,,essays ,,in ,,war-,,time  ,,further   
,,studies ,,in ,,the ,,task ,,of        
,,social ,,hygiene   ,,by ,,havelock    
,,ellis     ,,contents  ,i4             
,,introduction ,,ii4    ,,evolution     
,,and ,,war ,,iii4   ,,war ,,and        
,,eugenics ,,iv4    ,,morality ,,in     
,,warfare ,v4     ,,is ,,war            
,,diminishing ,,vi4    ,,war ,,and ,,the
 ,,birth-,,rate ,,vii4   ,,war ,,and    
,,democracy ,,viii4  ,,feminism ,,and   
,,masculinism ,,ix4    ,,the ,,mental   
,,differences ,,of ,,men ,,and ,,women  
,x4     ,,the ,,white ,,slave ,,crusade 
,,xi4    ,,the ,,conquest ,,of          
,,venereal ,,disease ,,xii4   ,,the     
,,nationalisation ,,of ,,health ,,xiii4 
,,eugenics ,,and ,,genius ,,xiv4   ,,the
 ,,production ,,of ,,ability ,,xv4      
,,marriage ,,and ,,divorce ,,xvi4       
,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,the              
,,birth-,,rate ,,xvii4  ,,civilisation  
,,and ,,the ,,birth-,,rate ,,xviii4     
,,birth ,,control        ,,index     ,i 
,,introduction  ,from the point of view 

of literature1 the ,great ,war of to-day
 has brought us into a new and closer   
sympathy with the ,england of the past4 
,dr4 ,woods and ,mr4 ,baltzly in their  
recent careful study of ,european       
,warfare1 ,is ,war ,diminishing8 come to
 the conclusion that ,england during the
 period of her great activity in the    
world has been fighting about half the  
time4 ,we had begun to look on war as   
belonging to the past and insensibly    
fallen into the view of ,buckle that in 
,england a love of war is1 as a national
 taste1 utterly extinct4 ,now we have   
awakened to realise that we belong to a 
people who have been fighting about half
 the time4  ,thus it is1 for instance1  
that we witness a revival of interest in
 ,wordsworth1 not that ,wordsworth1 the 
high-priest of ,nature among the        
solitary ,lakes1 whom we have never     
forsaken1 but the ,wordsworth who sang  
exultantly of ,carnage as ,god's        
,daughter4 ,to-day we turn to the       
war-like ,wordsworth1 the stern patriot 

hurling defiance at the enemies who     
threatened our island fortress1 as the  
authentic voice of ,england4  ,but this 
new sense of community with the past    
comes to us again and again on every    
hand when to-day we look back to the    
records of the past4 ,i chance to take  
down the ,epistles of ,erasmus1 and turn
 to the letters which the great         
,humanist of ,rotterdam wrote from      
,cambridge and ,london four hundred     
years ago when young ,henry ,,viii had  
just suddenly 7in #aead7 plunged into   
war4 ,one reads them to-day with vivid  
interest1 for here in the supple and    
sensitive brain of the old scholar we   
see mirrored precisely the same thoughts
 and the same problems which exercise   
the more scholarly brains of to-day4    
,erasmus1 as his ,pan-,german friends   
liked to remind him1 was a sort of      
,german1 but he was1 nevertheless1 what 
we should now call a ,pacifist4 ,he can 
see nothing good in war and he          
eloquently sets forth what he regards as

 its evils4 ,it is interesting to       
observe1 how1 even in its small details 
as well as in its great calamities1 war 
brought precisely the same experiences  
four centuries ago as to-day4 ,prices   
are rising every day1 ,erasmus declares1
 taxation has become so heavy that no   
one can afford to be liberal1 imports   
are hampered and wine is scarce1 it is  
difficult even to get one's foreign     
letters4 ,in fact the preparations of   
war are rapidly changing the genius of  
the ,island4 ,thereupon ,erasmus        
launches into more general              
considerations on war4 ,even animals1 he
 points out1 do not fight1 save rarely1 
and then with only those of other       
species1 and1 moreover1 not1 like us1   
with machines upon which we expend the  
ingenuity of devils4 ,in every war also 
it is the non-combatants who suffer     
most1 the people build cities and the   
folly of their rulers destroys them1 the
 most righteous1 the most victorious war
 brings more evil than good1 and even   

when a real issue is in dispute1 it     
could better have been settled by       
arbitration4 ,the moral contagion of a  
war1 moreover1 lasts long after the war 
is over1 and ,erasmus proceeds to       
express himself freely on the crimes of 
fighters and fighting4  ,erasmus was a  
cosmopolitan scholar who habitually     
dwelt in the world of the spirit and in 
no wise expressed the general feelings  
either of his own time or ours4 ,it is  
interesting to turn to a very ordinary1 
it may be typical1 ,englishman who lived
 a century later1 again in a period of  
war and also of quite ordinary and but  
moderately glorious war4 ,john ,rous1 a 
,cambridge graduate of old ,suffolk     
family1 was in #afbc appointed incumbent
 of ,santon ,downham1 then called a     
town1 though now it has dwindled away   
almost to nothing4 ,here1 or rather at  
,weeting or at ,brandon where he lived1 
,rous began two years later1 on the     
accession of ,charles ,i1 a private     
diary which was printed by the ,camden  

