth, he knows it.</div> - <div class="line indentq">No one can stand or walk, or softly glide along</div> - <div class="line indentq">Or hide in dark recess, or lurk in secret cell</div> - <div class="line indentq">But Varuna detects him and his movements spies.</div> - <div class="line i6">* * * *</div> - <div class="line i5">This boundless earth is his,</div> - <div class="line indentq">His the vast sky, whose depth no mortal e'er can fathom.</div> - <div class="line indentq">Both oceans find a place within his body, yet</div> - <div class="line indentq">In the small pool he lies contained; whoe'er should flee</div> - <div class="line indentq">Far, far beyond the sky would not escape the grasp</div> - <div class="line indentq">Of Varuna, the king. His messengers descend</div> - <!-- Page 12 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> - <div class="line indentq">Countless from his abode—for ever traversing</div> - <div class="line indentq">This world, and scanning with a thousand eyes its inmates.</div> - <div class="line indentq">Whate'er exists within this earth, and all within the sky,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Yea, all that is beyond King Varuna perceives.</div> - <div class="line indentq">May thy destroying snares cast sevenfold round the wicked,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Entangle liars, but the truthful spare, O King."</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The following passage from a "Hymn to Death," shows a perfect -confidence in that persistence of the human personality after death, -which is still a matter of doubt and discussion to-day:</p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"To Yama, mighty king, he gifts and homage paid.</div> - <div class="line indentq">He was the first of men that died, the first to brave</div> - <div class="line indentq">Death's rapid rushing stream, the first to point the road</div> - <div class="line indentq">To heaven, and welcome others to that bright abode.</div> - <div class="line indentq">No power can rob us of the home thus won by thee.</div> - <div class="line indentq">O king, we come; the born must die, must tread the path</div> - <div class="line indentq">That thou hast trod—the path by which each race of men,</div> - <div class="line indentq">In long succession, and our fathers too, have passed.</div> - <div class="line indentq">Soul of the dead! depart; fear not to take the road—</div> - <div class="line indentq">The ancient road—by which thy ancestors have gone;</div> - <div class="line indentq">Ascend to meet the god—to meet thy happy fathers,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Who dwell in bliss with him.</div> - <!-- Page 13 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> - <div class="line indentq">Return unto thy home, O soul! Thy sin and shame</div> - <div class="line indentq">Leave thou behind on earth; assume a shining form—</div> - <div class="line indentq">Thy ancient shape—refined and from all taint set free."</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>In this we find many of the essential teachings of the most advanced -religious thinkers—the immediate entrance to a higher life, the -recognition of friends, the persistence of the human form, and the -shining raiment, typical of the loss of earthly taint.</p> - -<p>But besides these special deities, we find also the recognition of the -one supreme God, as in the following hymn:</p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"What god shall we adore with sacrifice?</div> - <div class="line indentq">Him let us praise, the golden child that rose</div> - <div class="line indentq">In the beginning, who was born the Lord—</div> - <div class="line indentq">The one sole lord of all that is—who made</div> - <div class="line indentq">The earth, and formed the sky, who giveth life,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Who giveth strength, whose bidding gods revere,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Whose hiding place is immortality,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Whose shadow, death; who by his might is king</div> - <div class="line indentq">Of all the breathing, sleeping, waking world—</div> - <div class="line indentq">Who governs men and beasts; whose majesty</div> - <div class="line indentq">These snowy hills, this ocean with its rivers,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Declare; of whom these spreading regions form</div> - <div class="line indentq">The arms by which the firmament is strong,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Earth firmly planted, and the highest heavens</div> - <div class="line indentq">Supported, and the clouds that fill the air</div> - <!-- Page 14 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> - <div class="line indentq">Distributed and measured out; to whom</div> - <div class="line indentq">Both earth and heaven, established by his will,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Look up with trembling mind; in whom revealed</div> - <div class="line indentq">The rising sun shines forth above the world."</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>If we make allowance for the very limited knowledge of Nature at this -early period, we must admit that the mind which conceived and expressed -in appropriate language, such ideas as are everywhere apparent in -these Vedic hymns, could not have been in any way inferior to those of -the best of our religious teachers and poets—to our Miltons and our -Tennysons.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 15 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> - - <small>PERMANENCE OF HIGH INTELLECT</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>Accompanying this fine literature and moral teaching in Ancient -India was a civilisation equal to that of early classical races, in -grand temples, forts and palaces, weapons and implements, jewelry -and exquisite fabrics. Their architecture was highly decorative and -peculiar, and has continued to quite recent times. Owing perhaps to the -tropical or sub-tropical climate, with marked wet and dry seasons, the -oldest buildings that have survived, even as ruins, are less ancient -than those of Greece or Rome—but those corresponding in age to the -period of our Gothic cathedrals are immensely numerous, and show an -originality of design, a wealth of ornament, and a perfection of -workmanship equal to those of any other buildings in the world.</p> - -<p>Two other great civilisations of which we have authentic records are -those of Egypt and Mesopotamia, both of which <!-- Page 16 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>appear to have been -much older than those of India or Greece. But whereas Egypt has left -us the most continuous series of tombs, temples, and palaces in the -world, abundant works of art in statues and sculptures, together with -characteristic reliefs and wall paintings, showing the whole public -and domestic life of the people, Mesopotamia is represented only by -vast masses of ruins on the sites of the ancient cities of Nineveh -and Babylon, from which have been disinterred many fine statues and -reliefs, exhibiting a very distinct style of art. For more than 2,000 -years the history and remains of this once greatest of civilisations -was absolutely unknown, except by a few doubtful facts and names in -Greek and Hebrew writings. But during the latter half of the nineteenth -century a band of explorers and students, such as Layard and Rawlinson, -made known, first the works of art, and, latterly, an enormous quantity -of small bricks and stone slabs, thickly covered with a peculiar -kind of writing known as the cuneiform inscriptions, which, after -an enormous amount of labour, have at length been translated. Whole -libraries of these brick-books have been discovered, and as the reading -and <!-- Page 17 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>translating goes on, we obtain a knowledge of the history, laws, -customs, and daily life of this ancient people almost equal to that we -now possess of the ancient Indians and Egyptians.</p> - -<p>For our present purpose, however, Egyptian civilisation is the most -important, because it presents us with the most definite proof of the -attainment of a high degree of what is specially scientific attainment -at the very dawn of historical knowledge. This is well exhibited by -that most wonderful work of constructive art—the Great Pyramid of -Gizeh—which, though not quite the earliest, is the largest and most -remarkable of about seventy pyramids in various parts of Egypt, and has -been more thoroughly explored and studied, both as to its proportions, -construction and uses, than any of the others.</p> - -<p>This pyramid is known historically to have been built by the order of -King Cheops (or Khufu), and the date of its design and erection can be -pretty accurately fixed as about 3700 <span class="allcapsc">B.C.</span>, or nearly 2,000 -years earlier than that of the civilisation depicted in the Indian -and Greek epics. The internal structure of this pyramid is its most -interesting feature, because it shows clearly <!-- Page 18 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>that it was designed -to be not only the tomb of the king who built it, but also a true -astronomical observatory during his life. This has been denied by some -modern historians. In Harmsworth's <cite>History of the World</cite> (p. 2034) -it is said: "For the pyramids are nothing but tombs. They have no -astronomical meaning or intention whatever." And then, after referring -to the ideas of Piazzi Smyth and others as "vain imaginings," it is -added: "There is nothing marvellous about these great tombs, except -their size and the accuracy of their building." An almost exactly -similar statement is made in the great <cite>Historian's History of the -World</cite>, and in "Chambers's Encyclopædia."</p> - -<p>If the writers of these histories had read Mr. R. A. Proctor's book, -<cite>The Great Pyramid: Observatory, Tomb and Temple</cite>, they would have -known that this statement is entirely erroneous. The size, shape, -and angles of the internal passages have been described and measured -by many competent students, among the most careful and exact of whom -was Piazzi Smyth, then Astronomer Royal of Scotland. It is true he -had many "vain imaginings," but his measurements were <!-- Page 19 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>among the most -trustworthy. The "pyramid religion," which he helped to establish by -a series of "coincidences" in the dimensions of various parts of the -pyramid with astronomical dimensions, of which the pyramid builders -could have had no knowledge whatever (such as the distance of the -sun, the precession of the equinoxes, etc.), was no doubt a "vain -imagining," but he frankly claimed it as a divine inspiration. All -these are rejected by Mr. Proctor, who clearly explains the purpose -of the greater part of the internal structure as only an experienced -practical astronomer could do. I will now state as briefly as possible -what are the well-established facts, as well as the conclusions at -which Mr. Proctor arrives.</p> - -<p>The Great Pyramid and the two smaller ones near it, forming the -pyramids of Gizeh, are placed on a small rocky plateau near the apex -of the delta of the Nile. The largest of these is situated so that its -northern face rises from the very edge of this plateau. The reason of -this seems to have been that the builders wished to place it as nearly -as possible on the 30th parallel of latitude. It is really about a -mile and a third south of that parallel, <!-- Page 20 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>and it is shown that such an -error is a small one for that early period, and would matter but very -little for the purpose required. The next feature is that it is truly -oriented; that is, the four sides run north and south, east and west. -It is also a true square, the four sides being of equal length, and the -four corners are on a truly level plane.</p> - -<p>The first thing the builders had to do was to get a true meridian -line, and they could have done this in two ways—by observations of -the sun or of the pole star, the latter being much the more accurate, -though more laborious and costly. At the time the pyramid was built -the pole star was Alpha Draconis, which was farther from the pole than -our pole star and revolved around the true pole in a circle of 7° 24′ -in diameter. In order to observe the direction of this star at its -lowest point, the builders excavated in the solid rock a tunnel about -4 feet in diameter, so as to keep this star visible each day at the -lowest point of its circuit. This tunnel extended 350 feet through the -rock to a point nearly under the centre of the pyramid, where, by a -small vertical boring, a plumb-line could have been <!-- Page 21 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>dropped so as to -obtain the exact line of the meridian on the surface, and afterwards -on each successive step of the pyramid as it was built up. While the -building went on the sloping tunnel was continued backwards to its -northern face; and a tunnel ascending to the south was formed of the -same size and making the same angle with the horizon. This had puzzled -all previous explorers of the pyramid till Mr. Proctor showed that, by -stopping up the downward passage at the angle and filling the hollow -with water the pole star could be observed by reflexion and thus give -the exact direction of the meridian on the upper surface of the pyramid -with extreme accuracy, as it was built up slowly year by year.</p> - -<p>But at a distance of 127 feet a new feature appears. The ascending -tunnel is changed into what is called the Great Gallery, which, while -continuing exactly the same floor line as the tunnel, is suddenly -raised to a height of 28 feet, with a width of 7 feet on the floor -and 3½ feet at the top. Along each side there is a ledge or seat, -20 inches broad and 21 inches high. The sides do not slope inwards, -but are formed of seven courses of <!-- Page 22 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>stone, each one overlapping the -one below by about 3 inches. The whole of this gallery, or inclined -corridor, is formed of limestone beautifully smooth, or even polished. -The length of this gallery is 156 feet, and its floor terminated at -the platform of the pyramid, upon the central line from east to west, -when it had reached two-thirds of its total height. This is on the -level of the King's Chamber; and it was probably only after the king -was dead and his body embalmed and placed in his sarcophagus that the -pyramid was completed, the openings of the passages carefully closed -up, and the whole exterior covered with a smooth casing of stone, very -small portions of which now remain. There are two other features of -this gallery which have puzzled the merely antiquarian explorers. These -are square holes cut in the sloping benches close to the side walls, -and about 5½ feet apart, there being eighteen on each side exactly -opposite each other. On each side of the gallery, about half-way -up, is a longitudinal groove, which would serve to carry transverse -screens which could be slid up or down, and easily wedged in position -in order to mark exactly the central line, like the <!-- Page 23 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>cross hairs in an -astronomical telescope. The holes on the benches would serve to carry -cross seats on which the observer could be firmly and comfortably -seated while observing a transit of sun, star, or planet.</p> - -<p>Being open to the south, the Great Gallery would give a magnificent -view of the southern sky, and enable observers to determine the -altitudes and azimuths of many stars, and of the superior planets -Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The star Alpha Centauri, which was at that -period of the first magnitude though now much diminished in brightness, -would, when crossing the meridian, have been situated about the centre -of the field of view as seen from this remarkable feature of the -pyramid which, Mr. Proctor considers, was the finest transit-instrument -ever constructed for naked-eye observations. Tycho Brahé, with his -celebrated Quadrant at Uranienburg, did not attain such a degree of -accuracy as did these Eastern astronomers nearly 6,000 years ago. One -great superiority of the subterranean observatory over any open-air -observations that can be made without telescopes is, that by closing up -the end, except for the small aperture required to <!-- Page 24 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>see the object, the -brighter stars could be well observed in the daytime.</p> - -<p>When we remember that the Great Pyramid covers 13½ acres of ground, -that it is truly square and on a truly horizontal base, that each side -is accurately directed to a point of the compass, that the angle of its -slope is such that the area of each of the four triangular faces is -equal to that of a square whose sides are equal to the height of the -pyramid; and, further, that the slope of the long descending tunnel is -precisely such as to point accurately to the pole star of the epoch -at the lowest part of its circuit round the true pole; and, lastly, -that all this could only be done, as accurately as it has been done, -by the system of subterranean tunnels and galleries that actually -exists, while almost all the details of their construction are shown to -be adapted for astronomical observations of the nature required, the -conclusion becomes irresistible that they were designed and used for -such observations, and that by no other means could the same amount of -accuracy have been attained.</p> - -<p>I have given a rather full account of what the Pyramid builders really -did, <!-- Page 25 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>because it forms a very important part of the argument I am -developing as to the stationary condition of the human intellect during -the historical period.</p> - -<p>The great majority of educated persons hold the opinion that our -wonderful discoveries and inventions in every department of art and -science prove that we are really more intellectual and wiser than -the men of past ages—that our mental faculties have increased in -power. But this idea is totally unfounded. We are the inheritors of -the accumulated knowledge of all the ages; and it is quite possible -and even probable, that the earliest steps taken in the accumulation -of this vast mental treasury required even more thought and a higher -intellectual power than any of those taken in our own era.</p> - -<p>We can perhaps best understand this by supposing any one of our great -men of science to have been born and educated in one of the earliest -of the civilisations. If Newton had been born in Egypt in the era of -the Pyramid builders, when there were no such sciences as mathematics, -perhaps even no decimal notation which makes arithmetic so easy to -us, he could probably have done nothing more than <!-- Page 26 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>they have actually -done. In building up the sciences each of the early steps was the work -of a genius. But now that there has been nearly a hundred centuries of -discovery and specialisation by thousands or even millions of workers, -that by means of writing and of the printing press every discovery is -quickly made known, and that ever larger and larger numbers devote -their lives to study, the rate of progress becomes quicker and quicker, -till the total result is amazingly great. But that does not prove -any superiority of the later over the earlier discoveries. There is, -therefore, no proof of continuously increasing intellectual power.</p> - -<p>But we have now evidence of another kind, which adds to the force of -this argument.</p> - -<p>Quite recently, papyri have been discovered which give us information -as to the ideas, the beliefs, and the aspirations of a period even -earlier than that of the Great Pyramid. The result of the study of -these and other records of early Egypt is thus stated by Professor -Adolf Erman in <cite>The Historian's History of the World</cite>:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>"But when one considers the ancient resident of the valley -of the Nile as a human being, with desires, <!-- Page 27 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>emotions, and -aspirations almost precisely like our own; a man struggling -to solve the same problems of practical Socialism that we are -struggling for to-day—then, and then only, can the lessons of -ancient Egyptian history be brought home to us in their true -meaning, and with their true significance. And clearest of all -will that significance be, perhaps, if we constantly bear in -mind the possibility that the whole sweep of Egyptian history, -during the three or four thousand years that separated the -Pyramid builders from the contemporaries of Alexander, was a -time of national decay—a dark age, if you will—in Egyptian -history."</p></div> - -<p>That a great historian, from a study of the ideas and social -aspirations of the earliest known civilisations, should have arrived at -similar views as to the identity of their mental capacity with our own -as I have deduced from their scientific attainments, must be held to be -a very strong argument in support of the accuracy of our independent -conclusions.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 28 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> - - <small>SPEECH AND WRITING AS PROOFS OF INTELLIGENCE</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>There is yet another proof that the faculties of mankind at a very -early epoch were fully equal to those of our own time. There is -perhaps nothing more difficult in its nature, more utterly beyond the -mere lower animal, than the faculty of articulate speech possessed -by every race of mankind. We cannot but believe that its acquisition -was an extremely slow process, and that it is rendered possible by -special cerebral developments giving the necessary mental power for its -acquirement.</p> - -<p>How long a process this would be, it is impossible to say, but it -would certainly have had to reach a high degree of perfection before -the equally difficult process of inventing a mode of writing could -have been brought to such perfection as to facilitate the further -development of the higher faculties through poetry on the <!-- Page 29 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>one hand -and the preservation of facts and discoveries, as well as trains of -reasoning, on the other.</p> - -<p>Now, I wish to call attention to the very important fact that the -origin and development of speech, and later, of writing, were -apparently almost simultaneous, and certainly quite independent of -each other, in countries not very distant apart. This is shown by the -radical diversity of the different groups of languages in Europe, -Eastern Asia and North Africa, and the equal diversity of Egyptian, -Assyrian, and Chinese writing. All other written characters are -believed to be derived from one or other of these, and it is known that -the forms and peculiarities of alphabetic characters have been greatly -modified by the various materials employed, such as wood and stone -slabs, clay, or wax; papyrus, paper or parchment; and whether engraved, -impressed or painted, whether written with a reed or quill pen, or with -a small brush.</p> - -<p>But if intellectual man as a species of mammal had developed by the -preservation of variations of survival-value, we should expect to -find such an important faculty as speech to have originated in <!-- Page 30 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>one -centre and to have spread rapidly over the world with only slight -modifications in isolated communities. The fundamental diversities -we find seem to accord better with the conception that when, as a -mere animal, his material organism had reached the required degree of -perfection, there occurred the spiritual influx which alone enabled -him to begin that course of intellectual and moral development, and -that marvellous power over the forces of Nature, in which speech and -writing, followed by printing, have been such important factors.</p> - -<p>In order for man to develop speech he must have possessed a brain and -an intellect far above that of the brutes. As in the more fundamental -problem of the origin of life, it is admitted that organisation is a -product of life—not life of organisation—so we must believe that -speech was a product of a brain and an intellect sufficient for their -development. But such brain and intellect were not necessary for the -lower animals, which have reached their highest lines of development in -the dog, horse, elephant, and ape without making any definite approach -to the acquirement of such higher faculties.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 31 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> - - <small>SAVAGES NOT MORALLY INFERIOR TO CIVILISED RACES</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>If the facts and arguments set forth in the preceding chapters are -correct we should not expect to find any living examples of the -unspiritualised man, since the assumption is that the whole race -received the influx which started them on their course of purely human -development within a strictly limited period, perhaps of a very few -generations or even one generation. The ancestral form—the supposed -missing link—would then have become extinct.</p> - -<p>If this were not so we should expect to find some isolated groups of -speechless man, and of this there is no example; but, on the contrary, -the very lowest of existing races are found to possess languages which -are often of extreme complexity in grammatical structure and in no way -suggestive of the primitive man-animal of which they are supposed to be -surviving <!-- Page 32 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>relics. So long as we got our knowledge respecting them from -the low-class Europeans who captured them for slaves or shot them down -as wild beasts, we could not possibly acquire any real knowledge of -them as human beings. But now that we have more trustworthy accounts of -them by intelligent travellers or missionaries, we find ample evidence -that when by kindness and sympathy we penetrate to their inner nature, -we discover that they possess human qualities of the same kind as our -own. A few examples of what unprejudiced witnesses say of them will be -very instructive.</p> - -<p>Darwin, after attending a meeting between Captain Fitzroy and the chief -of a small island near Tahiti to settle a question of compensation for -injury to an English ship, says: "I cannot sufficiently express our -surprise at the extreme good sense, the reasoning powers, moderation, -candour, and prompt resolution which were displayed on all sides."</p> - -<p>Captain Cook himself, who saw them in their primitive condition, -speaks of the natives of the Friendly Isles as being "liberal, brave, -open and candid, without either suspicion or treachery, cruelty, <!