ate all wild beasts and render
war and the consequent loss of male life a thing of the past; not only
would the male be driven to encroach on the female's domain of domestic
agriculture and labour generally, but the males, not being so largely
destroyed, they would soon equal and surpass in numbers the females; and
not only would it then become a moot matter, "a problem," which labours
were or were not to be performed by man and which by woman, but very
soon, not the woman alone nor the man alone, but both, would be driven
to speculate as to the desirability or necessity of polygamy, which,
were men as numerous as women, would leave many males without sex
companions. The more intelligent and progressive individuals in the
community would almost at once arrive at the conclusion that polygamy
was objectionable; the most fearless would seek to carry their theory
into action; the most ignorant and unprogressive would determinately
stick to the old institutions as inherited from the past, without reason
or question; differences of ideal would cause conflict and dissension
in all parts of the body social, and suffering would ensue, where all
before was fixed and determinate. So also if the strangers introduced
new and improved methods of agriculture, and food became abundant, it
would then at once strike the most far-seeing and readily adaptable
members of the community, both male and female, that there was no
necessity for the destruction of their offspring; old men and women
would begin seriously to object to being hastened to death when they
realised that starvation did not necessarily stare them in the face
if they survived to an extreme old age; the most stupid and hide-bound
members of the community would still continue to sacrifice parents and
offspring long after the necessity had ceased, under the influence of
traditional bias; many persons would be in a state of much moral doubt
as to which course of action to pursue, the old or the new; and bitter
conflict might rage in the community on all these points. Were the
strangers to bring with them telescopes, looking through which it might
at once clearly be seen that an eclipse of the sun was caused merely by
the moon's passing over its face, the more intelligent members of the
community would at once come to the conclusion that the insect was not
the cause of eclipses, would cease to regard it as a god, and might even
kill it; the more stupid and immobile section of the