,society sixty years ago1 and has       
probably remained unread ever since1    
unless1 as in the present case1 by some 
person of antiquarian tastes interested 
in this remote corner of ,east ,anglia4 
,but to-day one detects a new streak of 
interest in this ancient series of      
miscellaneous entries where we find that
 war brought to the front the very same 
problems which confront us to-day4      
,santon ,downham lies in a remote and   
desolate and salubrious region1 not     
without its attractions to-day1 nor1 for
 all its isolation1 devoid of ancient   
and modern associations4 ,for here in   
,weeting parish we have the great       
prehistoric centre of the flint         
implement industry1 still lingering on  
at ,brandon after untold ages1 a shrine 
of the archaeologist4 ,and here also1 or
 at all events near by1 at ,lackenheath1
 doubtless a shrine also for all men in 
khaki1 the villager proudly points out  
the unpretentious little house which is 
the ancestral home of the ,kitcheners1  

who lie in orderly rank in the          
churchyard beside the old church notable
 for its rarely quaint mediaeval        
carvings4  ,rous was an ordinary        
respectable type of country parson1 a   
solid ,englishman1 cautious and         
temperate in his opinions1 even in the  
privacy of his diary1 something of a    
country gentleman as well as a scholar1 
and interested in everything that went  
on1 in the season's crops1 in the rising
 price of produce1 in the execution of a
 youth for burglary or the burning of a 
woman for murdering her husband4 ,he    
frequently refers to the outbreak of    
plague in various parts of the country1 
and notes1 for instance1 that ,cambridge
 is wondrously reformed since the plague
 there2 scholars frequent not the       
streets and taverns as before2 but1 he  
adds later on better information1 do    
worse4 ,and at the same time he is full 
of interest in the small incidents of   
,nature around him1 and notes1 for      
instance1 how a crow had built a nest   

and laid an egg in the poke of the      
topsail of the windmill4  ,but ,rous's  
,diary is not concerned only with       
matters of local interest4 ,all the     
rumours of the world reached the ,vicar 
of ,downham and were by him faithfully  
set down from day to day4 ,europe was   
seething with war2 these were the days  
of that famous ,thirty ,years' ,war of  
which we have so often heard of late1   
and from time to time ,england was      
joining in the general disturbance1     
whether in ,france1 ,spain1 or the      
,netherlands4 ,as usual the ,english    
attack was mostly from the basis of the 
,fleet1 and never before1 ,rous notes1  
had ,england possessed so great and     
powerful a fleet4 ,soon after the ,diary
 begins the ,english ,expedition to     
,rochelle took place1 and a version of  
its history is here embodied4 ,rous was 
kept in touch with the outside world not
 only by the proclamations constantly   
set up at ,thetford on the corner post  
of the ,bell ,inn--still the centre of  

that ancient town--but by as numerous   
and as varied a crop of reports as we   
find floating among us to-day1 often    
indeed of very similar character4 ,the  
vicar sets them down1 not committing    
himself to belief but with a patient    
confidence that time may tell us what we
 may safely think4 ,in the meanwhile    
measures with which we are familiar     
to-day were actively in progress3       
recruits or voluntaries were being      
gathered up by the drum1 many soldiers1 
mostly ,irish1 were billeted1 sometimes 
not without friction1 all over ,east    
,anglia1 the coasts were being          
fortified1 the price of corn was rising1
 and even the problem of international  
exchange is discussed with precise data 
by ,rous4  ,on one occasion1 in #afbg1  
,rous reports a discussion concerning   
the ,rochelle ,expedition which exactly 
counterparts our experience to-day4 ,he 
was at ,brandon with two gentlemen named
 ,paine and ,howlet1 when the former    
began to criticise the management of the

 expedition1 disputing the possibility  
of its success and then fell in general 
to speak distrustfully of the voyage1   
and then of our war with ,france1 which 
he would make our ,king the cause of2   
and so went on to topics of old popular 
discontent1 of the great cost1 the      
hazard to ships1 etc4 ,rous1 like a good
 patriot1 thought it foul for any man to
 lay the blame upon our own ,king and   
,state4 ,i told them ,i would always    
speak the best of what our ,king and    
,state did1 and think the best too1 till
 ,i had good grounds4 ,and then in his  
,diary he comments that he saw hereby1  
what he had often seen before1 that men 
be disposed to speak the worst of ,state
 business1 as though it were always     
being mismanaged1 and so nourish a      
discontent which is itself a worse      
mischief and can only give joy to false 
hearts4 ,that is a reflection which     
comes home to us to-day when we find the
 descendants of ,mr4 ,paine following so
 vigorously the example which the parson

 of ,downham reprobated4  ,that little  
incident at ,brandon1 however1 and      
indeed the whole picture of the ordinary
 ,english life of his time which ,rous  
sets forth1 suggest a wider reflection4 
,we realise what has always been the    
,english temper4 ,it is the temper of a 
vigorous1 independent1 opinionated1     
free-spoken yet sometimes suspicious    
people among whom every individual feels
 in himself the impulse to rule4 ,it is 
also the temper of a people always      
prepared in the face of danger to       
subordinate these native impulses4 ,the 
one tendency and the other opposing     
tendency are alike based on the history 
and traditions of the race4 ,fifteen    
centuries ago1 ,sidonius ,apollinaris   
gazed inquisitively at the ,saxon       
barbarians1 most ferocious of all foes1 
who came to ,aquitania1 with faces      
daubed with blue paint and hair pushed  
back over their foreheads2 shy and      
awkward among the courtiers1 free and   
turbulent when back again in their      