-- Page 33 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>or -revenge"; and a century later Admiral Erskine remarks that "they carry -their habits of cleanliness and decency to a higher point than the -most civilised nations"; while all the Polynesian races are kind and -attentive to the sick and aged, and unlimited hospitality is everywhere -practised by them.</p> - -<p>Even the Australian aborigines, who are often said to be one of the -lowest of human races, are found to possess many good qualities by -those who know them best. Mr. Curr, who was for forty years protector -of the aborigines in Victoria, says:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>"Socially, the black is polite, gay, fond of laughter, and -has much <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonhomie</i> in his composition. . . . The natives are -very strict in obeying their laws and customs, even under -great temptation. The horror of marrying a woman within the -prohibited degrees of relationship, the extreme grief they -manifest at the death of children or relatives, and sometimes -even for white men, as illustrated by the native boy who -was the sole companion of the unfortunate Kennedy when he -was murdered, are sufficient to indicate that they possess -affections and a sense of right and wrong not very different -from our own."</p> -</div> - -<p>The fact that the physical characteristics of the Australians are -substantially those of the Caucasian race in its <!-- Page 34 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>lowest types has led -me to conclude that these interesting people may have been descended -from much more civilised remote ancestors, and are thus an example of -degradation rather than of survival.<a name="FNanchor_34:A_2" id="FNanchor_34:A_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_34:A_2" class="fnanchor">[34:A]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_34:A_2" id="Footnote_34:A_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34:A_2"><span class="label">[34:A]</span></a> See my <cite>Australia and New Zealand</cite>, Chap. V., "The -Australian Aborigines," where this view was first set forth. (Stanford, -1893.) For cases of <em>morality</em> among savages see my <cite>Natural Selection -and Tropical Nature</cite>, pp. 199-201.</p> -</div> - -<p>Many other illustrations of both intelligence and morality are -met with among savage races in all parts of the world; and these, -taken as a whole, show a substantial identity of human character, -both moral and emotional, with no marked superiority in any race or -country. In intellect, where the greatest advance is supposed to -have occurred, this may be wholly due to the cumulative effect of -successive acquisitions of knowledge handed down from age to age. -Euclid and Archimedes were probably the equals of any of our greatest -mathematicians of to-day, while the architecture of Greece, of India, -and of Central America is little inferior to mediæval Gothic. But none -of these, though so different in style, can be said to prove any real -advance in intellectual power from that of the builders of the much -more <!-- Page 35 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>ancient temples and pyramids of Egypt. This latter country, too, -in its high material civilisation and its remarkable religious system, -shows itself the equal of any that has succeeded it.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 36 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> - - <small>A SELECTIVE AGENCY NEEDED TO IMPROVE CHARACTER</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>The general result of the facts and arguments now set forth in the -merest outline leads us to conclude that there has been no definite -advance of morality from age to age, and that even the lowest races, at -each period, possessed the same intellectual and moral nature as the -higher. The manifestations of this essentially human nature in habits -and conduct were often very diverse, in accordance with diversities -of the social and moral environment. This is quite in accordance with -the now well-established doctrine that the essential character of man, -intellectual, emotional, and moral, is inherent in him from birth; -that it is subject to great variation from individual to individual; -and that its manifestations in conduct can be modified in a very high -degree by the influence of public opinion and systematic teaching. -These latter changes, however, are <em>not</em> <!-- Page 37 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>hereditary, and it follows -that no definite advance in morals can occur in any race <em>unless there -is some selective or segregative agency at work</em>.</p> - -<p>As there is a great amount of misconception on this subject some -explanation may be advisable. Many well-educated and intelligent -persons seem to think that whatever characters or faculties are -hereditary are also necessarily cumulative. They hear that mental as -well as physical characteristics are hereditary; their own observation -tells them that there are musical families as well as tall families. -They hear that the late Sir Francis Galton wrote a book on <cite>Hereditary -Genius</cite>, and perhaps they have read it; but they do not observe that -neither he nor anyone else has proved that genius of any kind is -cumulative, that is that a man or woman of genius will have, on the -average, some one or more children with a greater amount of that -special power or faculty than their own. The very contrary of this is -really the case. The more a person's talent or mental power is above -the average the less chance there is that any of his or her children -will have still more of that power than he has. A really great poet, or -painter, or <!-- Page 38 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>musician, appears suddenly in a family of mediocre ability -or of no ability at all in that special direction. A few examples may -be instructive.</p> - -<p>Sir William Herschell was the son of a German musician, and was himself -a musician by profession; but he became an astronomical genius, one -of the greatest of his age. His son, Sir John Herschell, was a very -clever man, with advantages of education and position. He followed his -father as an astronomer, and was a great mathematician, but is never -considered to be equal to his father. Darwin's most eminent son was a -mathematician, not a naturalist.</p> - -<p>The reason of this is that heredity follows the law of "recession to -mediocrity." This is, that all groups of living things vary around an -average or mean as regards each of their characters; and those near -the average are always numerous, while as we approach the extremes in -either direction the numbers become less and less. Families follow the -same law. If you take a family for three or four generations, including -perhaps some hundreds of persons, some will be short, some tall; but -the majority will be near the <!-- Page 39 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>mean, and the tallest of all will be -less likely to have taller descendants than themselves than those -nearer the average. But the children of the tallest, though generally -shorter than their parents, will still tend to be above the average -height.</p> - -<p>When a character is so useful to its possessor in the struggle for -existence as to be of what is termed "survival value," then those that -vary most above the average will be preserved or selected generation -after generation as long as the increase is useful.</p> - -<p>It is because the higher intellectual or moral powers are so rarely of -life-preserving value, and are not unfrequently the reverse, that they -are not <em>cumulative</em>, though they are <em>hereditary</em>.</p> - -<hr class="thoughtbreak" /> - -<p>With this explanation we will now proceed to examine somewhat closely -our moral position as a nation; what is the nature of our social -environment; how it came to be what it is, and what lessons we may -learn from it.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 40 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> - - <small>ENVIRONMENT DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>During the eighteenth century our material civilisation, which had -long been almost stationary, began to advance with the growth of the -physical sciences, but at first with extreme slowness. The earliest -steps were made by the application of machinery to some of the domestic -arts. Some refinements were made in the manners and customs of our -daily life; but there were few, if any, indications of permanent or -widespread change, either for better or worse, in our intellectual or -moral nature.</p> - -<p>The nineteenth century, however, saw the initiation of a great change -in the economic environment due to the rapid invention of labour-saving -machinery; which, with the equally rapid application of steam power, -led to an increase of wealth production such as had never been known -on the earth before. During the <!-- Page 41 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>same period new modes of locomotion -were brought into daily use, the facilities for inter-communication -were increased a hundred-fold, scientific discoveries opened up to us -new and unthought-of mysteries of the universe, and the whole earth -was ransacked for its treasures, both vegetable and mineral, to an -extent that surpassed all that had been accomplished since the dawn of -civilisation.</p> - -<p>But this rapid growth of wealth, and increase of our power over Nature, -put too great a strain upon our crude civilisation and our superficial -Christianity, and it was accompanied by various forms of social -immorality, almost as amazing and unprecedented. Some of these may be -here briefly referred to.</p> - -<p>Our vast textile factory system may be said to have commenced with -the nineteenth century, and the profits were at first so large and so -dependent on the supply of labour that the mill-owners hired children -from the workhouses of the great cities by hundreds and even thousands. -These children, from the age of five or six upwards, were taken as -apprentices for seven years, and they really became the slaves of the -manufacturers, <!-- Page 42 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>whose managers made them work from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., -or sometimes longer; and, in order to keep them awake in the close -atmosphere of the factories it was found necessary to whip them at -frequent intervals. It was not till 1819 that the age of children -employed in factories was raised to nine years, while in 1825 the -working hours were <em>limited</em> to seventy-two a week!</p> - -<p>From that time onward, during the whole of the nineteenth century, -there was a continued succession of "Factory Acts," each aiming at -abolishing or ameliorating the worst results of child labour—its -inhumanity, its cruelty, and its immorality. These legislative efforts -were always opposed by the employers, who usually succeeded in so -mutilating them in Committee of the House of Commons as to render them -almost useless. Mrs. E. B. Browning's noble verses, <cite>The Cry of the -Children</cite>, show that after nearly fifty years of struggle the condition -of the child-workers was still, in a high degree, cruel, degrading, and -therefore immoral; while that of the half-timers who succeeded them was -almost as injurious.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 43 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -As the century wore on, other evils of a similar nature were -gradually brought to light. Children and women were found to be -working underground in coal mines, under equally vile conditions as -regards health and morality; and an enormous loss of life was caused -by inadequate ventilation, insecure roof-propping, imperfect winding -machinery, and other causes, all due to want of proper precautions by -the owners of the mines. As a matter of simple justice, such owners -should be held responsible to the injured person not only to the full -extent of his wages and for medical attendance, but should also pay a -liberal compensation for the pain suffered, and for the extra labour, -expense and anxiety to his family. But all such things are ignored -in the case of poor workers, so that even the money compensation is -reduced to the smallest amount possible.</p> - -<p>It is one of the great defects of our law that deaths due to -preventable causes <em>in any profit-making business</em> are not criminal -offences. Till they are made so, it will be impossible to save the -hundreds, or even thousands, of lives now lost owing to neglect of -proper precautions in all kinds of dangerous or unhealthy trades. -<!-- Page 44 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>However costly such precautions may be, expense should not be -considered when human life is risked; and the present state of the law -is therefore immoral.</p> - -<p>Notwithstanding Acts of Parliament and numerous Inspectors (whose -salaries should be paid by the mine owners), explosions and other -accidents underground continue to increase, the year 1910 being a -record year, with its 1,775 deaths; and even the number in proportion -to the workers employed is the highest for the last twenty years.</p> - -<p>Yet no one is punished, or even held responsible for these deaths. -Surely, this shows a deplorable absence of moral feeling, both in the -general public and in Parliament. The responsibility of Parliament is -really criminal, since it always allows its legislation to be made -ineffective by the fear of diminishing the employers' profits, thus -deliberately placing money-making above human life and human well-being.</p> - -<p>In the case of mines and quarries, Parliament is especially -responsible, because the possession of the mineral wealth of our -country by private individuals is itself a gross usurpation of public -rights, and should have been long ago declared illegal. Whatever -<!-- Page 45 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>arguments—and they are very strong—show us that the land itself -should not be private property, are ten times stronger in the case -of the minerals within its bowels. The value of land increases with -its proper use, but in the case of minerals, the value is absolutely -destroyed. Surely, it is a crime against posterity to allow the -strictly limited mineral wealth of our country to be made private -property, and very largely sold to foreigners, solely to increase the -wealth of individuals and to the absolute impoverishment of ourselves -and our children.<a name="FNanchor_45:A_3" id="FNanchor_45:A_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_45:A_3" class="fnanchor">[45:A]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_45:A_3" id="Footnote_45:A_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45:A_3"><span class="label">[45:A]</span></a> I pointed this out forty years ago in an article -entitled <cite>Coal a National Trust</cite>, which I republished twelve years ago -in my <cite>Studies, Scientific and Social</cite> (Vol. II., Chap. VIII.).</p> -</div> - -<p>I will here add one other argument which goes to the root of the -matter by showing that the alleged owners of minerals have not even -a legal title to them. It is, I believe, a maxim of law that public -rights cannot be lost by disuse. Landed estates were, in our country, -created by the Norman Conqueror to be held subject to the performance -of feudal duties. Deep-seated minerals were then not known to exist, -and were not (I believe) specifically included in the original grants. -Except, <!-- Page 46 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>therefore, where they have since been made private property -by <em>Act of Parliament</em>, they still remain public property. I submit, -therefore, that they may be both legally and equitably resumed by the -Government as public property, and worked for the good of the public -and of posterity. Compensation to the supposed present owners would be -a matter of favour, <em>not of right</em>.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 47 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> - - <small>INSANITARY DWELLINGS AND LIFE-DESTROYING TRADES</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>The enormous difference between town and country dwellers as regards -duration of life and the prevalence of zymotic diseases has been known -statistically since the era of registration, and a body of Health -Officers have been set up to report upon the worst cases. The local -authorities have power to compel the owners of unhealthy dwellings to -put them into a sanitary condition, or even order them to be entirely -rebuilt. But as many of the members of Corporations and other Local -Boards are often themselves owners of such property, or have intimate -friends who are so, very little has been done to remedy the evil. Again -and again, in all parts of the country, the Health Officers have duly -reported, but their reports have been ignored. In some cases where the -Health Officer has been too persistent, he has been asked to resign <!-- Page 48 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>or -has been discharged. A few general facts may be here given.</p> - -<p>By the last complete Census returns (1901), there are in England and -Wales 7,036,868 tenements, and of these 3,286,526, or nearly half, have -from one to four rooms only. In London, out of a total of 1,019,646 -tenements, 672,030, or considerably more than half, have from one to -four rooms; while there are about 150,000 tenements of only <em>one room</em>, -in which are living 313,298 persons, or about two and a quarter persons -in each room on the average. There are, however, about 20,000 persons -living <em>five in a room</em>, and 20,000 more who have <em>six, seven, or -eight in a room</em>. As most of these one-roomed tenements are either the -cellars or attics of houses in the most crowded parts of large towns, -where there is impure air, little light, and scanty water supply, -the condition of those who dwell in them may be imagined—or rather -<em>cannot</em> be imagined, except by those who have explored them.</p> - -<p>Equally inhuman, immoral, and even criminal, is the neglect of -all adequate measures to check the loss of infant life through -the overwork, poverty, or starvation of the mother, together with -<!-- Page 49 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>overcrowded and insanitary dwellings. In the mad race for wealth -by capitalists and employers most of our towns and cities have -been allowed to develop into veritable death-traps for the poor. -This has been known for the greater part of a century, yet nothing -really effective has been done, notwithstanding abundant health -legislation—again made useless by the dread of diminishing the -excessive profits of manufacturers and slum-owners. One of the Labour -newspapers calls our attention to the following facts for 1911 as to -Infant mortality per 1,000 born:</p> - -<table summary="Infant mortality per 1000 born" border="0"> - <tr> - <th> </th> - <th>PER 1,000</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">Deptford, East Ward (poor)</td> - <td class="tdright">197</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">Deptford, West Ward (rich)</td> - <td class="tdright">68</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">Bournville Garden Village</td> - <td class="tdright">65</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">St. Mary's Ward, Birmingham</td> - <td class="tdright">331</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>Such facts exist all over the kingdom. They have been talked about -and deplored for the last half-century at least. Who has murdered the -100,000 children who die annually before they are one year old? Who -has robbed the millions that just survive of all that makes childhood -<!-- Page 50 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>happy—pure food, fresh air, play, rest, sleep, and proper nurture -and teaching? Again we must answer, our Parliament, which occupies -itself with anything rather than the immediate saving of human life and -abolishing widespread human misery, the whole of which is remediable. -And all for fear of offending the rich and powerful by some diminution -of their ever-increasing accumulations of wealth. No thinking man or -woman can believe that this state of things is absolutely irremediable; -and the persistent acquiescence in it while loudly boasting of our -civilisation, of our science, of our national prosperity, and of our -Christianity, is the proof of a hypocritical lack of national morality -that has never been surpassed in any former age.</p> - -<p>A new set of evils has grown up in the various so-called "unhealthy -trades"—the lead glaze in the china manufacture, the steel dust in -cutlery work, and the endless variety of poisonous liquids and vapours -in the numerous chemical works or processes, by which so many fortunes -have been made. These, together, are the cause of a large direct loss -of life, and a much larger amount of <!-- Page 51 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>permanent injury, together with a -terrible reduction in the duration of life of all the workers in such -trades. Yet in one case only—that of phosphorus matches—has any such -injurious process of manufacture been put an end to. Wealth has been -deliberately preferred to human life and happiness.<a name="FNanchor_51:A_4" id="FNanchor_51:A_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_51:A_4" class="fnanchor">[51:A]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_51:A_4" id="Footnote_51:A_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51:A_4"><span class="label">[51:A]</span></a> An account of some deadly trades is given in Mr. R. H. -Sherard's book, <cite>The White Slaves of England</cite>.</p> -</div> - -<p>One of the most deadly of trades seems to have remained unnoticed -till it has been brought to light by the new Labour paper, <cite>The Daily -Citizen</cite>, in a series of articles by Mr. Keighley Snowden, entitled -<cite>The Broken Women</cite>. Never was a title better deserved, since large -numbers of girls and young women are employed at Lye and Cradley Heath, -in what is commonly named the "Hollow Ware" works. This is the tinning, -or galvanising, as it is usually termed, of buckets and other domestic -utensils, in which lead is used; and it produces one of the most -virulent forms of lead-poisoning. The symptoms are, among other more -painful ones, the loss of hair and the loosening and ultimate loss of -teeth, culminating either in chronic illness or <!-- Page 52 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>death, sometimes in a -few months or years. Five years ago there was a Home Office inquiry, -which, after full examination, reported that the process used was -dangerous to life, that no precautions could render it harmless, and -that it should be <em>totally discontinued</em>.</p> - -<p>An order was then issued by the Home Office that after a time-limit -(two years) the process should be no longer used; but that order has -not been obeyed (except by a few employers) to this day. The deadly -nature of this work was accompanied by miserably low wages, as shown -by the fact that the women workers have at length struck to obtain a -minimum of 10s. a week! Helped by some humane friends, they have at -length succeeded in obtaining this miserable wage, and for the present -are in a state of comparative happiness! How long it will be before the -Government abolishes this deadly process we cannot tell. The following -is a brief statement of what these poor women have to suffer, extracted -from <cite>The Daily Citizen</cite> of November 20th, <span class="nospace">1912:—</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>"They had, without power to resist them, suffered repeated and -ruthless reductions of wages. They <!-- Page 53 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>had seen their industry -brought down by reckless competition, and the manufacture -of shoddy goods, to the point at which men could no longer -earn enough to support their families. They had seen their -wives and daughters and boys forced by want at home into -workshops, where, as official inquiry has shown, health was -sucked out of their bodies as though they had been the victims -of vampires. They had seen the introduction and growth of -the sub-contracting 'stint' system, under which boyhood and -girlhood and motherhood were driven as though they had been -slaves under the lash, and their earnings cut down to a penny -an hour. Meanwhile, they lived in the hovels and holes of a -place which can only be fitly described as one of the dirtiest -ashpits of a civilisation reckless of dirt where profit is a -question."</p></div> - -<p>Those who want to know what horrors can exist to-day in England -should read Mr. Snowden's series of articles on the subject. They are -restrained in language, and state the bare facts from careful personal -observation. That such things should still exist in a country claiming -to be civilised would be incredible, were there not so many others of a -like nature and almost as bad.</p> - -<p>In an almost exhaustive volume on <cite>Diseases of Occupation</cite> by Sir -Thomas Oliver, M.D. (1908), there is only a short reference to the -hollowware trade of the "black country" near Birmingham. But <!-- Page 54 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>the -tin plate industry of South Wales is more fully described, with the -same pitiable condition of the women workers and the same terrible -results to health and life. Yet nothing whatever seems to be done by -the manufacturers; and though two Home Office Inspectors have fully -reported on its horrors from 1888 onwards, no notice appears to have -been taken of them, nor has there been any Government interference with -conditions of labour which are a disgrace to civilisation.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 55 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> - - <small>ADULTERATION, BRIBERY, AND GAMBLING</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>After the terrible national crime of deadly employments it is almost -an anti-climax to enumerate the vast mass of dishonesty and falsehood -that pervades our commercial system in every department. Almost every -fabric, whether of cotton, linen, wool, or silk, is so widely and -ingeniously adulterated by the intermixture of cheaper materials -that the pure article as supplied to our grandparents is hardly to -be obtained. Of this one example only must serve. Calicoes have been -successively dressed with such substances as paste and tallow; then -with the still cheaper china clay and size; and in some cases from 50 -to 90 per cent. of these latter materials have been sold as calico -for exportation to countries inhabited by what we term savages. -These people only found out the deception when the need for washing -or exposure to tropical rains reduced the material to a flimsy and -<!