The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-14
THE SCIENCE OF ENcENICs


 Literary Digest.
 It Is not so very long since the word "eugenics" was coined to name the science of race-culture--the culti- vatfon of the fittest. Now what the writer asserts to be the first attempt to define the general principles of this science as whole has just been is- < sued under the title of "Parenthooa and Race Culture" by pr. Caleb w. Sa- 1eeby fIondon. 1so9.). From the basic azeumption that there is no wealth but life, and that the culture of the racial life constitutes our vital indus try. the author develops his subject in various directions. emphasizing the importance Of hereditv and education, and the part played by avoidance of harmful conditions. especially those due to what he calls racial poisons'-- alcohol and the lfke--and dwelling on the possibility of selection through marriage. Tn his introduction. Dr. Saleeby decries the 'inhuman and im- potent Idea, as he calls it, that we must take the world as we find it." He says:
 "The capital fact of man. as distin- guished from the lower animals and from plants is that he does not merely adapt himself to his environments. but that he himself is a creator of his world. If our ancestors had taken and left the world as they found 1t. we should be little more than erected monkeys today"
 We must do something then. Dr. Saleeby thinks, to improve mankind and to prevent the waste and destruc- tion of valuable lives. Recognizing parenthood as the foundation of all race culture. he passes on to euiogy of motherhood. The reader naturally trac nFl ra suicide" and will be rather surprised by pr. Saieeby's opinion. We read:
 .The professional and dedicated teachers of morality are begin nIna to join in that public outcry against infant mortality which will vet abolish this abominable stain upon our time. But they are lamentably uninformed. They do not know, Tor instance, that a high infant mortality habituaily goes with a high birth rate not only in human society. but in all living species; and they have yet to appreciate the proposition which have so often advanced and which, to me at any rate, seems absolutely self evident, that until we have learned how to keep alive all the healthy ba- bies now born--that is to say, not less than ninety per cent of all. the babies in the slums included-it is mon- strous to cry for more. to be similar Iy slain. These bewailings about our nnercifuily falling birth rate, uncoupied with any attention to the slaughter or the children actually born, are pitia- hle in their blindness and would be lauaentable if they had any effect--of which there Is fortunateuly no sign whatever, but. indeed. the contrary"
 Equality not quantity" is apparent iy inc watchword of the eugenists. Not more children, but better ones Let only the it become parents, save the lives of their offspring, instead Of Kill ing off two-thirds of them, as we do now, encourage what is best for man and teach him to avoid racial poi sons" These things, Dr. Saleeby thinks, are all possible, given a sane public opinion; and the eugenists are etartfng in 10 form that opinion. He writes:
 ..so surely as this belief is the crowning and practical conclusion to which all the teachings of modern ni- ology eonverges comes to life in men E minds. so surely the difficulties will De met not ony on paper, but also In nractice. Where there's will there's < way. Meanwhile men are content to work at the impermanent If not In aeed at measures which directly war against the selection of the pest TOT narenthood; they do not realize the stern necessity of obeylng nature m this respect-for 1t is her selection o' parents that alone has raised us from fhe beast and the worm; and since ne ceasity alone, whether inner or outer xuhether of character of circumstance ,s fine mother of invention, they fall tc and the methods by which our Ideal can be carried out There IS nothing. either in the character of the tndiVld nal man and woman. or m the struei ure of society, that makes the ideal o' race culture impossible today.
 pr. Saleeby would not have us tnihK, however. that the eugenist regardS man as only an animal. In chapter m .sThe Selection of Mind" he assures ps. that although the body is still nee essary, all the notifications that have taken place in 1t since our simian TOT hears point to something higher-the erect attitude, the disappearance or defense coverings. the disuse or cer- tain muscles. the increasing value or skill as opposed to strength ana so on. In fact, he asserts. mind has been anrninant throughout human history.
 ..'rhere is no record of any race that established itself in virtue of greaf stature or exceptional muscular atraneth. Even in cases of the most nurely military dominance, 1t was not force as such, but discipline and meth od greatest soldiers Tn history nave been physically the smallest. se- lection in human society has always been. in the main selection of that which, for survival value. Is the dom- inant character of man. mind in It's widest sense. Physical eugenlcs can by no means be ignored; but
 the physical Is of worth only Insofar as 1t serves the psychical and Is worse than worthless in so far as 1t does not"
 what is the prospect that these aims of the students of eugenics shall be measurablv realized. If through the education of public opinion, as they hope to educate 1t. the means of apply ing their own methods with some do. gree of universality shall be given them? Dr. Saleeby thinks that it tg good. In his concluding chapter, or ssrhe Promise of Race Culture" he .nenaarafas among the immediate