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 56 speculate. That it is a fact, is the point uponwhich our emphasis should be placed.

In the absence of more scentific tests of the racial potentiality of the individual, beauty must be used as our guide—beauty as we have described it in the preceding chapter. And, since the betterment of the race should be evidenced by an increase in that which is the sign of desirable qualities, the problem of racial betterment is the problem of conserving beauty, and eliminating ugliness, that beauty may more and more predominante; and the race become more and more fit, instead of declining under the influence of those factors in civilization which inhibit sexual selection and natural selection.

At the present time, we have no right to assume that any strain of the human race can be improved. Transmission of acquired characters may be possible, but the burden of proof is upon those who maintain that hypothesis. Nevertheless, we know that improvement in mixed stocks can be secured by the selection of the more fit, and the elimination of the less fit. In stock-breeding, we propagate from those individuals which show in highest obtainable degree the qualities we desire, and by so doing we improve the breed. We have reason to believe therefore that in the much mixed human races, by increasing the breeding of the more beautiful individuals, and