-- Page 56 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>worthless rag, as I have myself witnessed in some parts of the Malay -Archipelago.<a name="FNanchor_56:A_5" id="FNanchor_56:A_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_56:A_5" class="fnanchor">[56:A]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_56:A_5" id="Footnote_56:A_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56:A_5"><span class="label">[56:A]</span></a> These facts are given in the Ninth Edition of -the "Encyclopædia Britannica." In recent editions the article -<cite>Adulteration</cite> is limited to food and drugs. In "Chambers' -Encyclopædia," cotton, linen and woollens are included among -adulterated fabrics.</p> -</div> - -<p>Even worse is the adulteration of almost every kind of prepared -food—including the showy sweetmeats which tempt our children—with -various chemicals, which are often injurious to health, and sometimes -fatal; while even the drugs we take in the endeavour to cure our -various ailments are frequently so treated as to be useless or even -hurtful. Along with this form of dishonesty is what may be termed -simple cheating in the description of goods sold, especially as to -quantity. Threads and fabrics are generally shorter or narrower than -stated, giving a larger profit when sold in enormous quantities in our -great retail shops.</p> - -<p>Then, again, there is a widespread system of bribery of servants -or other employees in order to obtain more customers or to secure -contracts; and though these are all criminal offences, and a great -host of inspectors and official analysts are employed to discover and -convict the <!-- Page 57 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>offenders, yet so few people are willing to take the -trouble and lose the time and money involved in putting the law into -motion, that a very large percentage of these offences go undiscovered -and unpunished.</p> - -<p>Yet another and more serious form of plunder of the public is carried -on by means of Joint Stock Companies, of which there are now more -than 50,000 in England and Wales. In the year 1911 the number of new -companies was 5,959, while 4,353 ceased to exist, giving an increase -of 1,606 in the year. The Limited Liability Act was passed in 1855, -in order that the public might invest their savings in companies, and -thus share in the profits of our industry and commerce. It was supposed -to be quite proper that anyone should benefit by the enterprise and -industry of others; but to do so is essentially immoral, and has -resulted in a vast system of swindling and terrible losses to the -innocent investors. The promoters, directors, secretaries and bankers -of these companies always gain; those that take up the shares often -lose; and the amount of misery and absolute ruin of those who fondly -hoped to add to their scanty incomes, and have been <!-- Page 58 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>deluded by the -names of well-known public men among the directors, is incalculable.</p> - -<p>Our Stock Exchanges, too, are used largely for pure gambling which, -owing to its vast extent and being carried on under business forms, is -perhaps more ruinous than any other. But this form of gambling goes -on unchecked, and is generally accepted as quite honest business. -Yet ordinary betting on races and other forms of direct gambling are -hypocritically condemned as immoral and criminal.</p> - -<p>The vast fabric of our Foreign Trade in food, or the raw materials of -our manufactures, is also used to support perhaps the greatest system -of gambling the world has ever seen. The fluctuating prices of corn or -cotton, of coal or mineral oil, of iron and other metals, in the great -markets of the world, are used in two ways by a large community of -gamblers, who not only do not require the goods they buy, but who never -see nor possess them. The ordinary speculator who buys when prices are -low, to sell again at a profit, without himself being able to influence -the rise or fall of price, is a pure gambler who thinks he can foresee -the changes of the market price in the immediate <!-- Page 59 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>future. But the great -capitalists who, either singly or by means of what are called rings or -combines, purchase such vast quantities of the special product as to -create a scarcity in the market, leading to a large rise of price, are -ingenious robbers rather than gamblers, because, by clever dealings -with such a monopoly, often aided by false rumours widely circulated -in newspapers owned or bribed by them, they are able to make enormous -profits at the expense of those who are obliged to purchase for actual -business purposes or for daily use. This is one of the methods by which -the great millionaires and multi-millionaires of the world accumulate -their wealth, every penny of which is at the cost of the consuming -public.</p> - -<p>This is certainly as immoral as any of the petty forms of swindling -with marked cards, loaded dice, or the wilful losing of a race; yet the -possessors of such wealth are usually held to be clever business men, -whose morality is not questioned.</p> - -<p>All these inconsistencies as regards the moral status of various kinds -of gambling or dishonest speculation arise from our <!-- Page 60 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>inveterate habit -of dealing with limited cases, each judged on its supposed merits as -to consequences, instead of looking to fundamental principles. Why is -gambling immoral? Not because it is a game of chance, entered into -for mere amusement, even when played for small money stakes which are -of no importance to any of the players. The fundamental wrong arises -whenever it is used for obtaining wealth or any part of the player's -income; and the reason is, that whatever one wins, someone else loses; -while its evil nature, socially, depends upon the fact that whoever -acquires wealth by such means contributes nothing useful to the social -organism of which he forms a part. If it were taught to every child, -and in every school and college, that it is morally wrong for anyone to -live upon the combined labour of his fellow-men without contributing -an approximately equal amount of useful labour, whether physical or -mental, in return, all kinds of gambling, as well as many other kinds -of useless occupation, would be seen to be of the same nature as direct -dishonesty or fraud, and, therefore, would soon come to be considered -disgraceful as well as immoral.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 61 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -We see, then, that the whole commercial fabric of our country—our -immense mills and factories, our vast exports and imports, our home -trade, wholesale and retail, and innumerable transactions in our Stock -Exchanges—is permeated with various forms of dishonesty, gambling, and -direct robbery of individuals or of the public. No class is wholly free -from it, and it increases in volume from decade to decade, just as our -boasted commerce and accumulated wealth increases.</p> - -<p>I have here called attention to these various forms of immoral -practices because they are so often ignored. Yet they are all -officially admitted by the enormous mass of the various Royal -Commissions, Parliamentary and other Reports, as well as by the -hundreds of "Acts" by which successive Parliaments have endeavoured to -deal with them, but which have, one and all, proved to be either wholly -or partially ineffective. The reason of this failure is that in every -case symptoms and isolated results only have been considered, while -the underlying causes of the whole vast mass of social corruption have -never been sought for, or, if known, have never influenced legislation.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 62 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> - - <small>OUR ADMINISTRATION OF "JUSTICE" IS IMMORAL</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>When we read about the Turkish or other Eastern law courts, in which -direct bribery of every official up to the judge himself is a regular -feature, we are horrified, and are apt to proclaim the fact that our -judges never take bribes. But, practically, it comes to very nearly -the same thing in England. No single step can be made for the purpose -of getting justice without paying fees; while the whole process of -bringing or defending an action-at-law is so absurdly complex as to -be almost incredible. Jeremy Bentham satirised this by supposing a -father of a large family to adopt the same method of settling a dispute -between two of his sons. He would not hear either of them himself, but -each must tell his story to a stranger (a solicitor), who wrote it -down and then instructed another stranger (a barrister) to explain it -to the father (as judge) and <!-- Page 63 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>twelve neighbours (the jury). Then the -stranger (barrister) on each side asked questions of all the family who -knew anything about it; and the barristers, who had only third-hand -knowledge of the facts, tried to make each witness contradict himself, -or to acknowledge having done something as bad another time; till the -jury became quite puzzled, and often decided as the cleverest of the -barristers told them.</p> - -<p>That is really the system of law courts to this day; and it is grossly -unfair, because the party who can pay the highest fees for the -services of the most experienced counsel is most likely, through the -lawyer's skill and eloquence, to secure a verdict in his favour. Yet -there is no effective protest against this unjust and absurd system, -which absolutely denies all redress of wrongs to the poor man when -oppressed by a rich one. One would think it self-evident that justice -ceases to be justice when it has to be paid for. But the system is -so time-hallowed, the profession of a barrister so honoured, and its -rewards so great, that it will never be abolished till there comes -about in our social system that fundamental change <!-- Page 64 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>which will cut at -the very root-cause of almost all our existing law-suits, immorality -and crime.</p> - -<p>In our criminal as well as our civil law and procedure there is equal -injustice. When the poor man is accused of the slightest offence -and brought before a magistrate by the police, he is, even though -perfectly honest and respectable, treated from the very first as if he -were guilty, often refused communication with his friends; and, when -the accusation is serious, he is remanded to prison again and again -till evidence has been hunted up, or even manufactured, against him. -Experience shows that the latter is often done and a quite innocent man -not infrequently punished. The dictum of the law, that an Englishman -should be held to be innocent till he is proved to be guilty, is -absolutely reversed, and he is treated as if he were guilty till, -against overwhelming odds, he is able to prove himself innocent. There -is no possible excuse for this now, and at the very least every man who -has a home or a permanent employment should be at once discharged on -his own recognizances.</p> - -<p>Equally unjust and barbarous is the <!-- Page 65 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>system of money-fines, often for -merely nominal offences, with the alternative of imprisonment. To the -well-off, or to the habitual criminal, the fine is a trifle; but to -the poor man charged with being drunk, with begging, or with sleeping -under a haystack, or any such act which is no real offence, the common -punishment of 10s. or a week's imprisonment, leaving perhaps wife and -children to starve or be sent to the workhouse, is really far more -immoral than the alleged offence.</p> - -<p>Again, our Poor Law itself, as usually administered, is utterly -immoral. This is what a competent authority—Mr. Sidney Webb—says of -it:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>"Underneath the feet of the whole wage-earning class is the -abyss of the Poor Law. I see before me a respectable family -applying for relief. What do we do to them? We, the Government -of England, break up the family. We strip each individual of -what makes life worth living. When the man enters the workhouse -he is stripped of his citizenship—branded as too infamous -to vote for a member of Parliament. Once in the workhouse, -we put him to toil or to loiter under conditions that are so -demoralising that we turn him into a wastrel. And we strip -the wife of her children. We send her to the wash-tub or -the sewing-room, where she associates with prostitutes and -imbeciles. The little children, if they <!-- Page 66 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>are under five, are -taken to the workhouse nursery, where they also are tended by -prostitutes and imbeciles. There they remain, day after day, -without ever going down the workhouse steps until they are old -enough to go to the Poor Law school, or until they are taken -down in their coffins, owing to the terrible mortality among -the workhouse babies."</p></div> - -<p>Of course, all workhouses are not so bad as this, but many are, and -have been during the three-quarters of a century of their existence. -Can we, therefore, wonder that week by week some poor and honest -parents commit suicide rather than see their children starve, or be -separated from them in the workhouse! The people we thus drive to death -are many of them as good as we ourselves are; yet the "Guardians of the -Poor"—well-to-do gentlemen and ladies—go on administering it week -after week and year after year without protest or apparent compunction. -Such is the deadening effect of long-continued custom.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 67 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> - -<small>INDICATIONS OF INCREASING MORAL DEGRADATION</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>There are in the Reports of the Registrar-General a few statistics of -special importance because they clearly point to certain kinds of moral -degradation which have been increasing for the last half-century, thus -coinciding with our exceptionally rapid increase in wealth; and also, -as I have shown in preceding chapters, with various forms of national, -economic, and social deterioration.</p> - -<p>The first of these is the continuous increase in deaths from -alcoholism, in proportion to population, since the year 1861. Most -persons will be amazed to find that this is the case, because the -drinking habit has certainly diminished; but when the habit becomes -so powerful and lasts so long as to be the direct cause of death, we -are able to see the dimensions of the most exaggerated form of <!-- Page 68 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>the -drink evil. The following figures are taken from the successive Reports -referred <span class="nospace">to:—</span></p> - -<table summary="Deaths from Alcoholism per million" border="0"> - <tr> - <th class="itbot">Average of - Years</th> - <th class="it">Deaths from Alcoholism<br /> - per Million living</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1861-1865</td> - <td class="tdcenter">41.6</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1866-1870</td> - <td class="tdcenter">35.4</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1871-1875</td> - <td class="tdcenter">37.6</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1876-1880</td> - <td class="tdcenter">42.4</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1881-1885</td> - <td class="tdcenter">48.2</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1886-1890</td> - <td class="tdcenter">56.0</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1891-1895</td> - <td class="tdcenter">67.8</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1896-1900</td> - <td class="tdcenter">85.8</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1901-1905</td> - <td class="tdcenter">78.4</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1906-1910</td> - <td class="tdcenter">54.6</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>There are some irregularities, the ratio being nearly equal for the -first twenty years, after which there is such a continuous large -increase that from 1876-80 to 1896-1900 the mortality is doubled, but -for the last ten years there has been a decrease, which in the last -five years is very marked.</p> - -<p>But a still worse and more disquieting feature is the recent large -increase of mortality from alcoholism in women. Figures for the -separate sexes were not <!-- Page 69 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>given till 1876, and the following table shows -the comparison up to <span class="nospace">1910:—</span></p> - -<table summary="Deaths from alcoholism by sex" border="0"> - <tr> - <th class="itbot">Average of Years</th> - <th class="it" colspan="2">Deaths from Alcoholism<br /> - per Million</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <th> </th> - <th class="it">Men</th> - <th class="it">Women</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1876-1880</td> - <td class="tdcenter">60.1</td> - <td class="tdcenter">24.0</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1881-1885</td> - <td class="tdcenter">66.6</td> - <td class="tdcenter">31.0</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1886-1890</td> - <td class="tdcenter">73.6</td> - <td class="tdcenter">39.2</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1891-1895</td> - <td class="tdcenter">86.6</td> - <td class="tdcenter">50.2</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1896-1900</td> - <td class="tdcenter">106.2</td> - <td class="tdcenter">66.6</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1901-1905</td> - <td class="tdcenter">95.0</td> - <td class="tdcenter">63.0</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1906-1910</td> - <td class="tdcenter">66.6</td> - <td class="tdcenter">43.6</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>These figures, however deplorable and startling in themselves, are as -nothing in comparison with what they imply. Death from drink, more -than in the case of any other disease, is the ultimate and rarely -attained result of the vice of habitual intoxication. Men and women may -greatly injure their health, ruin their families, and be disgraceful -drunkards, and yet not die of it, or make any near approach to doing -so. What is the proportion of those who are morally and physically -injured by drink to those who kill themselves by it, is, I suppose, -unknown, but I imagine that one in a thousand is, probably, too high -an estimate, and that one death <!-- Page 70 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>among ten thousand moderate drinkers -who also occasionally or frequently become intoxicated, would be nearer -the mark. This would imply an increase in the consumption of alcoholic -drinks, instead of which there has been an actual diminution. The fact -probably is that a very large number of moderate drinkers have ceased -to consume alcohol in any form, and this would account for a much -larger reduction in the total than has actually occurred.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, owing to the increase of those who are only casually -employed in our great cities, and whose one luxury is the excitement of -drink, a larger quantity of cheap, and injuriously adulterated spirits -and other liquors is consumed, which, combined with a deficiency of -wholesome food, leads more frequently to a fatal result.</p> - - -<h4>Increase of Suicide</h4> - -<p>The increase has been long known and generally admitted. It is supposed -to be largely due to the ever-increasing struggle for subsistence in -our great cities, the consequent increase of unemployment, and the -dread of the workhouse as the only <!-- Page 71 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>alternative to starvation. The -following are the figures for the last forty-five years for which -official data have been <span class="nospace">published:—</span></p> - -<table summary="Suicides per million" border="0"> - <tr> - <th class="itbot">Average of Years</th> - <th class="it">Deaths by Suicide<br /> - per Million living</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1866-1870</td> - <td class="tdrightpad">66.4</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1871-1875</td> - <td class="tdrightpad">66.0</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1876-1880</td> - <td class="tdrightpad">73.6</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1881-1885</td> - <td class="tdrightpad">73.8</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1886-1890</td> - <td class="tdrightpad">79.4</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1891-1895</td> - <td class="tdrightpad">88.6</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1896-1900</td> - <td class="tdrightpad">89.2</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1901-1905</td> - <td class="tdrightpad">100.6</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1906-1910</td> - <td class="tdrightpad">102.2</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>Such a table as this, occurring in a country which boasts of its -enormous wealth, of its ever-increasing commercial prosperity, of its -marvellous advance in science and the arts, and command of natural -forces, should, surely, give us pause, and force upon us the conviction -that there is something radically wrong in a social system which brings -about such terrible evils.</p> - -<p>And this should be the more certainly seen to be the case because the -same <!-- Page 72 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>increase is taking place in all those countries which approach us -in their wealth and their commercial prosperity.</p> - -<hr class="thoughtbreak" /> - -<p>There is a group of diseases which are fatal to infants soon after -birth. They have been steadily increasing during the last half-century, -and call for special notice here, as they seem to indicate physical -degeneration as well as personal immorality of a dangerous and perhaps -even a criminal nature.</p> - -<table summary="Infant mortality rate" border="0"> - <tr> - <th class="itbot">Five-year Average</th> - <th class="it" colspan="2">Proportion of Deaths<br /> - to 1,000 Births</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <th> </th> - <th class="it">Premature<br /> - Births</th> - <th class="it">Congenital<br /> - Defects</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1861-1865</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">11.19</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">1.76</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1866-1870</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">11.50</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">1.84</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1871-1875</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">12.60</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">1.85</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1876-1880</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">13.38</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">2.39</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1881-1885</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">14.18</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">3.23</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1886-1890</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">16.1</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">4.2</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1891-1895</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">18.4</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">4.7</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1896-1900</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">19.6</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">4.9</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1901-1905</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">20.2</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">5.9</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdleft">1906-1909</td> - <td class="tdleftpad1">20.0</td> - <td class="tdleftpad2">6.6</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>The large increase during the last forty-five years of very early -infantile deaths, involving abnormalities of mother <!-- Page 73 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>or child, seems -very significant. The first may be connected with the increasing -dislike of child-bearing, and unsuccessful attempts to avoid it. The -second indicates some injurious condition of life of the mother, such -as working at unhealthy or even deadly trades, which has certainly been -largely increasing during the same period. Such work for young married -women should be impossible in a civilised community.</p> - -<hr class="thoughtbreak" /> - -<p>On the vast subject of prostitution, of which the present movement for -the suppression of what is called "The White Slave Traffic" is but -one of the aspects, I do not propose to dwell, because I can find no -statistics to show whether it has increased or decreased during the -last century. But as the conditions have all been favourable for it, I -have little doubt that it has increased in proportion to population. -Such conditions are, the enormous growth of great cities; an increasing -number of unmarried and wealthy young men; with an enormous number of -girls and young women whose wages are insufficient to provide them with -the rational enjoyments of life.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 74 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -The proceedings of the Divorce Courts show other aspects of the result -of wealth and leisure; while a friend who had been a good deal in -London Society assured me that both in country houses and in London -various kinds of orgies were occasionally to be met with which could -hardly have been surpassed in the Rome of the most dissolute emperors.</p> - -<p>Of war, too, I need say nothing. It has always been more or less -chronic since the rise of the Roman Empire, but there is now -undoubtedly a disinclination for war among all civilised peoples. -Yet the vast burden of armaments, taken together with the most pious -declarations in favour of peace, must be held to show an almost total -absence of morality as a guiding principle among the governing classes. -In this respect, the increasing power of Labour-parties all over the -world seems to afford the only hope of a real moral advance.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 75 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> - <h2 class="nobreak">PART II.