ships1 they were all teaching and       
learning at once1 and counted even      
shipwreck as good training4 ,one would  
think1 the ,bishop remarks1 that each   
oarsman was himself the arch-pirate4#a  
,these were the men who so largely went 
to the making of the ,anglo-,saxon1 and 
,sidonius might doubtless still utter   
the same comment could he observe their 
descendants in ,england to-day4 ,every  
,englishman believes in his heart1      
however modestly he may conceal the     
conviction1 that he could himself       
organise as large an army as ,kitchener 
and organise it better4 ,but there is   
not only the instinct to order and to   
teach but also to learn and to obey4    
,for every ,englishman is the descendant
 of sailors1 and even this island of    
,britain seemed to men of old like a    
great ship anchored in the sea4 ,nothing
 can overcome the impulse of the sailor 
to stand by his post at the moment of   
danger1 and to play his sailorly part1  
whatever his individual convictions may 

be concerning the expedition to         
,rochelle or the expedition to the      
,dardanelles1 or even concerning his    
right to play no part at all4 ,that has 
ever been the ,englishman's impulse in  
the hour of peril of his island ,ship of
 ,state1 as to-day we see illustrated in
 an almost miraculous degree4 ,it is the
 saving grace of an obstinately         
independent and indisciplinable people4 
,yet let us not forget that this same   
,english temper is shown not only in    
warfare1 not only in adventure in the   
physical world1 but also in the greater1
 and--may we not say8--equally arduous  
tasks of peace4 ,for to build up is even
 yet more difficult than to pull down1  
to create new life a still more         
difficult and complex task than to      
destroy it4 ,our ,english habits of     
restless adventure1 of latent revolt    
subdued to the ends of law and order1 of
 uncontrollable freedom and             
independence1 are even more fruitful    
here1 in the organisation of the        

progressive tasks of life1 than they are
 in the organisation of the tasks of    
war4  ,that is the spirit in which these
 essays have been written by an         
,englishman of ,english stock in the    
narrowest sense1 whose national and     
family instincts of independence and    
warfare have been transmuted into a     
preoccupation with the more constructive
 tasks of life4 ,it is a spirit which   
may give to these little essays--mostly 
produced while war was in progress--a   
certain unity which was not designed    
when ,i wrote them4   #a ,o',dalton1    
,letters of ,sidonius1 ,vol4 ,,ii41 p4  
#adi4     ,,ii   ,,evolution ,,and ,,war
  ,the ,great ,war of to-day has        
rendered acute the question of the place
 of warfare in ,nature and the effect of
 war on the human race4 ,these have long
 been debated problems concerning which 
there is no complete agreement4 ,but    
until we make up our minds on these     
fundamental questions we can gain no    
solid ground from which to face         

serenely1 or at all events firmly1 the  
crisis through which mankind is now     
passing4  ,it has been widely held that 
war has played an essential part in the 
evolutionary struggle for survival among
 our animal ancestors1 that war has been
 a factor of the first importance in the
 social development of primitive human  
races1 and that war always will be an   
essential method of preserving the human
 virtues even in the highest            
civilisation4 ,it must be observed that 
these are three separate and quite      
distinct propositions4 ,it is possible  
to accept one1 or even two1 of them     
without affirming them all4 ,if we wish 
to clear our minds of confusion on this 
matter1 so vital to our civilisation1 we
 must face each of the questions by     
itself4  ,it has sometimes been         
maintained--never more energetically    
than to-day1 especially among the       
nations which most eagerly entered the  
present conflict--that war is a         
biological necessity4 ,war1 we are told1

 is a manifestation of the ,struggle for
 ,life2 it is the inevitable application
 to mankind of the ,darwinian law of    
natural selection4 ,there are1 however1 
two capital and final objections to this
 view4 ,on the one hand it is not       
supported by anything that ,darwin      
himself said1 and on the other hand it  
is denied as a fact by those authorities
 on natural history who speak with most 
knowledge4 ,that ,darwin regarded war as
 an insignificant or even non-existent  
part of natural selection must be clear 
to all who have read his books4 ,he was 
careful to state that he used the term  
struggle for existence in a metaphorical
 sense1 and the dominant factors in the 
struggle for existence1 as ,darwin      
understood it1 were natural suitability 
to the organic and inorganic environment
 and the capacity for adaptation to     
circumstances2 one species flourishes   
while a less efficient species living   
alongside it languishes1 yet they may   
never come in actual contact and there  

is nothing in the least approaching     
human warfare4 ,the conditions much more
 resemble what1 among ourselves1 we may 
see in business1 where the better       
equipped species1 that is to say1 the   
big capitalist1 flourishes1 while the   
less well equipped species1 the small   
capitalist1 succumbs4 ,mr4 ,chalmers    
,mitchell1 ,secretary of the ,london    
,zoological ,society and familiar with  
the habits of animals1 has lately       
emphasised the contention of ,darwin and
 shown that even the most widely current
 notions of the extermination of one    
species by another have no foundation in
 fact4#a ,thus the thylacine or         
,tasmanian wolf1 the fiercest of the    
marsupials1 has been entirely driven out
 of ,australia and its place taken by a 
later and higher animal1 of the dog     
family1 the dingo4 ,but there is not the
 slightest reason to believe that the   
dingo ever made war on the thylacine4   
,if there was any struggle at all it was
 a common struggle against the          

environment1 in which the dingo1 by     
superior intelligence in finding food   
and rearing young1 and by greater       
resisting power to climate and disease1 
was able to succeed where the thylacine 
failed4 ,again1 the supposed war of     
extermination waged in ,europe by the   
brown rat against the black rat is 7as  
,chalmers ,mitchell points out7 pure    
fiction4 ,in ,england1 where this war is
 said to have been ferociously waged1   
both rats exist and flourish1 and under 
conditions which do not usually even    
bring them into competition with each   
other4 ,the black rat 7,mus rattus7 is  
smaller than the other1 but more active 
and a better climber2 he is the rat of  
the barn and the granary4 ,the brown or 
,norway rat 7,mus decumanus7 is larger  
but less active1 a burrower rather than 
a climber1 and though both rats are     
omnivorous the brown rat is more        
especially a scavenger2 he is the rat of
 sewers and drains4 ,the black rat came 
to ,northern ,europe first--both of them

