Darwinism and Race Progress

of Brain a

f mind or body, or that is rich in the possession of some machine of war. We have the spectacle of the Eastern king using a captive nation for the construction of irrigation works, or for the building of a temple or a pyramid; or, coming to more modern times, we see the Mexican civilisat

show Increased

than muscle volume against muscle volume, and it is interesting to investigate whether or no, as a result of this struggle, our race has i

k that anyone would venture to assert that an average Englishman of to-day has better brain tissue and corresponding intellectual activity than that which was possessed by an average ancient Greek; indeed, some with Galton would say that the Englishman's brain power is very inferior. We have always to bear in mind that, owing to our possession of the faculty of language spoken and written, our intellectual property, like our

nt, but are remote cousins. We can, however, obtain information which is of the greatest value as to the intellectual power of our direct forefathers at dates which may be counted back by thousands of years. Although they have left no written records behind them-for writin

ared with the Mode

anthropometrist is able with certainty to affirm regarding the skulls of unknown persons their race and their general position in the scale of intellectual development. In a race where brain power is great, the brain pan is large and capacious, to accommodate the organ within it; it is a large-brain-small-jaw skull. In a race in whi

e Stone Age, which we may place at least before the Christian era. When these skulls are examined, they are found to be similar to many of our own. When we look at them, we feel that there is no reason to assume that they are of a lower type than our own, or that the me

Development sinc

ment from the time mankind first formed simple communities for purposes of self-defence and mutual aid up to the present time. It would fo

mit of the Destruction of the

ction? for we have seen that struggle and competition between brain and brain has incessantly been going

e always tended towards destruction, their more capable fellows having as a rule an interest in their destruction. A sickly fowl or pigeon has not only to compete at great disadvantage with its fellows for its food, but it has to face a pit

yet even amongst the so-called outcasts of society there are social bonds not to be found in the animal world, which link man to man often with strange tenacity. We regard our own interests as by far the most important, yet we have some regard for the interests of others, and the most savage man is capable of that very human virtue called friendship. Hence it is that alt

results merely in

r power and position, and for the means of gratifying whims and obtaining pleasure. It may truly be called a race for greed in which, in the nature of things, all cannot come in first. The well-to-do tradesman has more meat and wine than he can consume, more books than he can read, more works of art than he can understand, and yet he is not satisfied; but there is one thing sweeter to him than anything else, and that is to pass his neighbours in the race of life, and in hi

ey have suffered in the race for wealth, have not to any great extent been permitted to undergo extreme privation, and it remains to be seen whether they have contributed their share of progeny, for if they have done so it

of Individua

tion, as a rule contributes more or less progeny than one who has been more fortunate, let us examine more closely th

o all except the very best man who is termed "scratch." The result of such a race is no proper test of merit, and the winner is often the worst of limb and wind in the whole competing team; he wins it because of the handicap he has received. Now while the wild beast and very primitive savage are all "scratch" and no "handicap" is

are Handicapped

yment of this loan, wealth may yield in perpetuity a sufficiency to support without further expenditure of labour. By the earning, with physical or mental labour, of wealth, and by the increments produced by the loan of wealth, this wealth has accumulated in certain families and in certain classes, and this power is handed down from generation to generation. In order to obtain wealth in any quantity, great physical skill or mental training is, as a rule, required, and this is only to be obtained

lways acquired by

living in England had not had the chance of learning. In more recent times wealth and consequent power, acquired by manufacture and trade, have likewise fallen to the share of the incapable as well as to the capable, to the exclusion of the greater number of individuals belonging to both classes. Those who lived on the seacoast where to the south and east the construction of harbourage was possible, profited by the development of the trade which at one time arose in those districts; while later on, and after the establishment of colonies to the west, in the States and Canada, those who lived in the coast district to the west profited in their turn by western trade. Individuals holding land of value to the agriculturist alone, and in its turn yielding great return, have found themselves penniless on account of the importation, at low prices