—THEORETICAL</h2> - - - - - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> - - <small>NATURAL SELECTION AMONG ANIMALS</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>While writing the present volume I was led to refer to it during some -of the numerous interviews on the occasion of my recent birthday. -This led to some misrepresentation of my views, and showed me how -few popular press-writers have any real knowledge of the nature and -extent of "natural selection," more especially as it affects the human -race. There is also the same ignorance as regards "heredity"; and this -latter has become almost a word to conjure with, and is thought by -most writers to explain many things to which it is quite inapplicable, -and as the present work is a very condensed argument founded to a -considerable extent upon these great natural laws, I propose devoting -two chapters to explaining and demonstrating the effect of <!-- Page 76 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>natural -selection in the case of the lower animals and of man respectively.</p> - -<p>That such an explanation is necessary may be seen from the following -extract from one of our most influential and well-written daily papers, -the <cite>Pall Mall Gazette</cite>. After referring to the view of the utter -rottenness of our present civilisation, it quotes me as saying: "And -the average of mankind will remain the same until natural selection -steps in to save it." (What I actually said to the interviewer was -"until some form of selection improves it.") The writer then goes on:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>"These words must have struck the interviewer like the crack of -doom. For, stated popularly, the theory of natural selection is -the doctrine of 'Devil take the hindmost.' If natural selection -had fair play there would be no Children's Care Committees; -there would be no Poor Law, no Hospitals; there would be no -Old Age Pensions. All the humanitarian effort to care for the -weak and to help them along the path of life, every effort to -bind up the broken-hearted, every combination of labour to -secure equality among the members of a trade, stand condemned -as futile or worse by the doctrine which Dr. Russel Wallace -thinks can alone raise the average of man. His own remedies -for the ills of society—the levelling up which he believes to -be impossible without levelling down, the disinheriting of the -unborn heir, the 'striking' which he applauds, the <!-- Page 77 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>universal -education which he favours—all these are directly antagonistic -to the workings of natural selection."</p></div> - -<p>Now, as I am credited by all my scientific friends with having -discovered the theory of natural selection more than fifty years ago, -and as the whole reading public have had this hammered into them with -needless repetition during the whole of that period, it is rather -amusing to be told now that I do not know what natural selection is, -nor what it implies. It is also a striking proof that the whole subject -is now held to be so old and commonplace as not to be worth studying by -a popular teacher before writing about it so strongly and dogmatically. -If he had done so he would not deliberately assert that I hold opinions -in regard to the matter which in several of my books I have shown the -fallacy of.</p> - -<p>I propose, therefore, to give here a short account of the essential -features of the theory of natural selection; how it has operated in -bringing about the evolution of the almost infinitely varied forms of -plants and of the lower animals; and also to explain as clearly as I -can why, and to what extent, it has acted differently in the case of -man.</p> - - -<p><!-- Page 78 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> -<h4>Lamarckism and Darwinism—How they Differ</h4> - -<p>The first great naturalist who put forward a detailed explanation of -how he supposed the varied forms of animal life to have been produced -was Lamarck, a contemporary of Buffon and Goethe, both of whom believed -in evolution but offered no explanation of how it could have been -brought about. Lamarck, however, suggested that the various organs -of animals were modified by voluntary effort producing increased -development, as when an antelope escapes from a lion by its swiftness, -which swiftness is increased by the straining of its limbs in flight; -while the long neck and fore-limbs of the giraffe were explained by the -continual stretching of these parts of the body to obtain foliage for -food during severe droughts. In addition to this other causes are at -work, as described in the following passage, translated or paraphrased -by Sir Charles Lyell in his <cite>Principles of Geology</cite>:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>"Every considerable alteration in the local conditions under -which each race of animals exists causes a change in their -wants, and these new wants excite them to new actions and -habits. These actions require the more frequent employment of -some parts <!-- Page 79 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>before but slightly exercised, and then greater -development follows as a consequence of their more frequent -use. Other organs, no longer in use, are impoverished and -diminished in size; nay, are sometimes entirely annihilated, -while in their place new parts are insensibly produced for the -discharge of new functions."</p></div> - -<p>Again, he says:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>"Thus otters, beavers, water-fowl, turtles, and frogs were -not made web-footed in order that they might swim; but their -wants having attracted them to the water in search of prey, -they stretched out the toes of their feet to strike the water -and move rapidly along its surface. By the repeated stretching -of their toes the skin which united them at the base acquired -a habit of extension, until, in the course of time, the broad -membranes which now connect their extremities were formed."</p></div> - -<p>In the case of plants, where no voluntary movements occur, the cause -of modification was said to be due almost exclusively to the change of -local conditions, as the various kinds of plants became dispersed over -the earth's surface. The influence of soil, of temperature, of light -and shade, are supposed to produce definite changes which are gradually -increased; just as plants long cultivated in our gardens have become so -changed that the wild progenitors cannot now be recognised.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 80 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -Sir Charles Lyell, who made a careful study of Lamarck's great work, -notes especially that the whole of the argument is vague and general, -and that no cases are given in which is shown how the alleged causes -can be supposed to have acted so as to bring about the innumerable -changes that must have occurred. What is more important, however, is -the failure to explain how the numerous minute adaptations of each -species to its environment could have arisen by the direct action of -that environment—in plants, the infinitely varied forms of leaves, -flowers, and fruits; in animals, the forms and sizes of the teeth of -mammalia and of the beaks, wings and feet of birds to the food they -obtain; while the enormous range of colour and marking in most groups -of animals are such as no amount of desire or exertion on the one -hand, or direct action of external causes on the other, could possibly -have brought about. It is not, therefore, surprising that, although -a vast amount of evidence was adduced to show that changes had taken -place leading to the evolution of species from pre-existing species, -yet causes adequate to bring about the changes, and especially those -necessary to produce the marvellous adaptations <!-- Page 81 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>continually being -discovered, had not been shown to exist.</p> - -<p>It is necessary to point this out, because the difference between the -almost universal rejection of Lamarck's attempted solution of the -problem of evolution, and the almost immediate and universal acceptance -of that adduced by Darwin, is otherwise unexplained. The belief in the -doctrine of evolution as the only rational explanation of the gradual -development of the innumerable forms of living things became more and -more general. The great body of arguments in its favour were admirably -set forth by Robert Chambers in his <cite>Vestiges of Creation</cite>, published -anonymously in 1844; while Herbert Spencer's masterly exposition of -the argument for universal evolution convinced a large number of -naturalists and men of science. But still the nature of the laws and -forces by which the evolution of the organic world in all its variety -and beauty, could have been brought about remained not only unknown -but unimagined, so that even so great a thinker as Sir John Herschel -termed it "the mystery of mysteries." I will now state as briefly as -possible the essential features of Darwin's solution of the mystery in -his epoch-making work, <cite>The Origin of Species</cite>.</p> - - -<p><!-- Page 82 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> -<h4>Natural Selection as the Essential Factor in the Origin of Species</h4> - -<p>There are two great, universal, and very conspicuous characteristics of -the whole organic world which, because they are so very common, were -almost ignored before Darwin showed their importance. These are (1) the -great <em>variability</em> in all common and widespread species, and (2) their -enormous powers of <em>increase</em>.</p> - -<p>The facts of variability are recorded in every book on Darwinism or -on organic evolution, and it is only necessary here to appeal to -the reader's own observation or to state a few illustrative facts. -Everybody sees that among a hundred or a thousand people he knows or -frequently meets no two are alike. This is <em>variability</em>. He also -knows that the amount of the differences between them is often very -large, and always, if you have any two of them side by side, easily -perceptible and capable of being described. He also knows that they -differ in every part and organ that can be seen: the height, the bulk -of body; the shape of the hands, feet, head, ears, nose, and mouth; the -proportions of the legs, arms, and body to each other; the <!-- Page 83 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>abundance -and character of the hair—coarse or fine, straight or curly, and -of all colours between flaxen and intense black. To declare that -variability among men and women, even of the same race and in the same -country, is a rare phenomenon, and that in amount it is infinitesimal, -would be a ludicrous misstatement of the facts or a wilful perversion -of the truth. But, as regards animals or plants in a state of nature, -this misstatement has been made and has been used as an argument -against the Darwinian theory. It is, however, now well known, as a -matter of direct observation and measurement, that when a few scores -or hundreds of individuals are compared, even in the same district and -at the same season, they differ in their proportions to about the same -amount, and to some extent in every visible part or organ, as do human -beings.</p> - -<p>This, however, was not well known when Darwin collected the materials -for his various works, and he even sometimes makes the proviso—"if -they vary, for without variation selection can do nothing"; and this -has been taken as an admission that variation is a rare instead of -being a universal phenomenon. He <!-- Page 84 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>also often spoke of the accumulation -of <em>small</em> or <em>minute</em> variations, and this has led to the statement -that variations are <em>infinitesimal</em> in amount, and therefore could, at -first, be of no use to the possessor in the struggle for existence.</p> - - -<h4>Rapid Increase of All Organisms</h4> - -<p>This is another fact of Nature which requires to be kept in mind in -all discussions of the action of natural selection, yet it is often -altogether ignored by critics of the theory. As an illustrative fact, -a not uncommon European weed of the Cruciferæ family has been found -to produce about 700,000 seeds on a single plant, whence it can be -calculated that if every seed had room to grow for three successive -years their produce would cover a space of about 2,000 times as large -as the whole land surface of the globe. Some of the minute aquatic -forms of life which increase by division in a few hours would, if they -all had the means of living, in the same period occupy a space equal to -that of the entire solar system. Even the largest and slowest breeding -of all known mammals, i.e. the elephant, would, if <!-- Page 85 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>allowed space to -live and breed freely for 750 years, result in no less than nineteen -million animals.</p> - -<p>By far the larger part of the criticisms of Darwinism by popular -writers are due to their continually forgetting these two great natural -facts: enormous <em>variability</em> about a <em>mean value</em> of every part and -organ; and such ever-present powers of multiplication that, even in -the case of vertebrate animals, of those born every year only a small -proportion—one-tenth to one-hundredth or thereabouts—live over the -second year. If they all lived their numbers would go on continually -increasing, which we know is not the case. Hence arises what has been -termed "the struggle for existence," resulting in "the survival of the -fittest."</p> - -<p>This "struggle for life" is either against the forces of inorganic or -those of organic nature. Among the former are storms, floods, intense -cold, long-continued droughts, or violent blizzards, all of which take -toll of the weaker or less wary individuals of each species—those that -are less adapted to survive such conditions. In judging how this would -act, we must always remember the enormous <!-- Page 86 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>scale on which Nature works, -and that although now and then a few of the weaker individuals may live -and a few of the stronger be killed, yet when we deal with hundreds -of millions, of which eighty or ninety millions inevitably die every -year while about ten or twenty millions only survive, it is impossible -to believe that those which survive, not one year only but year after -year throughout the whole existence of each species, are not on the -average better adapted to the complex conditions of their environment -than those which succumb to it. It is a mere truism that the <em>fittest -survive</em>.</p> - -<p>Exactly the same thing occurs in the case of the organic environment, -to which each species must also be well adapted in order to live. The -two great essentials for animal existence are, to obtain abundant -food through successive years, and to be able to escape from their -various enemies. When food is scarce the strongest, or those who -can feed quickest and digest more rapidly, or those that can detect -food at greater distances or reach it more quickly, will have the -advantage. Enemies are escaped by strength, by swiftness, by acute -vision, by wariness, <!-- Page 87 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>or by colours which conceal the various species -in their natural surroundings; and those which possess these or any -other advantages will in the long run survive. The weaker, the less -well-defended, and the smaller species often have special protection, -such as nocturnal habits, making burrows in the earth, possessing -poisonous stings or fangs, being covered with protective armour; while -great numbers are coloured or marked so as exactly to correspond with -their surroundings, and are thus concealed from their chief enemies.</p> - - -<h4>Natural Selection, or Survival of the Fittest</h4> - -<p>It may be here noted that the term "Natural Selection," which has often -been misunderstood, was suggested to Darwin by the way in which almost -all our varieties of cultivated plants and domestic animals have been -obtained from wild forms continually improved for many generations. The -method is to breed large quantities, and always preserve or "select" -the best in each generation to be the parents of the next. This -method, carried on by hundreds of farmers, <!-- Page 88 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>gardeners, dog, horse or -poultry breeders, and especially by pigeon-fanciers, has resulted in -all those useful, beautiful and even wonderful varieties of fruits, -vegetables and flowers, dray-horses and hunters, greyhounds, spaniels -and bull-dogs, cows which give large quantities of the richest milk, -and sheep with the greatest quantity and finest quality of wool. All -these were produced gradually for the special purposes of mankind; but -a similar result has been effected by Nature through rapid increase, -great variability, and continual destruction of all the individuals -less adapted to the conditions of their special environment, so that -only the strongest or the swiftest, the best-concealed or the most -wary, the best armed with teeth, horns, hoofs or claws, those who could -swim best, or those that protected each other by keeping in flocks or -herds—lived the longest and tended to improve still further the next -generation. "Survival of the fittest" was suggested by Herbert Spencer -as best describing exactly what happens, and it is a most useful -descriptive term which should always be kept in mind when discussing -or investigating the process by which the <!-- Page 89 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>infinitely varied and -beautiful productions of Nature have been developed. There is really -not one single part or organ of any plant or animal that cannot have -been derived by means of the fundamental facts of variability and -reproduction from some allied plant or animal.</p> - -<p>It is interesting here to note, that the two <em>essential factors</em> of the -process of constant adaptation to the environment by great variability -and rapid multiplication, formed no part of Lamarck's theory, which -some people still think to be as good as Darwin's. Equally suggestive -is the fact that, while extensive groups of life-phenomena, such as -colour, weapons, hair, scales, and feathers, can hardly be conceived as -having been produced or modified by <em>effort</em> or by the direct action of -the environment, they are yet, every one of them, perfectly explained -by the fundamental and necessary processes of variability and survival, -acting slowly and continuously, but with intermittent periods of -extreme activity at long intervals, on all living things.</p> - -<p>One of the weakest and most foolish of all the objections to the -Darwinian theory is, that it does not explain <em>variation</em>, <!-- Page 90 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>and is -therefore worthless. We might as well say that Newton's discovery of -the laws of gravitation was worthless because its <em>cause</em> was not and -has not yet been discovered; or that the undulatory theory of light -and heat is worthless, because the origin of the ether, the thing -that <em>undulates</em>, is not known. The <em>beginnings</em> of things can never -be known; and, as Darwin well said, it is foolish to waste time in -speculation about them. I think I have shown in my <cite>World of Life</cite> -that infinite variability is a basic law of Nature, and have suggested -its probable purpose. That purpose seems to have been the development -of a life-world culminating in Man—a being capable of studying, and -enjoying, and to some extent comprehending, the vast universe around -him, from the microscopic life in almost every drop of water to the -whirling nebulæ of the glittering star-depths extending to almost -unimaginable distances around him.</p> - -<p>Looking at him thus, man is as much above, and as different from, the -beasts that perish as they are above and beyond the inanimate masses of -meteoritic matter which, as we now know, occupy the apparently <!-- Page 91 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>vacant -spaces of our solar system, and from which comets and stars are in all -probability the aggregations due to the action of the various cosmic -forces which everywhere seem capable of producing variety and order out -of a more uniform but less orderly chaos.</p> - -<p>But besides this lofty intellect, man is gifted with what we term a -moral sense: an insistent perception of justice and injustice, of right -and wrong, of order and beauty and truth, which as a whole constitute -his moral and æsthetic nature, the origin and progress of which I have -endeavoured to throw some light upon in the present volume. The long -course of human history leads us to the conclusion that this higher -nature of man arose at some far distant epoch, and though it has -developed in various directions, does not seem yet to have elevated the -whole race much above its earliest condition, at the time when, by the -influx of some portion of the spirit of the Deity, man became "a living -soul."</p> - -<p>We will now consider some of the changes which this higher nature of -man has produced in the action of the laws of variation and natural -selection. These are <!-- Page 92 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>very important, and are so little understood that -almost all popular writers on the subject of the future of mankind are -led into stating as scientific conclusions what are wholly opposed to -the actual teaching of evolution.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 93 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> - - <small>SELECTION AS MODIFIED BY MIND</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>The theory of natural selection as expounded by Darwin was so -completely successful in explaining the origin of the almost infinitely -varied forms of the organic world, step by step, during the long -succession of the geological ages, that it was naturally supposed to be -equally applicable to mankind. This was thought to be almost certain -when, in his later work, <cite>The Descent of Man</cite>, Darwin proved by a -series of converging facts and convincing arguments that the physical -structure of man was in all its parts and organs so extremely similar -to that of the anthropoid apes as to demonstrate the descent of both -from some common ancestor.</p> - -<p>So close is this resemblance that every bone and muscle in the human -body has its counterpart in that of the apes, the only differences -being slight modifications in their shape and position; yet these -differences lead to external forms, attitudes, and <!-- Page 94 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>modes of life so -divergent that we can hardly recognise the close affinity that really -exists. This affinity is so real and unmistakable that such a great -and conservative zoologist as the late Sir Richard Owen declared that -to discover and define any important differences between them was -the anatomist's difficulty. It was in the dimensions, the shape, and -the proportions of the brain that Owen found a sufficient amount of -distinctive characters to enable him to place Man in a separate order -of mammals—Bimana, or two-handed—while the remainder of the whole -monkey tribe—including the apes, baboons, monkeys, and lemurs—formed -the order Quadrumana, or four-handed animals. This classification has -been rejected by most modern biologists, who consider man to form a -distinct family only—Hominidæ—of the order Primates, which order -includes all four-handed animals as well as man.</p> - -<p>But if we recognise the brain as the organ of the mind, and give due -weight to the complete distinctness and enormous superiority of the -mind of man as compared with that of all other mammals, we shall be -inclined to accept Owen's view as the most natural; and this becomes -almost certain <!-- Page 95 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>when we realise the enormous effect his mind has -produced, in modifying and almost neutralising the action of that great -law of natural selection which has held supreme sway in every other -portion of the organic world.</p> - -<p>We have seen in the preceding chapter how every form of organic life -during all the vast extent of geological time has been subject to the -law of natural selection, which has incessantly moulded their bodily -form and structure, external and internal, in strict adaptation to -the successive changes of the world around them; while that world was -itself hardly, if at all, modified by them. A few isolated cases—such -as the formation of islands by the coral-forming zoophytes, or the -damming of a few rivers by the rude though very remarkable labours of -the beaver—can hardly be considered as forming exceptions to this law.</p> - -<p>But so soon as man appeared upon the earth, even in the earliest -periods at which we have any proofs of his existence, or in the -lowest state of barbarism in which we are now able to study him, we -find him able to use and act upon the forces of Nature, and to modify -his environment, both inorganic and organic, in ways which <!-- Page 96 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>formed a -completely new departure in the entire organic world.</p> - -<p>Among the very rudest of modern savages the wounded or the sick are -assisted, at least with food and shelter, and often in other ways, -so that they recover under circumstances that to most of the higher -animals would be fatal. Neither does less robust health or vigour, or -even the loss of a limb or of eyesight, necessarily entail death. The -less fit are therefore not eliminated as among all other animals; and -we behold, for the first time in the history of the world, the great -law of natural selection by the survival only of "the fittest" to some -extent neutralised.</p> - -<p>But this is only the first and least important of the effects produced -by the superior faculties of man. In the whole animal world, as we have -seen, every species is preserved in harmony with the slowly changing -environment by modifications of its own organs or faculties, thus -gradually leading to the production of new species equally adapted to -the new environment as its ancestor was before the change occurred.</p> - -<p>In the case of man, however, such bodily adaptations were unnecessary, -because his greatly superior mind enabled him to meet <!-- Page 97 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>all such -difficulties in a new and different way. As soon as his specially -human faculties were developed (and we have as yet no knowledge of -him in any earlier condition), he would cease to be influenced by -natural selection in his physical form and structure. Looked at as -a mere animal he would remain almost stationary, the changes in the -surrounding universe ceasing to produce in him that powerful modifying -effect which they exercise over all other members of the entire organic -world. In order to protect himself from the larger and fiercer of the -mammalia he made use of weapons, such as stone-headed clubs, wooden -spears, bows and arrows, and various kinds of traps and snares, all of -which are exceedingly effective when families or larger groups combine -in their use. Against the severity of the seasons he protected himself -with a clothing of skins, and with some form of shelter or well-built -house, in which he could rest securely at night, free from tempestuous -rains or the attacks of wild beasts. By the use of fire he was enabled -to render both roots and flesh more palatable and more digestible, thus -increasing the variety and abundance of his food far beyond that of any -species of the lower animals. Yet <!