 probably being ,asiatic animals--and   
has no doubt been to some extent        
replaced by the brown rat1 who has been 
specially favoured by the modern        
extension of drains and sewers1 which   
exactly suit his peculiar tastes4 ,but  
each flourishes in his own environment2 
neither of them is adapted to the       
other's environment2 there is no war    
between them1 nor any occasion for war1 
for they do not really come into        
competition with each other4 ,the       
cockroaches1 or blackbeetles1 furnish   
another example4 ,these pests are       
comparatively modern and their great    
migrations in recent times are largely  
due to the activity of human commerce4  
,there are three main species of        
cockroach--the ,oriental1 the ,american1
 and the ,german 7or ,croton bug7--and  
they flourish near together in many     
countries1 though not with equal        
success1 for while in ,england the      
,oriental is most prosperous1 in        
,america the ,german cockroach is most  

abundant4 ,they are seldom found in     
actual association1 each is best adapted
 to a particular environment2 there is  
no reason to suppose that they fight4   
,it is so throughout ,nature4 ,animals  
may utilise other species as food2 but  
that is true of even1 the most peaceable
 and civilised human races4 ,the        
struggle for existence means that one   
species is more favoured by             
circumstances than another species2     
there is not the remotest resemblance   
anywhere to human warfare4  ,we may pass
 on to the second claim for war3 that it
 is an essential factor in the social   
development of primitive human races4   
,war has no part1 though competition has
 a very large part1 in what we call     
,nature4 ,but1 when we come to primitive
 man the conditions are somewhat        
changed2 men1 unlike the lower animals1 
are able to form large                  
communities--tribes1 as we call         
them--with common interests1 and two    
primitive tribes can come into a        

competition which is acute to the point 
of warfare because being of the same1   
and not of two different1 species1 the  
conditions of life which they both      
demand are identical2 they are impelled 
to fight for the possession of these    
conditions as animals of different      
species are not impelled to fight4 ,we  
are often told that animals are more    
moral than human beings1 and it is      
largely to the fact that1 except under  
the immediate stress of hunger1 they are
 better able to live in peace with each 
other1 that the greater morality of     
animals is due4 ,yet1 we have to        
recognise1 this mischievous tendency to 
warfare1 so often 7though by no means   
always1 and in the earliest stages      
probably never7 found in primitive man1 
was bound up with his superior and      
progressive qualities4 ,his             
intelligence1 his quickness of sense1   
his muscular skill1 his courage and     
endurance1 his aptitude for discipline  
and for organisation--all of them       

qualities on which civilisation is      
based--were fostered by warfare4 ,with  
warfare in primitive life was closely   
associated the still more fundamental   
art1 older than humanity1 of dancing4   
,the dance was the training school for  
all the activities which man developed  
in a supreme degree--for love1 for      
religion1 for art1 for organised        
labour--and in primitive days dancing   
was the chief military school1 a        
perpetual exercise in mimic warfare     
during times of peace1 and in times of  
war the most powerful stimulus to       
military prowess by the excitement it   
aroused4 ,not only was war a formative  
and developmental social force of the   
first importance among early men1 but it
 was comparatively free from the        
disadvantages which warfare later on    
developed2 the hardness of their life   
and the obtuseness of their sensibility 
reduced to a minimum the bad results of 
wounds and shocks1 while their warfare1 
being free from the awful devices due to

 the devilry of modern man1 was         
comparatively innocuous2 even if very   
destructive1 its destruction was        
necessarily limited by the fact that    
those accumulated treasures of the past 
which largely make civilisation had not 
come into existence4 ,we may admire the 
beautiful humanity1 the finely developed
 social organisation1 and the skill in  
the arts attained by such people as the 
,eskimo tribes1 which know nothing of   
war1 but we must also recognise that    
warfare among primitive peoples has     
often been a progressive and            
developmental force of the first        
importance1 creating virtues apt for use
 in quite other than military spheres4#b
  ,the case is altered when we turn from
 savagery to civilisation4 ,the new and 
more complex social order while1 on the 
one hand1 it presents substitutes for   
war in so far as war is a source of     
virtues1 on the other hand1 renders war 
a much more dangerous performance both  
to the individual and to the community1 

becoming indeed1 progressively more     
dangerous to both1 until it reaches such
 a climax of world-wide injury as we    
witness to-day4 ,the claim made in      
primitive societies that warfare is     
necessary to the maintenance of virility
 and courage1 a claim so fully admitted 
that only the youth furnished with      
trophies of heads or scalps can hope to 
become an accepted lover1 is out of date
 in civilisation4 ,for under civilised  
conditions there are hundreds of        
avocations which furnish exactly the    
same conditions as warfare for the      
cultivation of all the manly virtues of 
enterprise and courage and endurance1   
physical or moral4 ,not only are these  
new avocations equally potent for the   
cultivation of virility1 but far more   
useful for the social ends of           
civilisation4 ,for these ends warfare is
 altogether less adapted than it is for 
the social ends of savagery4 ,it is much
 less congenial to the tastes and       
aptitudes of the individual1 while at   

