Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 71.djvu/175

Rh will, I trust, treat it much as an annexe to his adjacent biometric laboratory, for many studies in eugenics might, with equal propriety, be carried on in either of them, and the same methods of precise analysis which are due to the mathematical skill and untiring energy of Professor Pearson are used in both. The office now bears the name of the Eugenics Laboratory, and its temporary home is in 88 Gower Street. The phrase "national eugenics" is defined as "the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations, either physically or mentally."

The laboratory has already begun to publish memoirs on its own account, and I now rest satisfied in the belief that, with a fair share of good luck, this young institution will prosper and grow into an important center of research.

Eugenics seeks for quantitative results. It is not contented with such vague words as "much" or "little," but endeavors to determine "how much" or "how little" in precise and trustworthy figures. A simple example will show the importance of this. Let us suppose a class of persons, called A, who are afflicted with some form and some specified degree of degeneracy, as inferred from personal observations, and from family history, and let class B consist of the offspring of A. We already know only too well that when the grade of A is very low, that of the average B will be below par and mischievous to the community, but how mischievous will it probably be? This question is of a familiar kind, easily to be answered when a sufficiency of facts have been collected. But a second question arises, What will be the trustworthiness of the forecast derived from averages when it is applied to individuals? This is a kind of question that is not familiar, and rarely taken into account, although it too could be answered easily as follows: The average mischief done by each B individual to the community may for brevity be called M: the mischiefs done by the several individuals differ more or less from M by amounts whose average may be called D. In other words D is the average amount of the individual deviations from M. D thus becomes the measure of untrust worthiness. The smaller D is, the more precise the forecast, and the stronger the justification for taking such drastic measures against the propagation of class B as would be consonant to the feelings if the forecast were known to be infallible. On the other hand, a large D signifies a corresponding degree of uncertainty, and a risk that might be faced without reproach through a sentiment akin to that expressed in the maxim "It is better that many guilty should escape than that one innocent person should suffer." But that is not the sentiment by which natural selection is guided, and it is dangerous to yield far to it.