-- Page 98 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>further, by the simplest forms of -cultivation, he was able to increase the best of the fruits, the roots, -the tubers, as well as the more nutritious of the seeds, such as those -of rice and maize, of wheat and of barley, thus securing in convenient -proximity to his dwelling-place an abundance of food to supply all his -wants and render him almost always secure against scarcity or famine or -disastrous droughts.</p> - -<p>We see, then, that with the advent of Man there had come into -existence a being in whom that subtle force we term <em>mind</em> became of -far more importance than mere bodily structure. Though with a naked -and unprotected body, <em>this</em> gave him clothing against the varied -inclemencies of the seasons. Though unable to compete with the deer in -swiftness or with the wild bull in strength, <em>this</em> gave him weapons -with which to capture or overcome both. Though less capable than most -other animals of living on the herbs and the fruits that unaided Nature -supplies, this wonderful faculty taught him to govern and direct Nature -to his own benefit, and compelled her to produce food for him almost -where and when he pleased. From the moment when the first skin was used -as a covering, <!-- Page 99 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>when the first rude spear was formed to assist him in -the chase, when fire was first used to cook his food, when the first -seed was sown or shoot planted, a grand revolution was effected in -Nature—a revolution which in all previous ages of the earth's history -had had no parallel. A being had arisen who was no longer subject to -bodily change with changes of the physical universe—a being who was in -some degree superior to Nature, inasmuch as he knew how to control and -regulate her action, and could keep himself in harmony with her, not -through any change in his body, but by means of his vast superiority in -mind.</p> - -<hr class="thoughtbreak" /> - -<p>The view above expounded of the transference of the action of natural -selection from the bodily structure to the mind of early man was my -first original modification of that theory, having been communicated to -the <cite>Anthropological Review</cite> in 1864. It received the approval both of -Darwin himself and of Herbert Spencer, and I am not aware that anyone -has shown any flaw in the reasoning by which it is established. It is -certainly of high importance, since if true it renders impossible any -important change in the external form of mankind, <!-- Page 100 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>while it serves -as an explanation of the complete identity of specific type of the -three great races of man—the Caucasian or white, the Mongolian or -yellow, and the Negroid or black—in every essential of human form and -structure, while in their best examples they approach very nearly to -the same ideal of symmetry and of beauty. Yet so little attention has -been given to this view that most popular and even some scientific -writers take it for granted that no such difference exists between man -and the lower animals. They assume that we are destined to have our -bodies modified in the remote future in some unknown way, and that the -idea that there is anything approaching final perfection in the human -form is a mere figment of the imagination.</p> - -<p>Others are so imbued with the universality of natural selection as -a beneficial law of Nature that they object to our interfering with -its action in, as they urge, the elimination of the unfit by disease -and death, even when such diseases are caused by the insanitary -conditions of our modern cities or the misery and destitution due -to our irrational and immoral social system. Such writers entirely -ignore the undoubted fact that affection, sympathy, compassion <!-- Page 101 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>form -as essential a part of human nature as do the higher intellectual and -moral faculties; that in the very earliest periods of history and among -the very lowest of existing savages they are fully manifested, not -merely between the members of the same family, but throughout the whole -tribe, and also in most cases to every stranger who is not a known or -imagined enemy. The earliest book of travels I remember hearing read -by my father was that of Mungo Park, one of the first explorers of the -Niger. He was once alone and sick there, and some negro women nursed -him, fed him, and saved his life; and while lying in their hut he heard -them singing about him as the poor white man, of whom they <span class="nospace">said:—</span></p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"He has no mother to give him milk,</div> - <div class="line indentq">No wife to grind his corn."</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Hospitality is, in fact, one of the most general of all human virtues, -and in some cases is almost a religion. It is an inherent part of -what constitutes "human nature," and it is directly antagonistic to -the rigid law of natural selection which has universally prevailed -throughout the lower animal world. Those who advocate our allowing -<!-- Page 102 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>natural selection to have free play among ourselves on the ground that -we are interfering with Nature, are totally ignorant of what they are -talking about. It is Nature herself, untaught, unsophisticated <em>human</em> -nature, which they are seeking to interfere with. They seek to degrade -the higher nature to the level of the lower, to bring down Heaven-born -humanity, in its essential characteristics only a little lower than the -angels, to the infinitely lower level of the beasts that perish.</p> - -<hr class="thoughtbreak" /> - -<p>The conclusion reached in the earlier portion of this volume, that the -higher intellectual and moral nature of man has been approximately -stationary during the whole period of human history, and that the cause -of the phenomenon has been the absence of any selective agency adequate -to increase it, renders it necessary to give some further explanation -as to the probable or possible origin of this higher nature, and also -of that admirable human body which also appears to have reached a -condition of permanent stability.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 103 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> - - <small>THE LAWS OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>In dealing with the great problems of organic development there is -probably no department in which so much error and misconception -prevails as on the nature and limitations of Heredity. These -misconceptions not only pervade most popular writings on the subject -of evolution, but even those of men of science and of specialists in -biology, and they are the more important and dangerous because their -promulgators are able to quote Herbert Spencer, and to a less extent -Darwin, as holding similar views.</p> - -<p>The subject is of special importance here because it involves the -question of whether the effects of the environment, including education -and training, are in any degree transmitted from the individuals so -modified to their progeny—whether they are or are not cumulative. -It is, in fact, the much discussed and vitally important problem of -the Heredity <!-- Page 104 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>of Acquired Characters. The effects of use and disuse, -another form of the same general phenomenon, were assumed by Lamarck to -be inherited, and a large portion of his theory of evolution rested on -this assumption; it seemed so probable, and was apparently supported by -so many facts, that Darwin, like most other naturalists at the time, -accepted it without any special inquiry, and when he worked out his -theory of Pangenesis in order to explain the main facts of heredity, -his suppositions were adapted to include such phenomena. Let us then -first explain what is meant by the "acquired characters" which it was -thought that a true theory of heredity must explain.</p> - -<p>As a rule, the great majority of the peculiarities of any species -of animal or plant are constantly reproduced in its offspring. The -short tail of the wren, the much longer tail of the long-tailed tit, -the crest of the crested tit and of innumerable other birds, always -when full-grown exhibit the same characters as in their parents. -These are said to be <em>innate</em> characters. In rare cases, however, -offspring are born which differ materially from their parents, as when -a white <!-- Page 105 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>blackbird or a six-toed kitten appears, but these are equally -<em>innate</em>, and are often strongly inherited. All these are subject -to variation, and can therefore be modified by selection, whether -natural or artificial, and the effects of such selection in the case of -domestic animals is often enormous. Such are the pouters and tumblers -among pigeons, the bull-dog and the greyhound, the numerous breeds of -poultry, all of which are known to have been produced by artificial -selections of favourable variations extending over many centuries; and -the characters of these varieties are all strongly inherited.</p> - -<p>Characters which are acquired during the life of the individual owing -to differences in the use of certain organs or of exposure to light, -heat, drought, wind, moisture, etc., are comparatively very slight, -and are liable to be so combined with <em>innate</em> characters and with the -effects of natural or artificial selection, that it is exceedingly -difficult to ascertain, without such careful and long-continued -experiments as have not yet been made, whether they are in any degree -transmissible from parent to offspring, and therefore cumulative.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 106 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -Almost every individual case of supposed inheritance of such -characters, when carefully examined, has been found to be explicable -in other ways; but there is a very large amount of <em>general</em> evidence, -demonstrating that even if a certain small amount of such inheritance -exists, it can certainly not be a factor of any importance in the -process of organic evolution, all the factors of which must be -universally present because the process itself is universal. I will -therefore here limit myself to a short enumeration of a few of the -very numerous cases in which the continued use of an organ does not -strengthen or improve it, but often the reverse; and of others in which -it cannot be asserted that the action of the environment can have had -any part whatever in the continuous change or specialisation of the -part or organ. The number, size, form, position, and composition of -the teeth of all the mammalia are extremely varied, and throughout -the whole class afford the best characters to distinguish family and -generic groups; they are therefore of great value in determining the -affinities of extinct forms, because the jaws and teeth, especially -the latter, are most frequently <!-- Page 107 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>preserved. But as the permanent teeth -are always fully formed while buried in the jawbones and covered by -the gums, it is quite certain that the special adaptation of the teeth -of each species to seize, crush, tear, or grind up its particular food -cannot possibly have been produced by the act of feeding, the effect -of which is almost always to grind away the teeth and render them less -serviceable. Such adaptation could not possibly have been produced -by <em>use</em> alone, or any other direct action of the environment. Yet, -as the adaptation is clear, and often very remarkable, some eminent -palæontologists have declared it to be proved that the changes in -them were <em>produced</em> by the changes in the environment, and that -they constitute very strong evidence of the "inheritance of acquired -characters"—a statement unsupported by any direct evidence.</p> - -<p>The same objection applies to most of the special organs of sense. -The internal organ of hearing is a highly complex series of bones and -membranes, protected by the outer ear; but it cannot be even imagined -to have been gradually developed by the action of the air waves the -<!-- Page 108 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>vibrations of which it conveys to the brain.</p> - -<p>The eye is a still more striking case, as too much use injures or even -destroys it; while specialities of vision, as long or short sight, are -undoubtedly <em>innate</em>, and usually persist throughout life.</p> - -<p>So the wonderfully varied bills of birds cannot be conceived as having -been modified by use, and are, in fact, unchangeable when once formed. -Yet, as they vary largely in every species, they are readily modified, -so as to become adapted to new conditions by the "survival of the -fittest."</p> - -<p>Equally impossible is it to connect any use or disuse, or environmental -action, in the production, the gradual development, or complete -adaptation to their conditions of life of the outer coverings of almost -all living things—the hair of mammalia, the feathers of birds, the -scales or horny skins or solid shields of reptiles, the solid shells -of molluscs, wonderfully ribbed or spined, whorled, or turreted, and -infinitely varied in surface colour and markings. Even more conclusive -are the facts presented by the vast hosts of the insect world, from -the massive armour of <!-- Page 109 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>the ever-present beetle tribe, more varied in -form, structure, ornament, and colour than any other comparable group -of living things, to the widely different lepidoptera, equalling, or -perhaps surpassing, the whole class of birds in their marvellous grace -and beauty, yet all utterly beyond any possible direct action of the -environment or of use and disuse in their development, and their close -adaptation to that environment.</p> - -<p>Organic nature is indisputably one and indivisible. It has been -developed throughout by means of the fundamental <em>forces</em> of life, -of growth and reproduction, and the equally fundamental <em>laws</em> of -variation, heredity, and enormous increase, resulting in a perpetual -adaptation in form, structure, colour, and habits to the slowly -changing environment. These forces and laws are <em>universal</em> in their -action; they are demonstrably adequate to the production of the whole -of the phenomena we are now discussing. We see, then, that over by -far the greater part of the whole world of life any modification -of external structure, form, or colouring during the life of the -individual is impossible; while in the remainder its action, if it -<!-- Page 110 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>exists at all, is of very limited range. No adequate <em>proof</em> of the -inheritance of the slight changes thus caused has ever yet been given, -and it is therefore wholly unnecessary and illogical to assume its -existence and to adduce it as having any part in the ever-active and -universal process of evolution.</p> - -<p>Throughout the whole series of the animal world, and especially in the -higher groups which approach nearest to ourselves, mental and physical -characters are so inextricably intermixed in their relation to the -laws of evolution and heredity, that either of them studied separately -leads us to the same conclusions. We are not, therefore, surprised to -find that breeders of animals of all kinds act upon the principle that -all the qualities of the various stocks, whether bodily or mental, -are <em>innate</em> and have been due to selection; while training, though -necessary to bring out the good qualities of the individual, has had -no part in the <em>production</em> of those qualities. When a horse or dog of -good pedigree is accidentally injured so that it cannot be regularly -trained, it is still used for breeding purposes without any doubt as to -its conveying to <!-- Page 111 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>its progeny the highest qualities of its parentage.</p> - -<p>In the case of the human race, however, many writers thoughtlessly -speak of the hereditary effects of strength or skill due to any -mechanical work or special art being continued generation after -generation in the same family, as among the castes of India. But of -any progressive improvement there is no evidence whatever. Those -children who had a natural aptitude for the work would, of course, form -the successors of their parents, and there is no proof of anything -hereditary except as regards this <em>innate</em> aptitude.</p> - -<p>Many people are alarmed at the statement that the effects of education -and training are <em>not</em> hereditary, and think that if that were really -the case there would be no hope of improvement of the race; but closer -consideration will show them that if the results of our education in -the widest sense, in the home, in the shop, in the nation, and in the -world at large, had really been hereditary, even in the slightest -degree, then indeed there would be little hope for humanity; and there -is no clearer proof of this than the fact that we have not <em>all</em> been -made much worse—the wonder <!-- Page 112 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>being that any fragment of morality, or -humanity, or the love of truth or justice for their own sakes still -exists among us.</p> - -<hr class="thoughtbreak" /> - -<p>If we glance through the past history of mankind we see an almost -unbroken succession of aggression and combat between the various races, -nations, and tribes. We can dimly see that this continual struggle did -lead to a rather severe process of selection, as in the lower animal -world. It can hardly be doubted that as a result of these struggles the -strongest physically, the most ingenious in the use of weapons, and -the best organised for war did survive, and that the weaker and lower -were either exterminated or kept as slaves by the conquerors. This -leads to alternation of success and failure. We see great conquerors -and great material civilisations as a result of their accumulations -of wealth and of slaves. Then, for a time, luxury and the arts -flourished, and with them came rulers who encouraged degradation and -vice at home, supported by more and more remote conquests. Then new -conquerors arose, often lower in civilisation—barbarians, as they were -termed—but higher in the simple domestic <!-- Page 113 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>virtues and a more natural -life of productive labour. These again, or some portions of them, rose -to luxury and civilisation, to lives of gross sensuality and the most -cruel despotism, till outraged humanity raised up new conquerors to go -over again the old terrible routine.</p> - -<p>The periods of culmination of these old civilisations, founded always -on conquest, massacre, and slavery, are marked out for us by the ruins -of great cities, temples, and palaces, often of wonderful grandeur, and -with indications of arts, science, and literature which still excite -our admiration in Egypt and India, Greece and Rome; and thence through -the Middle Ages down to our own time. But the inhumanities and horrors -of these periods are inconceivable. A gloomy picture of them is given -in that powerful book, <cite>The Martyrdom of Man</cite>, by Winwood Reade; and -they are summarised in Burns' fine lines:</p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"Man's inhumanity to man</div> - <div class="line indentq">Makes countless thousands mourn."</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Think of the horrors of war in the perpetual wars of those days before -the "Red Cross" service did anything to <!-- Page 114 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>alleviate them. Think of the -old castles, many of which had besides the dungeons a salaried torturer -and executioner. Think of the systematic tortures of the centuries, of -the witchcraft mania and of the Inquisition. Think of the burnings in -Smithfield and in every great city of Europe. Think of</p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"Truth for ever on the scaffold,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Wrong for ever on the throne."</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Freedom of speech, even of thought, were everywhere crimes: how, -then, did the love of truth survive as an ideal of to-day? To escape -these horrors, the gentle, the good, the learned, and the peaceful -had to seek refuge in monasteries and nunneries, while by means of -the celibacy of the clergy the Church, as Galton tells us, "by a -policy singularly unwise and suicidal, brutalised the breed of our -forefathers."</p> - -<p>Here was the actual <em>education</em> of the world as man rose from barbarism -to civilisation, and it was accompanied by a certain amount of -retrograde selection by the cruel punishments, confinement in dungeons, -or torture and death of those who opposed the rulers, and by the -survival of the worst tools of the lords and tyrants. <!-- Page 115 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>Ought we not to -be thankful that such education and custom, the varied influences of -such an environment, <em>were not</em> hereditary? And is not the fact that -the whole world has <em>not</em> become utterly degraded, and that anything -good remains in our cruelly oppressed human nature, an overwhelming -proof that such influences <em>are not</em> hereditary?</p> - -<p>When we remember that many of these degrading laws and customs, -oppressions, and punishments have extended down to our own times; that -the terrible slave-trade and the equally terrible slavery have only -been abolished within the memory of many of us; and that the system -of wage-slavery, the distinction of classes, the gross inequality of -the law, the overwork of our labouring millions, the immoral luxury -and idleness of our upper-class thousands, while far more thousands -die annually of want of the bare necessaries of life; that millions -have their lives shortened by easily preventable causes, while other -millions pass their whole lives in continuous and almost inhuman labour -in order to provide means for the enjoyments and pernicious luxuries of -the rich—we must be amazed at the fact that there is nevertheless so -much real <!-- Page 116 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>goodness, real humanity, among us as certainly exists, in -spite of all the degrading influences that I have been compelled here -to enumerate.</p> - -<p>To myself, there seems only one explanation of the very remarkable and -almost incredible result just stated. It is, that the Divine nature -in us—that portion of our higher nature which raises us above the -brutes, and the influx of which makes us men—cannot be lost, cannot -even be permanently deteriorated by conditions however adverse, by -training however senseless and bad. It ever remains in us, the central -and essential portion of our <em>human</em> nature, ready to respond to every -favourable opportunity that arises, to grasp and hold firm every -fragment of high thought or noble action that has been brought to its -notice, to oppose even to the death every falsehood in teaching, every -tyranny in action. The ethics of Plato and of the great moralists of -the Ciceronian epoch, together with those of Jesus and of His disciples -and followers, kept alive the sacred flame of pure humanity, and their -preservation constitutes perhaps the greatest service the monastic -system rendered to the human race. This service is finely expressed by -an <!-- Page 117 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>almost unknown poet, J. H. Dell, in the prefatory to his volume, -<cite>The Dawning Grey</cite>. Never has our indebtedness to the classical writers -been more powerfully insisted on than in the following <span class="nospace">lines:—</span></p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"Hear ye not the measured footfalls echoing solemn and sublime,</div> - <div class="line indentq">From the groves of Academus down the avenues of Time;</div> - <div class="line indentq">See'st thou not the giant figures of the Sages of the Past,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Through the darken'd long perspective on the living foreground cast;</div> - <div class="line indentq">Feel'st thou not the thrilling rhythm of the grand old Grecian line,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Pulsing to the march of Progress, cadencing her hymn divine,</div> - <div class="line indentq">All the forces of the present by the subtle sparks controlled,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Of the quickening Grecian fire, of the mighty Lights of old.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"Through the dark and desolation of the centuries between,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Still 'The Porch's' glories glimmer, still 'The Garden's' wreaths are green.</div> - <div class="line indentq">Still the Zeno, still the Plato, still the Pyrrho points the page,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Still the Philip fears the pebble—still Melitus dreads the Sage,</div> - <div class="line indentq">Still the Dionysius trembles at the stylus of the age.</div> - <!-- Page 118 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> - <div class="line indentq">Still the dauntless ranks of Freedom kindle to Tyrtæus' song;</div> - <div class="line indentq">Still they bear aloft the symbol—bear the glorious torch along."<a name="FNanchor_118:A_6" id="FNanchor_118:A_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_118:A_6" class="fnanchor">[118:A]</a></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_118:A_6" id="Footnote_118:A_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118:A_6"><span class="label">[118:A]</span></a> See <a href="#Note_p124">Note</a> on page 124.</p> -</div> - -<p>If the Christian Church had done nothing for us but preserve in its -monasteries and abbeys the finest examples of classic literature -that have come down to us, and given us those glories of Gothic -architecture which seem to express in stone the grandeur and sublimity, -the peacefulness and the beauty of a pure religion, it would, -notwithstanding its many defects, its cruelty and oppression, its -opposition to the study of nature and to freedom of thought, have fully -justified its existence as helping us to realise whatever more advanced -and purer civilisation the immediate future may have in store for us.