Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-26

advance in mental endowments and mental &c
fciency Modern industry. finance. science and
the arts are bringing into conspicuous view
giant after giant It may be admitted that
individual geniuses Of the past. great intellec-
tuai skyrockets. are not excelled In their own
particular specialties today. Nor Is that at
all surprising. They rose too high to be over
taken and passed in such . relatively short
period as has elapsed since the first written
history.
"No subject has occupied human attention
more than the future after death. But how
about the future Of the human race on the
earths Science has given q vast deal Of study
to its past history but has bestowed little
thought upon what may happen to man during
the endless stretches Of time ahead Of him.
I'm this regard some fears have been ex-
pressed. Eugenists see danger in the rapid and
unrestricted breeding Of the least desirable
classes. In the view Of vital statistics, the dam
ger lies in a general overpopulation of the
world.
There Is even apprehensive thought Of gen.
eral degeneration and an oncoming senility Of
the human race. Just as an individual man
grows old. with impairment of his faculties
and lessening of his physical and mental
efficiency, so conceivably might all Of mankind
degenerate.
II can foresee no such happening. If there
be danger to the future Of mankind. it LEE in
the birth rate. The people BEST gifted with
desirable inheritance traits are producing off,
spring in diminishing numbers. Large brains
and large families do not seem to go together.
But genius and talent viii keep on rising. in
the main, from lower strata, as they have
done heretofore.
MAN has ever paid for his advance Is pay
ing now and will pay in the future Digestive
and other functional disorders will increase as
time goes on. Mental arrangements will prob
ably be more frequent. Teeth, mouth, nose,
eyes and ears will call for more and more at
tnnti0n mno NV
pendence on artificial support, will give more
trouble
Childbirth may not be easier or less painful.
despite improvement of medical skill and meth.
cd. The average human life will be longer.
but due to that very fact, heart troubles, apo
plexy cancer and senile weaknesses of all sorts
will tend to be more common
IF the best equipped human beings, physical.
1y and mentally, could breed among them.
selves. the way toward development of dis
tinct higher variety of man would be open.
But 1t is conceivable that nature might not
approve such an arrangement, and that it
might turn out mfavorably for man himself.
CHAD we complete knowledge of mans past
we could deduce to some extent the flu
ture of the race. We do know that less than
10000 years have elapsed since he first came
nearly to resemble the human being Of today
Those 10000 years represent less than one
tenth-perhaps less than one-twentieth-of the
entire period of mans existence on the earth.
Human infancy was very long. If man has
existed $4,000 years. a very moderate estimate,
his infancy and childhood may be said to have
covered more than 1000 years. His progress
was slow. very slow, but always a progress.
never a repression.
The great wonder is how he sustained him.
self during this long, dangerous, almost help
daWninQ
~ ~ nm.