the same time it is incomparably more   
injurious to ,society4 ,in savagery     
little is risked by war1 for the        
precious heirlooms of humanity have not 
yet been created1 and war can destroy   
nothing which cannot easily be remade by
 the people who first made it4 ,but     
civilisation possesses--and in that     
possession1 indeed1 civilisation largely
 consists--the precious traditions of   
past ages that can never live again1    
embodied in part in exquisite           
productions of varied beauty which are a
 continual joy and inspiration to       
mankind1 and in part in slowly evolved  
habits and laws of social amenity1 and  
reasonable freedom1 and mutual          
independence1 which under civilised     
conditions war1 whether between nations 
or between classes1 tends to destroy1   
and in so destroying to inflict a       
permanent loss in the material heirlooms
 of ,mankind and a serious injury to the
 spiritual traditions of civilisation4  
,it is possible to go further and to    

declare that warfare is in contradiction
 with the whole of the influences which 
build up and organise civilisation4 ,a  
tribe is a small but very closely knit  
unity1 so closely knit that the         
individual is entirely subordinated to  
the whole and has little independence of
 action or even of thought4 ,the        
tendency of civilisation is to create   
webs of social organisation which grow  
ever larger1 but at the same time       
looser1 so that the individual gains a  
continually growing freedom and         
independence4 ,the tribe becomes merged 
in the nation1 and beyond even this     
great unit1 bonds of international      
relationship are progressively formed4  
,war1 which at first favoured this      
movement1 becomes an ever greater       
impediment to its ultimate progress4    
,this is recognised at the threshold of 
civilisation1 and the large community1  
or nation1 abolishes warfare between the
 units of which it is composed by the   
device of establishing law courts to    

dispense impartial justice4 ,as soon as 
civilised society realised that it was  
necessary to forbid two persons to      
settle their disputes by individual     
fighting1 or by initiating blood-feuds1 
or by arming friends and followers1     
setting up courts of justice for the    
peaceable settlement of disputes1 the   
death-blow of all war was struck4 ,for  
all the arguments that proved strong    
enough to condemn war between two       
individuals are infinitely stronger to  
condemn war between the populations of  
two-thirds of the earth4 ,but1 while it 
was a comparatively easy task for a     
,state to abolish war and impose peace  
within its own boundaries--and nearly   
all over ,europe the process was begun  
and for the most part ended centuries   
ago--it is a vastly more difficult task 
to abolish war and impose peace between 
powerful ,states4 ,yet at the point at  
which we stand to-day civilisation can  
make no further progress until this is  
done4 ,solitary thinkers1 like the ,abb 

de ,saint-,pierre1 and even great       
practical statesmen like ,sully and     
,penn1 have from time to time realised  
this fact during the past four          
centuries1 and attempted to convert it  
into actuality4 ,but it cannot be done  
until the great democracies are won over
 to a conviction of its inevitable      
necessity4 ,we need an international    
organisation of law courts which shall  
dispense justice as between nation and  
nation in the same way as the existing  
law courts of all civilised countries   
now dispense justice as between man and 
man2 and we further need1 behind this   
international organisation of justice1  
an international organisation of police 
strong enough to carry out the decisions
 of these courts1 not to exercise       
tyranny but to ensure to every nation1  
even the smallest1 that measure of      
reasonable freedom and security to go   
about its own business which every      
civilised nation now1 in some small     
degree at all events1 already ensures to

 the humblest of its individual         
citizens4 ,the task may take centuries  
to complete1 but there is no more urgent
 task before mankind to-day4#c  ,these  
considerations are very elementary1 and 
a year or two ago they might have seemed
 to many--though not to all of          
us--merely academic1 chiefly suitable to
 put before schoolchildren4 ,but now    
they have ceased to be merely academic2 
they have indeed acquired a vital       
actuality almost agonisingly intense4   
,for one realises to-day that the       
considerations here set forth1 widely   
accepted as they are1 yet are not       
generally accepted by the rulers and    
leaders of the greatest and foremost    
nations of the world4 ,thus ,germany1 in
 its present ,prussianised state1       
through the mouths as well as through   
the actions of those rulers and leaders1
 denies most of the conclusions here set
 forth4 ,in ,germany it is a commonplace
 to declare that war is the law of      
,nature1 that the struggle for existence

 means the arbitration of warfare1 that 
it is by war that all evolution         
proceeds1 that not only in savagery but 
in the highest civilisation the same    
rule holds good1 that human war is the  
source of all virtues1 the divinely     
inspired method of regenerating and     
purifying mankind1 and every war may    
properly be regarded as a holy war4     
,these beliefs have been implicit in the
 ,prussian spirit ever since the ,goths 
and ,vandals issued from the forests of 
the ,vistula in the dawn of ,european   
history4 ,but they have now become a    
sort of religious dogma1 preached from  
pulpits1 taught in ,universities1 acted 
out by statesmen4 ,from this ,prussian  
point of view1 whether right or wrong1  
civilisation1 as it has hitherto been   
understood in the world1 is of little   
consequence compared to ,german         
militaristic ,kultur4 ,therefore the    
,german quite logically regards the     
,russians as barbarians1 and the ,french
 as decadents1 and the ,english as      

contemptibly negligible1 although the   
,russians1 however yet dominated by a   
military bureaucracy 7moulded by        
,teutonic influences1 as some           
maliciously point out71 are the most    
humane people of ,europe1 and the       
,french the natural leaders of          
civilisation as commonly understood1 and
 the ,english1 however much they may    
rely on amateurish methods of           
organisation by emergency1 have         
scattered the seeds of progress over a  
large part of the earth's surface4 ,it  
is equally logical that the ,germans    
should feel peculiar admiration and     
sympathy for the ,turks1 and find in    
,turkey1 a ,state founded on military   
ideals1 their own ally in the present   
war4 ,that war1 from our present point  
of view1 is a war of ,states which use  
military methods for special ends 7often
 indeed ends that have been thoroughly  
evil7 against a ,state which still      
cherishes the primitive ideal of warfare
 as an end in itself4 ,and while such a 