</p> - - -<h4>Some Light on the Problem of Evil</h4> - -<p>Before passing on to another branch of my subject I feel it necessary -to make a few suggestions in reply to the objection that will certainly -and very properly be made, as to why, if our higher human nature -is in its essence Divine, it has suffered such long and terrible -eclipses—why has the lower <!-- Page 119 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>so often and for so long prevailed over -the higher? This is, of course, one of the many forms of the old -problem of the origin of evil, which is no doubt insoluble by us. But -as it is a fairly well-defined and limited portion of that problem it -may be possible to obtain some idea of a possible solution, and as such -an one has occurred to myself during the composition of the present -volume, I will give it as briefly as possible in the hope that it may -interest some of my readers.</p> - -<p>In my recent works, <cite>Man's Place in the Universe</cite> and <cite>The World of -Life</cite>, the conclusion was forced upon me, that the scheme of the -development of the universe of stars and nebulæ with which we are -acquainted, and especially of our sun and solar system, was such as to -furnish the exact conditions on our earth, and there only, which should -allow of the origin and evolution of the organic world culminating in -man. Yet further, that the conditions should be such as to produce the -maximum of diversity both of inorganic and organic products useful -to man, and such as would aid in the development of the greatest -possible diversity of character and especially of his higher mental -and moral nature. What I have <!-- Page 120 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>here termed the Divine influx, which -at some definite epoch in his evolution at once raised man above the -rest of the animals, creating as it were a new being with a continuous -spiritual existence in a world or worlds where eternal progress was -possible for him. To prepare him for this progress with ever-increasing -diversity, faculties of enormous range were required, and these needed -development in every direction which earthly conditions rendered -possible. In order that this extreme diversity of character should -be brought about, a great space of time, as measured by successive -generations, was necessary, though utterly insignificant as compared -with the preceding duration of organic life on the earth, and still -more insignificant as compared with the spirit-life to succeed it. It -is for this purpose, perhaps, that languages become so rapidly diverse -and mutually unintelligible after a moderate period of isolation, -binding together small or moderate communities in distinct tribes or -nations, which each develop in their own way under the influence of -special physical surroundings and originate peculiarities of habits, -customs, and modes of thought. Antagonisms soon arise between adjacent -tribes, leading each <!-- Page 121 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>to protect itself against others by means of -chiefs and some quasi-military combinations. This requires organisation -and foresight, and after a time the most powerful conquers the weaker, -they intermingle, and still greater diversity arises. By this constant -struggle the less advanced suffer most, and the race as a whole takes a -step forward in the march of civilisation.</p> - -<p>We see the best example of this mode of progress by antagonism in the -small States of Ancient Greece, where each little kingdom developed -its peculiar form of art, of government, and of civilisation, which -it transferred to all parts of Europe; and after two thousand years -of degradation by Roman and Turkish conquest, its language still -remains but little altered, while its ancient literature and art are -still unsurpassed. In like manner Rome brought law, literature, and -military discipline to an equally high level; and it too sank into -a state of ruin and degradation, while its literature and its law -continued to illuminate the civilised world during its long struggle -towards freedom. Wherever conditions were favourable to progress in -art or science, <em>time</em> was needed for its full growth and development; -while perpetual <!-- Page 122 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>war necessitated organisation and training against -conquest or destruction. Even the cruelties and massacres by despotic -rulers excited at last the uprising of the oppressed, and so developed -the nobler attributes of patriotism, courage, and love of freedom. In -the very worst of times there was an undercurrent of peaceful labour, -art, and learning, slowly moulding nations towards a higher state of -civilisation.</p> - -<p>The point of view now suggested will perhaps be rendered somewhat more -intelligible if we apply it to the nineteenth century, of which I have -written in such condemnatory terms. The preceding eighteenth century -was undoubtedly a somewhat stationary epoch, of a rather commonplace -character alike in literature, in art, in science, and in social life. -Its vices also were low, its government bad, its system of punishments -cruel, and its recognition of slavery degrading. It was a kind of "dark -age" between the literary and national brilliance of the Elizabethan -age and the wonderful scientific and industrial advance of the -Victorian age.</p> - -<p>But this latter period was also a period of a great uprising of the -specially human virtues of justice, of pity, of the love of <!-- Page 123 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>freedom, -and of the importance of education; and though the rapid increase of -wealth through the utilisation of natural forces led to all the evils -due to the unchecked growth of individual riches and power, yet these -very evils in all their intensity and horror were perhaps necessary to -excite in a sufficient number of minds the determination to get rid of -them. Time was also required for the workers to learn their own power, -and, very gradually, to learn how to use it. The rick-burning and -machine-breaking of the early part of the century have been succeeded -by combination and strikes; step by step political power has been -gained by the masses; but only now, in the twentieth century, are they -beginning to learn how to use their strength in an effective manner. -There are, however, indications that the whole march of progress has -been dangerously rapid, and it <em>might</em> have been safer if the great -increases of knowledge and the vast accumulations of wealth had been -spread over two centuries instead of one. In that case our higher -nature might have been able to keep pace with the growing evils of -superfluous wealth and increasing luxury, and it might have been -possible to put a check upon <!-- Page 124 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>them before they had attained the full -power for evil they now possess.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, the omens for the future are good. The great body of the -more intelligent workers are determined to have <strong>Justice</strong>. They -insist upon the abolition of monopolies of the forces of nature, and -upon the gradual admission of all to <em>equal opportunities</em> for labour -by free access to their native soil. Thus may be initiated the birth of -a new era of peaceful reform and moral advancement.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p><a name="Note_p124" id="Note_p124"></a><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—As many of my readers may not understand the -allusions in the second verse of Mr. Dell's poem (pp. <a href="#Page_117">117-118</a>), -I append the explanation:</p> - -<p>"The Porch," the place where the Stoic philosophers taught—The -Painted Porch in Athens.</p> - -<p>"The Garden," scene of Plato's and Socrates' teaching.</p> - -<p>Zeno was the founder of the Stoic philosophy.</p> - -<p>Pyrrho was the founder of the Sceptic school.</p> - -<p>Philip of Macedon lost an eye at the siege of Methone by a -slinger's pebble.</p> - -<p>Melitus was one of the disputants with Socrates, and was always -vanquished by him.</p> - -<p>Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syracuse, was also a Poet and was a -candidate for the prize at the Olympic games, but was conquered -and therefore feared the more skilful "stylus" (pen) of the -victors.</p> - -<p>Tyrtæus, a lame schoolmaster of Athens, inspired the -Lacedæmonians by his patriotic war-songs, and thus contributed -largely to their victories.</p></div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 125 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /> - - <small>MORAL PROGRESS THROUGH A NEW FORM OF SELECTION</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>Many readers, and some writers of books on organic evolution, seem -quite unaware that Darwin established two modes of selection, both -alike "natural" but acting in different ways and producing somewhat -different results. He termed the second mode "sexual selection," and -in his <cite>Origin of Species</cite> he briefly describes it as consisting in -the fighting of males for the possession of females, which undoubtedly -occurs in numbers of the higher vertebrates and also in insects.</p> - -<p>But he also includes under sexual selection another mode of rivalry -by the display of the special male ornaments of many birds, and the -choice of the more ornamental by the females. To this latter phase he -devotes nearly half his volume on <cite>The Descent of Man, and on Selection -in Relation to Sex</cite>. Selection by the fighting of males has led to the -development of the <!-- Page 126 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>stag's antlers, the boar's tusks, and the lion's -mane serving as a shield. These combats rarely lead to the death of the -vanquished, but to a larger number of offspring for the victor; and -this leads to the improvement of the race by keeping up its strength, -vigour, and fighting power.</p> - -<p>The other form of selection, by the display of ornaments by male -birds and the supposed continuous development of those ornaments by -the appreciative choice of the females, I believe to be imaginary. -I have discussed this subject in many of my books, and my views are -now generally adopted by evolutionists. The fact that the colours of -male insects, especially butterflies, are almost exactly parallel to -those of birds, first led me to this conclusion, because we can hardly -suppose insects to be endowed with any æsthetic sense, even if they -really <em>see</em> colour at all, which, in my last book, I have given strong -reasons for doubting.</p> - -<p>But in the human race the conditions are altogether different; -for while, as I have shown in <a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">Chapter XIV.</a>, the kind of natural -selection which through all the ages had moulded the infinitely varied -animal forms into harmony with their environment, ceased to act -upon man's body and only <!-- Page 127 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>for a limited time upon his lower mental -faculties, sexual selection tended to act if at all prejudicially, -through polygamy, prostitution, and slavery, though it possesses the -potentiality of acting in the future so as to ensure Intellectual -and Moral Progress, and thus elevate the race to whatever degree of -civilisation and well-being it is capable of reaching in earth-life.</p> - - -<h4>Eugenics, or Race Improvement through Marriage</h4> - -<p>The total cessation of the action of natural selection as a cause of -improvement in our race, either physical or mental, led to the proposal -of the late Sir F. Galton to establish a new science, which he termed -Eugenics. A society has been formed, and much is being written about -checking degeneration and elevating the race to a higher level by its -means. Sir F. Galton's own proposals were limited to giving prizes -or endowments for the marriage of persons of high character, both -physical, mental, and moral, to be determined by some form of inquiry -or examination. This may, perhaps, not do much harm, but it would -certainly do very little good. Its range of <!-- Page 128 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>action would be extremely -limited, and so far as it induced any couples to marry each other for -the pecuniary reward, it would be absolutely immoral in its nature, and -probably result in no perceptible improvement of the race.</p> - -<p>But there is great danger in such a process of artificial selection -by experts, who would certainly soon adopt methods very different -from those of the founder. We have already had proposals made for the -"segregation of the Feeble-Minded," while the "sterilization of the -unfit" and of some classes of criminals is already being discussed. -This might soon be extended to the destruction of deformed infants, -as was actually proposed by the late Grant Allen; while Mr. Hiram M. -Stanley, in a work on <cite>Our Civilisation and the Marriage Problem</cite>, -proposed more far-reaching measures. He says: "The drunkard, the -criminal, the diseased, the morally weak, should never come into -society. Not reform, but prevention should be the cry." And he hints -at the methods he would adopt, in the following passages: "In the -true golden age, which lies not behind but before us, the privilege -of parentage will be esteemed <!-- Page 129 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>an honour for the comparatively few, -and no child will be born who is not only sound in body and mind, but -also above the average as to natural ability and moral force." And he -concludes: "The most important matter in society, the inherent quality -of the members of which it is composed, should be regulated by trained -specialists."</p> - -<p>Of course, our modern eugenists will disclaim any wish to adopt such -measures as are here hinted at, which are in every way dangerous and -detestable. But I protest strenuously against any direct interference -with the freedom of marriage, which, as I shall show, is not only -totally unnecessary, but would be a much greater source of danger -to morals and to the well-being of humanity than the mere temporary -evils it seeks to cure. I trust that all my readers will oppose any -<em>legislation</em> on this subject by a chance body of elected persons who -are totally unfitted to deal with far less complex problems than this -one, and as to which they are sure to bungle disastrously.</p> - -<p>It is in the highest degree presumptuous and irrational to attempt to -deal by compulsory enactments with the most vital <!-- Page 130 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>and most sacred of -all human relations, regardless of the fact that our present phase of -social development is not only extremely imperfect, but, as I have -already shown, vicious and rotten at the core. How can it be possible -to determine by legislation those relations of the sexes which shall be -best alike for individuals and for the race, in a society in which a -large proportion of our women are forced to work long hours daily for -the barest subsistence, with an almost total absence of the rational -pleasures of life, for the want of which thousands are driven into -wholly uncongenial marriages in order to secure some amount of personal -independence or physical well-being?</p> - -<p>Let anyone consider, on the one hand, the lives of the wealthy as -portrayed in the society newspapers of the day, with their endless -round of pleasure and luxury, their almost inconceivable wastefulness -and extravagance, indicated by the cost of female dress and the fact of -a thousand pounds or more being expended on the flowers for a single -entertainment. On the other hand, let him contemplate the awful lives -of millions of workers, so miserably paid and with such uncertainty -of <!-- Page 131 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>work that many thousands of the women and young girls are driven -on the streets as the only means of breaking the monotony of their -unceasing labour and obtaining some taste of the enjoyments of life at -whatever cost; and then ask himself if the Legislature which cannot -remedy <em>this</em> state of things should venture to meddle with the great -problems of marriage and the sanctities of family life. Is it not a -hideous mockery that the successive Governments which for forty years -have seen the people they profess to govern so driven to despair by -the vile conditions of their existence that in an ever larger and -larger proportion they seek death by suicide as their only means of -escape—that Governments which have done nothing to put an end to this -continuous horror of starvation and suicide, should be thought capable -of remedying some of its more terrible <em>results</em>, while leaving its -<em>causes</em> absolutely untouched?</p> - -<p>It is my firm conviction, for reasons I shall give farther on, -that, when we have cleansed the Augean stable of our present social -organisation, and have made such arrangements that <em>all</em> shall -contribute their share either of physical or <!-- Page 132 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>mental labour, and that -every one shall obtain the full and equal reward for their work, the -future progress of the race will be rendered certain by the fuller -development of its higher nature acted on by a special form of -selection which will then come into play.</p> - -<p>When men and women are, for the first time in the course of -civilisation, alike free to follow their best impulses; when idleness -and vicious or hurtful luxury on the one hand, oppressive labour and -the dread of starvation on the other, are alike unknown; when <em>all</em> -receive the best and broadest education that the state of civilisation -and knowledge will admit; when the standard of public opinion is set by -the wisest and the best among us, and that standard is systematically -inculcated on the young; then we shall find that a system of <em>truly -natural</em> selection will come spontaneously into action which will -steadily tend to eliminate the lower, the less developed, or in any way -defective types of men, and will thus continuously raise the physical, -moral, and intellectual standard of the race. The exact mode in which -this selection will operate will now be briefly explained.</p> - - -<p><!-- Page 133 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> -<h4>Free Selection in Marriage</h4> - -<p>It will be generally admitted that although many women now remain -unmarried from necessity rather than from choice, there are always -considerable numbers who feel no strong impulse to marriage, and accept -husbands to secure subsistence and a home of their own rather than from -personal affection or strong sexual emotion. In a state of society in -which all women were economically independent, were all fully occupied -with public duties and social or intellectual pleasures, and had -nothing to gain by marriage as regards material well-being or social -position, it is highly probable that the numbers of the unmarried -from choice would increase. It would probably come to be considered a -degradation for any woman to marry a man whom she could not love and -esteem, and this reason would tend at least to delay marriage till a -worthy and sympathetic partner was encountered.</p> - -<p>In man, on the other hand, the passion of love is more general and -usually stronger; and in such a society as here postulated there -would be no way of gratifying this <!-- Page 134 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>passion but by marriage. Every -woman, therefore, would be likely to receive offers, and a powerful -selective agency would rest with the female sex. Under the system of -education and public opinion here supposed, there can be little doubt -how this selection would be exercised. The idle or the utterly selfish -would be almost universally rejected; the chronically diseased or the -weak in intellect would also usually remain unmarried, at least till -an advanced period of life; while those who showed any tendency to -insanity or exhibited any congenital deformity would also be rejected -by the younger women, because it would be considered an offence -against society to be the means of perpetuating any such diseases or -imperfections.</p> - -<p>We must also take account of a special factor, hitherto almost -unnoticed, which would tend to intensify the selection thus exercised. -It is a fact well known to statisticians that although females are -in excess in almost all civilised populations, yet this is not due -to a law of Nature; for with us, and I believe in all parts of the -Continent, more males than females are born to an amount of about -<!-- Page 135 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>3½ to 4 per cent. But between the ages of five and thirty-five there -were, in 1910, 4·225 deaths of males from accident or violence and only -1·300 of females, showing an excess of male deaths of 2·925 in one -year; and for many years the numbers of this class of deaths have not -varied much, the excess of preventable deaths of males at those ages -being very nearly 3,000 annually. This excess is no doubt due to boys -and young men being more exposed, both in play and work, to various -kinds of accidents than are women, and this brings about the constant -excess of females in what may be termed normal civilised populations.</p> - -<p>In 1901 it was about a million; while fifty years earlier, when the -population was about half, it was only 359,000, or considerably less -than half the present proportion. This is what we should expect from -the constant increase of accidents and of emigration, the effects of -both of which fall most upon males.</p> - -<p>It appears, therefore, that the larger number of women in our -population to-day is not a natural phenomenon, but is almost wholly -the result of our own <!-- Page 136 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>man-made social environment. When the lives -of <em>all</em> our citizens are accounted of equal value to the community, -irrespective of class or of wealth, a much smaller number will -be allowed to suffer from such preventable causes; while, as our -colonies fill up with a normal population, and the enormous areas of -uncultivated or half-cultivated land at home are thrown open to our -own people on the most favourable terms, the great tide of emigration -will be diminished and will then cease to affect the proportion of the -sexes. The result of these various causes, now all tending to increase -the numbers of the female population, will, in a rational and just -system of society, of which we may hope soon to see the commencement, -act in a contrary direction, and will in a few generations bring the -sexes first to an equality, and later on to a majority of males.</p> - -<p>There are some, no doubt, who will object that even when women have -a free choice, owing to improved economic conditions, they will not -choose wisely so as to advance the race. But no one has the right to -make such a statement without adducing very strong evidence in support -of it. We have for generations degraded <!-- Page 137 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>women in every possible way; -but we now know that such degradation is not hereditary, and therefore -not permanent. The great philosopher and seer, Swedenborg, declared -that whereas men loved justice, wisdom and power for their own sakes, -women loved them as seen in the characters of men. It is generally -admitted that there is truth in this observation; but there is surely -still more truth in the converse, that they do not admire those men -who are palpably unjust, stupid, or weak, and still less those who -are distorted, diseased, or grossly vicious, though under present -conditions they are often driven to marry them. It may be taken as -certain, therefore, that when women are economically and socially free -to choose, numbers of the worst men among all classes who now readily -obtain wives <em>will be almost universally rejected</em>.</p> - -<p>Now, this mode of improvement by elimination of the less desirable -has many advantages over that of securing early marriages of the more -admired; for what we most require is to improve the <em>average</em> of our -population by rejecting its lower types rather than by raising the -advanced types a little higher. Great and good men are always produced -in sufficient numbers and <!-- Page 138 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>have always been so produced in every phase -of civilisation. We do not need more of these so much as we want a -diminution of the weaker and less advanced types. This weeding-out -process has been the method of <em>natural selection</em>, by which the whole -of the glorious vegetable and animal kingdoms have been developed and -advanced. The survival of the fittest is really the extinction of the -unfit; and it is the one brilliant ray of hope for humanity that, just -as we advance in the reform of our present cruel and disastrous social -system, we shall set free a power of selection in marriage that will -steadily and certainly improve the character, as well as the strength -and the beauty, of our race.</p> - - -<h4>Social Reform and Over-population</h4> - -<p>One of the most general and apparently the strongest of the objections -to any thorough schemes of social reform, and especially to those that -will abolish want and the constant dread of starvation is that, in -any society in which this is done early marriages will be much more -numerous; there will be no prudential checks to large families; and in -a few <!-- Page 139 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>generations, as Malthus argued, populations will increase beyond -the means of subsistence. Then will commence a continual decrease of -well-being, culminating in universal poverty, worse than any that now -exists, because it will be universal. The following quotation from an -eminent American writer shows that this fear has really been felt:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>"If it be true that reason must direct the course of human -evolution, and if it be also true that selection of the fittest -is the only method available for that purpose; then, if we -are to have any race-improvement at all, the dreadful law of -<em>destruction of the weak and helpless</em> must, with Spartan -firmness, be carried out voluntarily and deliberately. Against -such a course all that is best in us revolts."<a name="FNanchor_139:A_7" id="FNanchor_139:A_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_139:A_7" class="fnanchor">[139:A]</a></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_139:A_7" id="Footnote_139:A_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139:A_7"><span class="label">[139:A]</span></a> Professor Joseph Le Conte, in <cite>The Monist</cite>, Vol. I., -p. 334.