Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/570

 554 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

social stratum. Man of science though he be, he and his fellows contribute less to the thought of the nation, and guide public opinion less, than any other of the great professions. But when he studies heredity, he will understand the development of mind in the individual ; he will separate the acquired from the inborn, and will know why certain systems of education have depressed some nations, whereas other nations have been exalted by differ- ent systems ; and then he will reform his own education and come into his kingdom. Indeed, the mere study of heredity will con- stitute the necessary reform ; for, though the additional facts with which he will have to load his memory will be few, yet the close, accurate, and prolonged course of thinking that he will have to undergo will develop his intellectual powers, and, lifting him above the often petty minutiae of his daily life, will bring him in contact with many great subjects. A trained expert now in all that is connected with the development of the body, he will become a trained expert in all that is connected with the develop- ment of mind. His will be the most commanding voice in that most vital of all questions, the education of the young. Under his influence, mental training will become scientific, in the sense that it will be conducted with a full knowledge of means and ends. In that day he will perceive also that selective breeding, the only possible remedy against dangers that loom great and terrible in the future, is really a question of public health ; and then men like Mr. Galton, who have devoted their lives to a noble purpose, will not speak to a small and impotent circle, but to the intellectual flower of the nation.