,state must enjoy immense advantages in 
the struggle1 it is difficult1 when we  
survey the whole course of human        
development1 to believe that there can  
be any doubt about the final issue4     
,for one who writes as an ,englishman1  
it may be necessary to point out clearly
 that that final issue by no means      
involves the destruction1 or even the   
subjugation1 of ,germany4 ,it is indeed 
an almost pathetic fact that ,germany1  
which idealises warfare1 stands to gain 
more than any country by an assured rule
 of international peace which would save
 her from warfare4 ,placed in a position
 which renders militaristic organisation
 indispensable1 the ,germans are more   
highly endowed than almost any people   
with the high qualities of intelligence1
 of receptiveness1 of adaptability1 of  
thoroughness1 of capacity for           
organisation1 which ensure success in   
the arts and sciences of peace1 in the  
whole work of civilisation4 ,this is    
amply demonstrated by the immense       

progress and the manifold achievements  
of ,germany during forty years of peace1
 which have enabled her to establish a  
prosperity and a good name in the world 
which are now both in peril4 ,germany   
must be built up again1 and the         
interests of civilisation itself1 which 
,germany has trampled under foot1 demand
 that ,germany shall be built up again1 
under conditions1 let us hope1 which    
will render her old ideals useless and  
out of date4 ,we shall then be able to  
assert as the mere truisms they are1 and
 not as a defiance flung in the face of 
one of the world's greatest nations1 the
 elementary propositions ,i have here   
set forth4 ,war is not a permanent      
factor of national evolution1 but for   
the most part has no place in ,nature at
 all2 it has played a part in the early 
development of primitive human society1 
but1 as savagery passes into            
civilisation1 its beneficial effects are
 lost1 and1 on the highest stages of    
human progress1 mankind once more tends 

to be enfolded1 this time consciously   
and deliberately1 in the general harmony
 of ,nature4   #a ,p4 ,chalmers         
,mitchell1 ,evolution and the ,war1     
#aiae4  #b ,on the advantages of war in 
primitive society1 see ,w4 ,mac,dougal's
 ,social ,psychology1 ,ch4 ,,xi4  #c ,it
 is doubtless a task beset by           
difficulties1 some of which are set     
forth1 in no hostile spirit1 by ,lord   
,cromer1 ,thinking ,internationally1    
,nineteenth ,century1 ,july1 #aiaf2 but 
the statement of most of these          
difficulties is enough to suggest the   
solution4     ,,iii   ,,war ,,and       
,,eugenics  ,in dealing with war it is  
not enough to discuss the place of      
warfare in ,nature or its effects on    
primitive peoples4 ,even if we decide   
that the general tendency of            
civilisation is unfavourable to war we  
have scarcely settled matters4 ,it is   
necessary to push the question further  
home4 ,primitive warfare among savages1 
when it fails to kill1 may be a         

stimulating and invigorating exercise1  
simply a more dangerous form of dancing4
 ,but civilised warfare is a different  
kind of thing1 to a very limited extent 
depending on1 or encouraging1 the       
prowess of the individual fighting men1 
and to be judged by other standards4    
,what precisely is the measurable effect
 of war1 if any1 on the civilised human 
breed8 ,if we want to know what to do   
about war in the future1 that is the    
question we have to answer4  ,wars are  
not paid for in war-time1 said ,benjamin
 ,franklin1 the bill comes later4       
,franklin1 who was a pioneer in many so 
fields1 seems to have been a pioneer in 
eugenics also by arguing that a standing
 army diminishes the size and breed of  
the human species4 ,he had1 however1 no 
definite facts wherewith to demonstrate 
conclusively that proposition4 ,even    
to-day1 it cannot be said that there is 
complete agreement among biologists as  
to the effect of war on the race4 ,thus 
we find a distinguished ,american       

zoologist1 ,chancellor ,starr ,jordan1  
constantly proclaiming that the effect  
of war in reversing selection is a great
 overshadowing truth of history2 warlike
 nations1 he declares1 become           
effeminate1 while peaceful nations      
generate a fiercely militant spirit4#a  
,another distinguished ,american        
scientist1 ,professor ,ripley1 in his   
great work1 ,the ,races of ,europe1     
likewise concludes that standing armies 
tend to overload succeeding generations 
with inferior types of men4 ,a cautious 
,english biologist1 ,professor ,j4      
,arthur ,thomson1 is equally decided in 
this opinion1 and in his recent ,galton 
,lecture#b sets forth the view that the 
influence of war on the race1 both      
directly and indirectly1 is injurious2  
he admits that there may be beneficial  
as well as deteriorative influences1 but
 the former merely affect the moral     
atmosphere1 not the hereditary germ     
plasm2 biologically1 war means wastage  
and a reversal of rational selection1   

since it prunes off a disproportionally 
large number of those whom the race can 
least afford to lose4 ,on the other     
hand1 another biologist1 ,dr4 ,chalmers 
,mitchell1 equally opposed to war1      
cannot feel certain that the total      
effect of even a great modern war is to 
deteriorate the stock1 while in         
,germany1 as we know1 it is the         
generally current opinion1 scientific   
and unscientific1 equally among         
philosophers1 militarists1 and          
journalists1 that not only is war a     
biological necessity1 but that it is    
peace1 and not war1 which effeminates   
and degenerates a nation4 ,in ,germany1 
indeed1 this doctrine is so generally   
accepted that it is not regarded as a   
scientific thesis to be proved1 but as a
 religious dogma to be preached4 ,it is 
evident that we cannot decide this      
question1 so vital to human progress1   
except on a foundation of cold and hard 
fact4  ,whatever may be the result of   
war on the quality of the breed1 there  