</p> -</div> - -<p>A more recent writer, Dr. W. M. Flinders Petrie, the well-known -Egyptian explorer, has put forward similar views in a tentative manner, -but clearly showing what he thinks our present state of society -requires. Of the compensation to workmen for accident he says:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>"The immediate effect upon character is to save the careless, -thoughtless, and incompetent from the results of their faults; -this at once reduces largely <!-- Page 140 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>the weeding and educational -effects of the bad qualities."</p> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And of old-age pensions his concluding remark is:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>"Nature knows of no right to maintenance, but only the -necessity of getting rid of these who need it by mending or -ending them."</p> -</div> - -<p>Again, as to the huge waste of infant life now going on, which he -admits is preventable and might be saved, he remarks:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>"We must agree that it would be of the lower, or lowest type -of careless, thriftless, dirty, and incapable families that -the increase would be obtained. Is it worth while to dilute -our increase of population by 10 per cent. more of the more -inferior kind?"</p></div> - -<p class="noindent">And he concludes thus:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>"This movement is doing away with one of the few remains of -natural weeding out of the unfit that our civilisation has left -us. And it will certainly cause more misery than happiness in -the course of a century."<a name="FNanchor_140:A_8" id="FNanchor_140:A_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_140:A_8" class="fnanchor">[140:A]</a></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_140:A_8" id="Footnote_140:A_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140:A_8"><span class="label">[140:A]</span></a> <cite>Janus in Modern Life.</cite> By W. M. Flinders Petrie, -D.C.L., F.R.S.</p> -</div> - -<p>The whole book is full of such statements as the above, for which -neither facts nor arguments are given. It is assumed throughout -that the failures in our modern society are so through their <!-- Page 141 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>own -fault—they are "wastrels"—and deserve neither pity nor help. He knows -nothing apparently of Dr. Barnardo's work in rescuing these "wastrel" -children from the gutter and the workhouse, treating them well and -kindly, training them in work, and sending many thousands to Canada. A -record of their subsequent life was kept, and it was found that very -few failed to do well, while a very large majority became valuable -citizens in their new home. On the whole, they were in no way inferior -to the average of emigrants who go at their own expense, and who are -admitted to be among the best of our workers.</p> - -<p>None of the writers of the class here quoted seem to have made -themselves acquainted with the researches of Herbert Spencer, Sir F. -Galton, and others, as to the natural laws which determine the rate of -increase of population when those laws are allowed to operate freely -under rational and moral social conditions. A short statement of these -laws will therefore be given.</p> - -<p>In a remarkable essay, first published in 1852, H. Spencer, with his -usual philosophical insight, examined the facts of reproduction and -population throughout <!-- Page 142 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>the whole of the animal kingdom, and showed -that the duration of the individual life and the increase of the race -varied inversely, those groups which have the simplest organisation -and the shortest lives producing the greatest number of offspring; -in other terms, individuation and reproduction are antagonistic. -But individuation depends almost entirely on the development and -specialisation of the nervous system, through which alone all advance -in instinct, emotion, and intellect is rendered possible. The actual -rate of increase in man has been determined by the necessities of the -savage state, in which, as in most species of mammals, it is usually -what is just required to maintain a limited average population. But -with a true advance in civilisation the average duration of life -increases, and the possible increase of population under favourable -conditions becomes very great, because fertility is greater than is -needed under the new conditions. At present, however, no general -advance in intellectuality has taken place; but that the facts do -accord with the theory is indicated by the common observation that -highly intellectual parents do not have <!-- Page 143 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>large families, while the most -rapid increase occurs in those classes which are engaged in healthy -manual labour.</p> - -<p>But a law founded on such a broad physiological basis of observation is -sure to continue in action, and we may therefore feel certain that as -the intellectual level of the whole race is raised by general culture -and physical health, the law of diminishing fertility will act, and -will tend in the remote future to bring about an exact balance between -the rate of increase and that of mortality.</p> - -<p>A more immediate and effective check to rapid increase of population -will, however, be brought about by the social reforms already -suggested. When poverty is abolished and neither economic nor social -advantages will be gained by early marriage, there can be no doubt it -will be generally deferred to a later age. Still more effective will -be the extension of the period of education or training for the whole -population for several years longer than at present, together with the -growth of public opinion against all marriages between persons who have -not yet begun the serious work of life. It would also be an essential -part of education to inculcate the delay of <!-- Page 144 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>marriage till every -opportunity has been afforded both of the parties concerned of becoming -thoroughly acquainted with each other before undertaking so serious a -responsibility as marriage usually involves.</p> - -<p>The effect of even a few years' delay of marriage on population is -very considerable. Sir F. Galton has shown from the best statistics -available that if we compare women married at twenty with those at -twenty-nine, the comparative fertility is as 8 to 5. But this does not -represent the whole effect on increase of population. When marriage is -delayed, the time between successive generations is correspondingly -increased; and yet another effect in the same direction is produced -by the fact that the greater the average age of marriage the fewer -generations are alive at the same time, and it is the combined effect -of these three factors that determines the actual increase of the -population due to this cause.</p> - -<p>Sir F. Galton gives a remarkable table showing this combined result -of these causes. He finds that if one hundred mothers and their -daughters in each successive generation marry at twenty, there will -be an increase of such mothers in each successive generation of 1·15. -If, <!-- Page 145 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>however, they marry at twenty-nine, each successive generation -of mothers diminishes in the proportion of 0·85. If this goes on for -108 years, the hundred mothers who marry at twenty have increased to -175, and in 216 years to 299; while those who marry at twenty-nine -will have decreased to 61 and 38 respectively. It is therefore shown -that under present social conditions the age of marriage necessary to -preserve a stationary population will be somewhere between twenty and -twenty-nine. The above figures are, however, founded on special cases, -and the actual facts are so complicated by the number of childless -marriages, the rate of infantile mortality and other causes, that they -must be taken only as establishing a <em>law</em> of rather rapid decrease of -fertility with each year's addition to the average age of marriage of -the mother.</p> - -<hr class="thoughtbreak" /> - -<p>I have now, I venture to hope, established two important principles -in relation to human progress. In the first place, I have shown that -modern ideas as to the necessity of dealing <em>directly</em> with some of -our glaring social evils, such as race degeneration and the various -forms of sexual immorality, are fundamentally wrong <!-- Page 146 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>and are doomed -to failure so long as their fundamental causes—widespread poverty, -destitution, and starvation—are not greatly diminished and ultimately -abolished. I have proved that human nature is <em>not</em> in itself such a -complete failure as our modern eugenists seem to suppose, but that it -is influenced by fundamental laws which under reasonably just and equal -<em>economic conditions</em> will automatically abolish all these evils.</p> - -<p>In the second place, I have shown that the dread of over-population -as the result of the abolition of poverty is wholly and utterly -fallacious—a mere bugbear created by ignorance of natural laws and of -presumption in thinking that we can cure social evils while leaving the -man-made causes which produce them unaltered. The three great natural -laws which all our would-be reformers ignore <span class="nospace">are:—</span></p> - -<p>(1) That a very moderate advance in the average age of marriage—which -would certainly result from a truly rational system of education -combined with economic equality—necessarily diminishes the rate of -increase of the population.</p> - -<p>(2) That every approach to educational and economic equality by -effecting a large <!-- Page 147 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>saving of the lives of males who now die from -preventable causes, combined with the fact that male births <em>exceed</em> -those of females, would so diminish the number of the latter that they -would soon become less instead of, as now, more than that of males: -that this would give them an <em>effective choice</em> in marriage which they -do not now possess, together with the power of delay which for many -reasons large numbers of them would exercise.</p> - -<p>(3) The law of diminishing fertility with increase of brain-work -through education and training would further tend to the diminution of -fertility.</p> - -<p>These three natural causes all <em>tend</em> in one direction—the equality of -births with deaths; while their action would be so readily modified by -public opinion as to obviate all danger of either increase or decrease -beyond what was necessary for the well-being of each community, nation, -or race.</p> - - -<h4>The Future Status of Woman</h4> - -<p>The foregoing statement of the effect of established natural laws, if -allowed free play under rational conditions of civilisation, clearly -indicates that the position of <!-- Page 148 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>woman in the not distant future will be -far higher and more important than any which has been claimed for or by -her in the past.</p> - -<p>While she will be conceded full political and social rights on an -equality with man, she will be placed in a position of responsibility -and power which will render her his superior, since the future moral -progress of the race will so largely depend upon her free choice in -marriage. As time goes on, and she acquires more and more economic -independence, <em>that</em> alone will give her an effective choice which she -has never had before. But this choice will be further strengthened by -the fact that, with ever-increasing approach to equality of opportunity -for every child born in our country, that terrible excess of male -deaths, in boyhood and early manhood especially, due to various -preventable causes, will disappear, and change the present majority of -women to a majority of men. This will lead to a greater rivalry for -wives, and will give to women the power of rejecting all the lower -types of character among their suitors.</p> - -<p>It will be their special duty so to mould public opinion, through home -training and social influence, as to render the women of <!-- Page 149 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>the future -the regenerators of the entire human race. We hope and believe that -they will be fully equal to the high and responsible position which, in -accordance with natural laws, they will be called upon to fulfil.</p> - -<p>The certainty that this powerful selective agency will come into -existence just in proportion as we reform our existing social system -by the abolition of poverty and the establishment of full equality -of opportunity in education and economic position, demonstrates that -Nature—or the Universal Mind—has not failed or bungled our world -so completely as to require the weak and ignorant efforts of the -eugenists to set it right, while leaving the great fundamental causes -of all existing social evils absolutely untouched. Let them devote all -their energies to purifying this whitened sepulchre of destitution and -ignorance, and the beneficent laws of human nature will themselves -bring about the physical, intellectual, and moral advancement of our -race.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 150 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> - <h3 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> - - <small>HOW TO INITIATE AN ERA OF MORAL PROGRESS</small></h3> -</div> - - -<p>In Chapters <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII</a> to XII of this volume I have given in briefest outline -a summary of the growth during the nineteenth century of the actual -social environment in the midst of which we live.</p> - -<p>We see a continuous advance of man's power to utilise the forces of -Nature, to an extent which surpasses everything he had been able to do -during all the preceding centuries of his recorded history.</p> - -<p>We also see that the result of this vast economic revolution has been -almost wholly evil.</p> - -<p>We see that this hundredfold increase of wealth, amply sufficient to -provide necessaries, comforts, and all beneficial refinements and -luxuries for our whole population, has been distributed with such gross -injustice that the actual condition of those who produce all this -wealth has become worse and worse, no efficient <!-- Page 151 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>arrangements having -been made that from the overflowing abundance produced <em>all</em> should -receive the mere essentials of a healthy and happy existence.</p> - -<p>We have seen huge cities grow up, every one of them with their -overcrowded, insanitary slums, where men, women, and children die -prematurely as surely as though a body of secret poisoners were -constantly at work to destroy them.</p> - -<p>We see thousands of girls compelled by starvation to work in such an -empoisoned environment as to produce horribly painful and disfiguring -disease, which is often fatal in early youth, or in what ought to -have been, and what might have been, the period of maximum enjoyment -of their womanhood. And to this very day no efficient steps have been -taken to abolish these conditions.</p> - -<p>We see millions still struggling in vain for a sufficiency of the -bare necessaries of life (which in their misery is all they ask), -often culminating in actual starvation, or in suicide to which they -are driven by the dread of starvation. Yet our Governments, selected -from among the most educated, the most talented, the wealthiest of the -country, <!-- Page 152 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>with absolute power to make what laws and regulations they -please, and an overflowing fund of accumulated wealth to draw upon, do -nothing, although more people die annually of want than are killed in a -great war, and more children than could be slaughtered by many Herods.</p> - -<p>And while all this goes on in the depths, <span class="nospace">where—</span></p> - -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">"Pale anguish keeps the heavy gate,</div> - <div class="line indentq">And the Warder is <span class="nospace">Despair"—</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">a little higher up, among the middle-men distributors of the -necessaries and luxuries of life, bribery, adulteration, and various -forms of petty dishonesty are rampant.</p> - -<p>And higher yet, among the great Capitalists, the merchant Princes, the -Captains of industry, we find hard taskmasters who drive down wages -below the level of bare subsistence, and who support a more gigantic -and widespread system of gambling than the world has ever seen.</p> - -<p>And, finally, our administration of what we call "Justice" (and of -which we are so proud because our judges cannot be bribed) is utterly -<em>unjust</em>, because it <!-- Page 153 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>is based on a system of money fees at every -step; because it is so cumbrous and full of technicalities as to need -the employment of attorneys and counsel at great cost, and because -all petty offences are punishable by fine <em>or</em> imprisonment, which -makes poverty itself a crime while it allows those with money to go -practically free.</p> - -<p><em>Taking account of these various groups of undoubted facts, many of -which are so gross, so terrible, that they cannot be overstated, it is -not too much to say that our whole system of society is rotten from -top to bottom, and the Social Environment as a whole, in relation to -our possibilities and our claims, is the worst that the world has ever -seen.</em></p> - -<p>Such are the evil products of the social environment we have ourselves -created in the course of a single century. We have seen it going from -bad to worse, and have applied petty remedies here and there during -the whole period; but the evils have continued to increase. It has now -become clear to the more intelligent of the workers that if we wish -to improve it—if we wish to prevent it from getting even worse than -it is—we must deal with <!-- Page 154 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>the root-causes of the evil and, so far as -possible, <em>reverse the conditions which are so demonstrably bad, such -hideous failures</em>. And, fortunately, this is by no means so difficult -as it may seem to be, because a large body of our thinkers and a -considerable number of our workers see clearly what these root-causes -are, and, less clearly, how to remedy them. They will, however, -give their energetic support to any Government that devotes itself -to the task of remedying them. The following are my own views as to -how the problem must be attacked in order to solve it thoroughly and -permanently.</p> - - -<h4>The Root-cause and the Remedy</h4> - -<p>If we review with care the long train of social evils which have grown -up during the nineteenth century, we shall find that every one of them, -however diverse in their nature and results, is due to the same general -cause, which may be defined or stated in a variety of different ways:</p> - -<p>(1) They are due, broadly and generally, to our living under a system -of universal <em>competition</em> for the means of <!-- Page 155 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>existence, the remedy for -which is equally universal <em>co-operation</em>.</p> - -<p>(2) It may be also defined as a system of <em>economic antagonism</em>, as of -enemies, the remedy being a system of <em>economic brotherhood</em>, as of a -great family, or of friends.</p> - -<p>(3) Our system is also one of <em>monopoly</em> by a few of all the means -of existence: the land, without access to which no life is possible; -and capital, or the results of stored-up labour, which is now in the -possession of a limited number of capitalists and therefore is also a -monopoly. The remedy is freedom of access to land and capital for all.</p> - -<p>(4) Also, it may be defined as <em>social injustice</em>, inasmuch as the -<em>few</em> in each generation are allowed to inherit the stored-up wealth of -all preceding generations, while the <em>many</em> inherit nothing. The remedy -is to adopt the principle of equality of opportunity for all, or of -universal <em>inheritance by the State in trust for the whole Community</em>.</p> - -<p>These four statements of the existing <em>causes</em> of all our social evils -cannot, I believe, be controverted, and the <em>remedies</em> for them may be -condensed into one <!-- Page 156 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>general proposition: that it is the first duty (in -importance) of a civilised Government to organise the labour of the -whole community for the equal good of all; but it is also their first -duty (in time) to take immediate steps to abolish <em>death by starvation -and by preventable disease</em> due to insanitary dwellings and dangerous -employments, while carefully elaborating the <em>permanent</em> remedy for -want in the midst of wealth.</p> - -<p>I myself have pointed out how these two ends may be best achieved, -and hope to elaborate them. In the meantime, I call attention to Mr. -Standish O'Grady's letter "To the Leaders of Labour" in <cite>The New Age</cite> -of November 21st, 1912, in which, after referring to the very natural -dread by the rich of any such radical reorganisation of Society, as -leading to their own financial ruin (which it certainly need not do), -he makes the following suggestive statement, with which I hope all my -readers will agree:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>"But what they fail to perceive is, that, in a world like this, -made by infinite goodness and wisdom, Right is always the great -stand-by for men and for Nations, and for the rich as well as -for the poor; and that Wrong, sooner or later, ends in misery -and destruction."</p></div> - -<p><!-- Page 157 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> -That is sound moral teaching. We have been doing the Wrong for -the past century, and we have reaped, and are reaping, "misery and -destruction." It is time that we changed our methods, which are all (as -I think I have sufficiently pointed out) fundamentally Wrong, radically -Unjust, wholly Immoral.</p> - -<p>We have ourselves created an immoral or unmoral Social Environment. To -undo its inevitable results we must reverse our course. We must see -that <em>all</em> our economic legislation, <em>all</em> our social reforms, are in -the very opposite direction to those hitherto adopted, and that they -tend in the direction of one or other of the four fundamental remedies -I have suggested. In this way only can we hope to change our existing -immoral environment into a moral one, and initiate a new era of Moral -Progress.</p> - -<hr class="thoughtbreak" /> - -<p>In Chapters <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII</a> to XVI I have shown that the well-established laws of -Evolution as they really apply to mankind are all favourable to the -advance of true Civilisation and of Morality. Our existing competitive -and antagonistic Social System alone neutralises their beneficent -<!-- Page 158 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>operation. That System must therefore be radically changed into one of -brotherly co-operation and co-ordination for the equal good of all. To -succeed we must make this principle our guide and our pole star in all -Social legislation.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <hr class="newchapter" /> - <p><!-- Page 159 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> - <h2 class="nobreak"><a name="Index" id="Index"></a>Index</h2> -</div> - - -<ul class="list"> - <li class="newletter">Acquired characters, definition of, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">characters, on the heredity of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - - <li>Adaptation, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - - <li>Adulteration, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> - - <li>Alcoholism, deaths from, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">in women, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">statistics of, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> - - <li>America, Central, architecture of, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - - <li>Animals, natural selection among, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> - - <li><cite>Anthropological Review</cite>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - - <li>Apes, anthropoid, affinity with man, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - - <li>Aquatic forms of life, increase of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> - - <li>Archimedes, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - - <li>Australian aborigines, character of, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and Caucasians, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Barnardo, Dr., <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - - <li>Beaver, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - - <li>Bimana, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - - <li>Brahé, Tycho, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> - - <li>Brain as organ of the mind, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - - <li>Bribery, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - - <li>Browning's, Mrs., <cite>Cry of the Children</cite>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> - - <li>Buddha, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Capitalism, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> - - <li>Caucasians and Australian aborigines, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - - <li>Causes of economic evils, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - - <li>Chambers's <cite>Vestiges of Creation</cite>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - - <li>Character, definition of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">difficulty of knowing good from bad, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">mental faculties and, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">morality based upon, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">not cumulative, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">of savage races, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">permanence of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">public opinion and, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">selective agency to improve, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">subject to variation, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">transmission of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">variability and, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - - <li>Characters, acquired, definition of, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">acquired, heredity of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">innate, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">heredity of, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - - <li>Chemical trades, evils of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - - <li>Child labour, evils of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - - <li>Church, the work of the, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - - <li>Civil law system, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - - <li>Civilisation during 18th century, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">evolution and, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">of ancient Egypt, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">of ancient India, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">of ancient Mesopotamia, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - - <li>Civilisations, ancient, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - - <li>Classical writers, our indebtedness to, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - - <li>Coal mines, accidents in, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">child labour in, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">female workers in, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem"><!