Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 25.djvu/499

Rh varied faculties of the men and women of to-day. It is to be observed, in this connection, that any character which helps in any way its possessor is liable to be seized upon, and in terms of sexual selection it may be stated that variations which appear first in either sex early in life are transmitted to both sexes; but variations which appear in either—late in life are transmitted to one sex only. A disease may be sexually limited—as gout, when caused by intemperance during manhood, is developed in the sons in a more striking way than in the daughters. The principle of selection with the survival of the fittest encourages the multiplication of those persons best fitted for the conditions of life, by carrying off the weak and sickly who are least fitted for those conditions; and, if left to work without check, it would result in the slow and steady improvement of the individual faculties and race characteristics, by purifying the blood, invigorating the energies, and strengthening the social instincts. But we civilized men, says Mr. Darwin, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our physicians exert their utmost skill to save the life of every patient to the last moment. The effect of the survival of all those who would be eliminated by the principle of selection, together with the rapid rate of increase of the reckless and degraded over the stronger and better members, is to increase the pressure of population on the means of subsistence. This it is which gives rise to the so-called "social problem." Scientific philanthropy is, therefore, the most modern attempt to deal with this problem, which began in primeval times, because of man's rapid multiplication, and which will continue as long as civilization continues.

Mr. Spencer has laid down two propositions which form the basis of M. Fouilleé'sFouillée's [sic] article, and also of his attack. They are: "The quality of a society is physically lowered by the artificial preservation of its feeblest members; the quality of society is lowered morally and intellectually by the artificial preservation of those who are least able to take care of themselves." To the first proposition it is objected that Mr. Darwin and his "partisans" exaggerate the harm caused by philanthropy in prolonging the propagation of the weak and helpless; that it applies "only to the infirm properly so called to whom philanthropy is accustomed to give assistance"; that it proves, moreover, too much. In regard to the influence which philanthropy exercises upon the environment, Mr. Darwin's argument may be turned back upon him, says M. Fouillée, and he proposes his theorem—i.e., "the normal conditions most favorable to mankind are to assume the development and selection of a majority of the strong, while saving only a minority of the weak." Such, in their strongest terms, are the arguments brought forward against a truly scientific philanthropy.

Let us examine the exaggerations which the Darwinians are wont to indulge in. If the feeblest members of society are artificially