can be little doubt of its temporary    
effect on the quantity4 ,the reaction   
after war may create a stimulating      
influence on the birth-rate1 leading to 
a more or less satisfactory recovery1   
but it seems clear that the drafting    
away of a large proportion of the       
manhood of a nation necessarily         
diminishes births4 ,at the present time 
,english ,schools are sending out an    
unusually small number of pupils into   
life1 and this is directly due to the   
,south-,african ,war fifteen years ago4 
,still more obvious is the direct effect
 of war1 apart from diminishing the     
number of births1 in actually pouring   
out the blood of the young manhood of   
the race4 ,in the very earliest stage of
 primitive humanity it seems probable   
that man was as untouched by warfare as 
his animal ancestors1 and it is         
satisfactory to think that war had no   
part in the first birth of man into the 
world4 ,even the long ,early ,stone ,age
 has left no distinguishable sign of the

 existence of warfare4#c ,it was not    
until the transition to the ,late ,stone
 ,age1 the age of polished flint        
implements1 that we discern evidences of
 the homicidal attacks of man on man4   
,even then we are concerned more with   
quarrels than with battles1 for one of  
the earliest cases of wounding known in 
human records1 is that of a pregnant    
young woman found in the ,cro-magnon    
,cave whose skull had been cut open by a
 flint several weeks before death1 an   
indication that she had been cared for  
and nursed4 ,but1 again at the beginning
 of the ,new ,stone ,age1 in the caverns
 of the ,beaumes-,chaudes people1 who   
still used implements of the ,old ,stone
 type1 we find skulls in which are      
weapons of the ,new ,stone type4        
,evidently these people had come in     
contact with a more civilised race which
 had discovered war4 ,yet the old       
pacific race still lingered on1 as in   
the ,belgian people of the ,furfooz type
 who occupied themselves mainly with    

hunting and fishing1 and have their     
modern representatives1 if not their    
actual descendants1 in the peaceful     
,lapps and ,eskimo4#d  ,it was thus at a
 late stage of human history1 though    
still so primitive as to be prehistoric1
 that organised warfare developed4 ,at  
the dawn of history war abounded4 ,the  
earliest literature of the              
,aryans--whether ,greeks1 ,germans1 or  
,hindus--is nothing but a record of     
systematic massacres1 and the early     
history of the ,hebrews1 leaders in the 
world's religion and morality1 is       
complacently bloodthirsty4 ,lapouge     
considers that in modern times1 though  
wars are fewer in number1 the total     
number of victims is still about the    
same1 so that the stream of bloodshed   
throughout the ages remains unaffected4 
,he attempted to estimate the victims of
 war for each civilised country during  
half a century1 and found that the total
 amounted to nine and a half millions1  
while1 by including the ,napoleonic and 

other wars of the beginning of the      
nineteenth century1 he considered that  
that total would be doubled4 ,put in    
another form1 ,lapouge says1 the wars of
 a century spill #abj1jjj1jjj gallons of
 blood1 enough to fill three million    
forty-gallon casks1 or to create a      
perpetual fountain sending up a jet of  
#aej gallons per hour1 a fountain which 
has been flowing unceasingly ever since 
the dawn of history4 ,it is to be noted1
 also1 that those slain on the          
battlefield by no means represent the   
total victims of a war1 but only about  
half of them2 more than half of those   
who1 from one cause or another1 perished
 in the ,franco-,prussian war1 it is    
said1 were not belligerents4 ,lapouge   
wrote some ten years ago and considered 
that the victims of war1 though         
remaining about absolutely the same in  
number through the ages1 were becoming  
relatively fewer4 ,the ,great ,war of   
to-day would perhaps have disturbed his 
calculations1 unless we may assume that 

it will be followed by a tremendous     
reaction against war4 ,for when the war 
had lasted only nine months1 it was     
estimated that if it should continue at 
the present rate 7and as a matter of    
fact its scale has been much enlarged7  
for another twelve months1 the total    
loss to ,europe in lives destroyed or   
maimed would be ten millions1 about     
equal to five-sixths of the whole young 
manhood of the ,german ,empire1 and     
nearly the same number of victims as    
,lapouge reckoned as the normal war toll
 of a whole half-century of ,european   
civilisation4 ,it is scarcely necessary 
to add that all these bald estimates of 
the number of direct victims to war give
 no clue to the moral and material      
damage--apart from all question of      
injury to the race--done by the sudden  
or slow destruction of so large a       
proportion of the young manhood of the  
world1 the ever widening circles of     
anguish and misery and destitution which
 every fatal bullet imposes on humanity1

 for it is probable that for every ten  
million soldiers who fall on the field1 
fifty million other persons at home are 
plunged into grief or poverty1 or some  
form of life-diminishing trouble4  ,the 
foregoing considerations have not1      
however1 brought us strictly within the 
field of eugenics4 ,they indicate the   
great extent to which war affects the   
human breed1 but they do not show that  
war affects the quality of the breed1   
and until that is shown the eugenist    
remains undisturbed4  ,there are various
 circumstances which1 at the outset1 and
 even in the absence of experimental    
verification1 make it difficult1 or     
impossible1 that even the bare mortality
 of war 7for the eugenical bearings of  
war are not confined to its mortality7  
should leave the eugenist indifferent4  
,for war never hits men at random4 ,it  
only hits a carefully selected          
percentage of fit men4 ,it tends1 in    
other words1 to strike out1 temporarily1
 or in a fatal event1 permanently1 from 