-- Page 160 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>insecurity in, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">who the, belong to, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - - <li>Commercial system, immorality of our, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> - - <li>Companies, Limited Liability, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - - <li>Competition, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - - <li>Conduct, character and, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">environment and, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - - <li>Confucius, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - - <li>Cook, Captain, opinion of, on natives of Friendly Isles, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - - <li>Co-operation, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> - - <li>Criminal law system, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> - - <li>Cruciferæ family, increase of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - - <li>Curr, Mr., opinion of, on Australian aborigines, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - - <li>Cutlery trade, evils of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter"><cite>Daily Citizen</cite> quoted, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - - <li>Darwin and heredity, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and natural selection, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and transference of selection to mind, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and variability, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">on Tahitians, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - - <li>Darwin's <cite>Descent of Man</cite>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem"><cite>Origin of Species</cite>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">theory of Pangenesis, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - - <li><a name="Darwinism" id="Darwinism"></a>Darwinism and Lamarckism, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and variability, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">objections to, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">(<i>See also</i> <a href="#Evolution">Evolution</a>, <a href="#Lamarckism">Lamarckism</a>, <a href="#Natural_selection">Natural selection</a>, etc.)</li> - - <li>Deadly trades, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - - <li>Dell's, J. H., <cite>Dawning Grey</cite> quoted, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - - <li><cite>Descent of Man</cite>, Darwin's, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - - <li>Divine influx into man, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - - <li>Divorce, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - - <li>Dutt, Mr. Romesh, quoted, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - - <li>Dwellings, insanitary, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Economic advance, evils of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">antagonism, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">brotherhood, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">evils, causes of, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">remedies for, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - - <li>Education, effects of, not hereditary, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">extension of period of, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">national system of, needed, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">of the world, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - - <li>Egypt, astronomy in ancient, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">civilisation of ancient, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">intellect in ancient, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - - <li>Eighteenth century, stationary epoch, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> - - <li>Elephants, increase of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> - - <li>Environment, laws of heredity and, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">modified by man, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">not always responsible for specialisation, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">remedies, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">social, and conduct, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">social, character of, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">social, during 19th century, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">social, evils of, causes of, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - - <li>Equality of opportunity, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - - <li>Erman, Prof. Adolf, quoted, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - - <li>Euclid, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - - <li>Eugenics, methods of, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">science of, established by Sir F. Galton, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - - <li>Eugenists, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> - - <li>Evil, origin of, problem of, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">possible solution of, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - - <li><a name="Evolution" id="Evolution"></a>Evolution, a rational theory, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">acceptance of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and civilisation, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">Lamarckism and, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">Chambers and, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">Darwin and, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">exposition of, by Spencer, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">natural selection and, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">objections to, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem"><!-- Page 161 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>variability of species, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">(<i>See also</i> <a href="#Darwinism">Darwinism</a>, <a href="#Lamarckism">Lamarckism</a>, <a href="#Natural_selection">Natural selection</a>, etc.)</li> - - - <li class="newletter">Factory system, development of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">evils of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - - <li>Fertility, law of diminishing, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - - <li>Fines <i>v.</i> imprisonment, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - - <li>Friendly Isles, natives of, character of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Galton, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">eugenic theory of, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">on laws of increase of population, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - - <li>Galvanising trade, evils of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - - <li>Gambling, immorality of, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">in trade, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">inconsistent attitude to, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">Stock Exchange, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - - <li>Genius, not cumulative, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">not necessarily hereditary, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> - <li class="subsubitem">examples, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - - <li>Gothic architecture, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - - <li>Greece, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">architecture of ancient, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Heredity and genius, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and "recession to mediocrity," <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">beneficence of law of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">Darwin and, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">importance of subject, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">Lamarck and, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">laws of, and environment, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">misconceptions regarding, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">of innate characters, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - - <li>Herschel, Sir John, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - - <li>Homer, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - - <li>Hominidæ, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - - <li>Human nature, faculties of, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Imprisonment <i>v.</i> fines, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - - <li>India, architecture of ancient, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">intelligence and morality in ancient, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">religious conceptions in ancient, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - - <li>Individuation, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> - - <li>Infantile mortality, Prof. Petrie on, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">statistics of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - - <li>Injustice, social, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - - <li>Innate characters, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">heredity of, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - - <li>Insanitary dwellings, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> - - <li>Intellect in ancient India, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">permanence of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - - <li>Intellectual advance not general, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Jesus Christ, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - - <li>Justice, administration of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">immorality of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Lamarck and evolution, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and heredity, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - - <li><a name="Lamarckism" id="Lamarckism"></a>Lamarckism, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and Darwinism, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">insufficiency of, as a theory, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - - <li>Land, access to, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - - <li>Language, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">diversity of, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">lowest races possess, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - - <li>Law, civil, system, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">criminal, system, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">partiality of the, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - - <li>Layard, Sir H., <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - - <li>Le Conte, Prof., quoted, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - - <li>Lead glaze trade, evils of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - - <li>Lead poisoning of workers, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - - <li>Life-destroying trades, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> - - <li>Lyell's <cite>Principles of Geology</cite> quoted, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Maha-Bharata, Indian epic, quoted, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - - <li>Malthus, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - - <li><!-- Page 162 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>Mammals, classification of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - - <li>Man, affinity of, with anthropoid apes, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and marriage, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">dignity of, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">Divine influx into, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">external differences between, and apes, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">modifies his environment, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">moral sense in, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">nature of, stationary, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">position of, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">predominance of mind in, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">preparation of, for progress, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">selection transferred to mind in, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">three great races of, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">triumph of, over Nature, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - - <li>Marriage, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">freedom of, insisted upon, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">man and, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">women and, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - - <li>Mental faculties in formation of character, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - - <li>Mesopotamia, civilisation of ancient, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - - <li>Mind, brain the organ of the, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">predominance of, in man, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">selection transferred to, in man, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - - <li>Monier-Williams, Sir M., <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - - <li>Monopoly, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - - <li>Moral degradation, indications of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">progress, definition of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">progress, initiating new era of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">progress through new form of selection, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">sense in man, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> - - <li>Morality amongst the ancients, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">based upon character, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">based upon human nature, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">evolution and, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">in ancient India, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">no definite advance in, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">product of environment, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">savages and, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">standards of, varying, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> - - <li>Morals, definition of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter"><a name="Natural_selection" id="Natural_selection"></a>Natural selection, among animals, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and evolution, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and origin of species, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">explanation of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">modification of, by man, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">modified by mind, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">new form of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">process of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">two modes of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - - <li>Nineteenth century, environment during, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">movements during, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">reaction against forced civilisation during, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">O'Grady, Mr. S., quoted, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - - <li>Oliver's, Sir T., <cite>Diseases of Occupation</cite>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - - <li>Organic nature, development of, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">indivisibility of, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - - <li><cite>Origin of Species</cite>, Darwin's, essential features of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - - <li>Origin of species, natural selection essential factor in, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - - <li>Overcrowding, statistics of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - - <li>Owen, Sir Richard, and man's affinity with apes, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter"><cite>Pall Mall Gazette</cite>, reply to, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - - <li>Pangenesis, theory of, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - - <li>Park, Mungo, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - - <li>Petrie, Prof., quoted, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - - <li><!-- Page 163 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>Plato, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - - <li>Poor Law, immorality of the, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - - <li>Population, increase of, laws governing, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">social reform and, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - - <li>Poverty, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - - <li>Polynesian races, character of, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - - <li>Preventable deaths, responsibility for, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - - <li>Primates, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - - <li>Proctor, Mr. R. A., quoted, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - - <li>Progress, moral, definition of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">moral, how to initiate era of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">moral, through new form of selection, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - - <li>Prostitution, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> - - <li>Pyramid of Gizeh as observatory, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">purpose of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">structure of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Quadrumana, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Rawlinson, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - - <li>Reade's, <cite>Martyrdom of Man</cite>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> - - <li>"Recession to mediocrity," heredity and, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - - <li>Religious conceptions in ancient India, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - - <li>Remedies for economic evils, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - - <li>Reproduction, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> - - <li>Rich, dread of, to social reorganisation, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - - <li>Rome, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Savage races, morality of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - - <li>Selection, artificial, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">free, in marriage, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - - <li>Selection, natural, action of, transferred to mind in man, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">amongst animals, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">and origin of species, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">explanation of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">modification of, by man, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">modified by mind, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">process of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">two modes of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - - <li>Selection, new form of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">sexual, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - - <li>Selective agency to improve character, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - - <li>Sherard's, Mr. R. H., <cite>White Slaves of England</cite>, 51 (<a href="#Footnote_51:A_4"><i>note</i></a>)</li> - - <li>Slavery, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - - <li>Slums, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - - <li>Smyth, Piazzi, on Pyramids, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - - <li>Snowden, Philip, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - - <li>Social environment and conduct, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">character of, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">during 19th century, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">evils of, causes and remedies of, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">reorganisation, the rich and, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">reform, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li> - <li class="subsubitem">and over-population, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - - <li>Socrates, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - - <li>Species, increase of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">origin of, natural selection, and, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">variability of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - - <li>Speech as proof of intelligence, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">lowest races possess, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">origin and development of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - - <li>Spencer, Herbert, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">exposition of evolutionary argument by, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">on laws of increase of population, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - - <li>Stanley, Hiram M., quoted, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> - - <li>Struggle for existence, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - - <li>Suicide, statistics of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> - - <li>Survival of the fittest, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - - <li>"Survival value," <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - - <li>Swedenborg, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter"><!-- Page 164 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>Tahitians, character of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - - <li>Tinning trade, evils of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Unhealthy trades, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - - <li>Universe, development and purpose of, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Variability, character and, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">basic law of nature, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">explanation of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">of species, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">purpose of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> - - <li>Vedas, quoted, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">War, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - - <li>Wealth, increase of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - - <li>Webb, Mr. Sidney, quoted, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - - <li>Women and marriage, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">excess in numbers of, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">future status of, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">in trade, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - - <li>Workmen's compensation, Prof. Petrie on, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - - <li>Writing as proof of intelligence, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - <li class="listsubitem">origin and development of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - - - <li class="newletter">Zoophytes, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - - <li>Zymotic diseases <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> -</ul> - - -<p class="sectctrsc">Printed by Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London,<br /> -E.C.</p> - -<p class="center">10.613</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="newchapter" /> -</div> -<div class="notebox"> -<p class="tnhead"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</p> - - -<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as in the original.</p> - -<p>The following corrections have been made to the original text:</p> - -<div class="tnblock"> -<p>Page 26: Nile as a human being, with desires,[comma missing in -original]</p> - -<p>Page 113: to luxury and civilisation[original has -"civilisa/tion" split across a line break without a hyphen]</p> - -<p>Page 161: Le Conte[original has "Coute"], Prof., quoted, 139</p> - -<p><span class="fnanchor">[139:A]</span> Professor Joseph Le Conte[original has "Coute"], in -<cite>The Monist</cite></p> -</div> - -<p>In the Index, entries repeated across page breaks and columns have been -removed.</p> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Social Environment and Moral Progress, by -Alfred Russel Wallace - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT *** - -***** This file should be named 50289-h.htm or 50289-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - 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