erior in body or mind; but
such hopes are Utopian and will never be even partially realized until
the laws of inheritance are thoroughly known. All do good service who
aid toward this end. When the principles of breeding and inheritance are
better understood, we shall not hear ignorant members of our legislature
rejecting with scorn a plan for ascertaining whether or not
consanguineous marriages are injurious to man.

The advancement of the welfare of mankind is a most intricate problem;
all ought to refrain from marriage who cannot avoid abject poverty for
their children; for poverty is not only a great evil, but tends to its
own increase by leading to recklessness in marriage. On the other hand,
as Mr. Galton has remarked, if the prudent avoid marriage, while the
reckless marry, the inferior members tend to supplant the better members
of society. Man, like every other animal, has no doubt advanced to his
present high condition through a struggle for existence consequent on
his rapid multiplication; and if he is to advance still higher, he must
remain subject to a severe struggle. Otherwise he would sink into
indolence, and the more gifted men would not be more successful in the
battle of life than the less gifted. Hence our natural rate of
increase, though leading to many and obvious evils, must not be greatly
diminished by any means. There should be open competition for all men;
and the most able should not be prevented by laws or customs from
succeeding best and rearing the largest number of offspring. Important
as the struggle for existence has been and even still is, yet as far as
the highest part of man's nature is concerned there are other agencies
more important. For the moral qualities are advanced, either directly or
indirectly, much more through the effects of habit, the reasoning
powers, instruction, religion, etc., than through natural selection;
though to this latter agency the social instincts, which afforded the
basis for the development of the moral sense, may be safely attributed.

The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely, that man is
descended from some lowly organized form, will, I regret to think, be
highly distasteful to many. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are
descended from barbarians. The astonishment I felt on first seeing a
party of Fuegians on a wild and broken shore will never be forgotten by
me, for the reflection at once rushed into my mind--such were our
ancestors. T