ess Capable than P

re any marked differences between their contributions these would have been observed, for we have so many chances in everyday life for the study of such problems. We may conclude, therefore, that an average child depends for its faculties as much upon the mother as upon the father. Now, even if we put on one side the probabilities of the choice of a mate having rat

g those who have themselves acquired wealth, and also that it is indeed probable that the average capacity of wealth-holders is only slightly above that of the average of the whole community. That there is a sli

ind in every class every range of intellectual capacity, from that of the i

scratched agains

able to equip them with an expensive education which is essential to their getting on in the world. A vigorous personality always counts for much, but training is essential, and training has until quite recently only been obtainable by the well-to-do classes. The English universities and public schools had until lately become the monopoly of the upper and professional classes, to the exclusion, even among these classes, of many who differed in creed from the majority of the communit

other cases by justices, who were often themselves employers of labour. Their wages were determined chiefly by the price of provisions, and in order to prevent migration with a view to the bettering of their wages, they were confined to the place of their birth by the imposition of very serious punishment, if they left their native places to work elsewhere. It is not sought in any way in

are ruling our actions more emphatically, we must remember that this moral advance is a heritage which, like our intellectual and material possessions,

community. Without this condition the united effort of the community can never reach its maximum, for much individual power is suppressed, and mu

Attempts to equa

terly a change has come about in the direction which gives more s

ll then draw their students from a larger area, and men possessing brain power will be rescued from mere mechanical pursuits. One can hardly explain, on the assumption of race superiority alone, the wonderful potentiality of the Scottish Lowlands, the birthplace of so many

formed between the universities and almost every parish in the country. The best education the country can produce has for many ye

the universities and colleges in the great centres of population, and suited to the wants of, and within the means of, the poorer classes, are now being established, and an altogether different

mechanical arts can now be learnt at little or no expense by the children of t

. The surgeon and medical practitioner were at one time looked down upon and classed with the shopkeepers, and trade in all its branches was viewed as a necessary occupation, but only to be undertaken by the uneducated and unrefined. But nowadays parents are taking what appears to be a more commonsense view of the question. Their sons cannot all of them be landed propriet

hile the children of the well-to-do can take up positions which were at one time thought to be quite unworthy of them. This, then, seems to be the tendency of modern democratic effort, but it is very questionable whether the result eventually achievable is one which, if understood, will be very acceptable to the democracy. Class distinctions of a very artificial kind are, undoubtedly, being rapidly destroyed, but only by the reconstruction of others of a most e

be poor. If everyone is able to dress in silk and to eat lamb and green peas, then this privilege will cease to be valued, for we set store not on what we possess, but on what we do not possess. The field and town labourers to-day eat better food, dress better, and have far greater advantages than had their fathers, yet relatively to other classes they remain what their fathers were. They are "poor men," they pity themselves, and the more ambitious strive for what they see others in possession of. At the present time the poor man may, with some show of reason and hope of succeeding in greater things, be discontented with his lot, and wish for other pursuits and other advantages, for which he

eed are Not Al

f great interest and importance. We have seen that society is giving to the capable of all classes increase

the most active or intelligent always survive; indeed, this is far from being a rule of universal application. Often the most fit are inactive and mentally inert, as when the tame duck with useless wings and the mole with useless eyes is preserved while others die off. In these cases the wings and eyes are useless, and, although the animals looked at b

ave been able best to conform to the conditions necessary for their advancement laid down by society at large. Whether or not these fit will form an arist

in our power to obtain. Do not these impressions force us to believe that the man who most invariably gets on best is he who untiringly follows out his own advantage, who has one end and aim in life, which he pursues regardless of everything else; and that a course of life like this necessarily implies selfishness and want of regard for the well-being of others? We see so many men around us of the greatest capacity, unselfish and unblemished at the same time, and yet they do not get on, but are passed by men who, in mos

hese as necessarily preludes to a better condition of things, we must not shut our eyes to their dangers, and mu

OT

ssor D. G. Ritchie, 2nd Edit., p. vi., upon the