the class of fathers1 precisely that    
percentage of the population which the  
eugenist wishes to see in that class4   
,this is equally the case in countries  
with some form of compulsory service1   
and in countries which rely on a        
voluntary military system4 ,for1 however
 an army is recruited1 it is only those 
men reaching a fairly high standard of  
fitness who are accepted1 and these1    
even in times of peace are hampered in  
the task of carrying on the race1 which 
the less fit and the unfit are free to  
do at their own good pleasure4 ,nearly  
all the ways in which war and armies    
disturb the normal course of affairs    
seem likely to interfere with eugenical 
breeding1 and none to favour it4 ,thus  
at one time1 in the ,napoleonic wars1   
the ,french age of conscription fell to 
eighteen1 while marriage was a cause of 
exemption1 with the result of a vast    
increase of hasty and ill-advised       
marriages among boys1 certainly         
injurious to the race4 ,armies1 again1  

are highly favourable to the spread of  
racial poisons1 especially of syphilis1 
the most dangerous of all1 and this     
cannot fail to be1 in a marked manner1  
dysgenic rather than eugenic4  ,the     
,napoleonic wars furnished the first    
opportunity of testing the truth of     
,franklin's assertion concerning the    
disastrous effect of armies on the race1
 by the collection of actual and precise
 data4 ,but the significance of the data
 proved unexpectedly difficult to       
unravel1 and most writers on the subject
 have been largely occupied in          
correcting the mistakes of their        
predecessors4 ,villerm in #ahbi remarked
 that the long series of ,french wars up
 to #ahae must probably reduce the      
height of the ,french people1 though he 
was unable to prove that this was so4   
,dufau in #ahdj was in a better position
 to judge1 and he pointed out in his    
,trait de ,statistique that1 comparing  
#ahaf and #ahce1 the number of young men
 exempted from the army had doubled in  

the interval1 even though the regulation
 height had been lowered4 ,this result1 
however1 he held1 was not so alarming as
 it might appear1 and probably only     
temporary1 for it was seemingly due to  
the fact that1 in #ahjf and the         
following years1 the male population was
 called to arms in masses1 even youths  
being accepted1 so that a vast number of
 precocious marriages of often defective
 men took place4 ,the result would only 
be terrible1 ,dufau believed1 if        
prolonged2 his results1 however1 were   
not altogether reliable1 for he failed  
to note the proportion of men exempted  
to those examined4 ,the question was    
investigated more thoroughly by         
,tschuriloff in #ahgf4e ,he came to the 
conclusion that the ,napoleonic wars had
 no great influence on stature1 since   
the regulation height was lowered in    
#ahje1 and abolished altogether for     
healthy men in #ahaa1 and any defect of 
height in the next generation is        
speedily repaired4 ,tschuriloff agreed1 

however1 that1 though the influence of  
war in diminishing the height of the    
race is unimportant1 the influence of   
war in increasing physical defects and  
infirmities in subsequent generations is
 a very different matter4 ,he found that
 the physical deterioration of war      
manifested itself chiefly in the        
children born eight years afterwards1   
and therefore in the recruits           
twenty-eight years after the war4 ,he   
regarded it as an undoubted fact that   
the ,french army of half a million men  
in #ahji increased by #c per cent4 the  
proportion of hereditarily infirm       
persons4 ,he found1 moreover1 that the  
new-born of #ahad1 that is to say the   
military class of #ahcd1 showed that    
infirmities had risen from #cj per cent4
 to #de4h per cent41 an increase of #ej 
per cent4 ,nor is the status quo        
entirely brought back later on1 for the 
bad heredity of the increased number of 
defectives tends to be still further    
propagated1 even though in an attenuated

 form4 ,as a matter of fact1            
,tschuriloff found that the proportion  
of exemptions from the army for         
infirmity increased enormously from #bf 
per cent4 in #ahaf-ag1 to #ch per cent4 
in #ahbf-bg1 declining later to #cd per 
cent4 in #ahfj-fd1 though he is careful 
to point out that this result must not  
be entirely ascribed to the reversed    
selection of wars4 ,there could1        
however1 be no doubt that most kinds of 
infirmities became more frequent as a   
result of military selection4 ,lapouge's
 more recent investigation into the     
results of the ,franco-,prussian war of 
#ahgj were of similar character2 when   
examining the recruits of #ahib-ic he   
found that these children of the war    
were inferior to those born earlier1 and
 that there was probably an undue       
proportion of defective individuals     
among their fathers4 ,it cannot be said 
that these investigations finally       
demonstrate the evil results of war on  
the race4 ,the subject is complicated1  

and some authorities1 like ,collignon in
 ,france and ,ammon in ,germany1--both1 
it may be well to note1 army            
surgeons1--have sought to smooth down   
and explain away the dysgenic effects of
 war4 ,but1 on the whole1 the facts seem
 to support those probabilities which   
the insight of ,franklin first clearly  
set forth4  ,it is interesting in the   
light of these considerations on the    
eugenic bearings of warfare to turn for 
a moment to those who proclaim the high 
moral virtues of war as a national      
regenerator4  ,it is chiefly in ,germany
 that1 for more than a century past1    
this doctrine has been preached4#f ,war 
invigorates humanity1 said ,hegel1 as   
storms preserve the sea from            
putrescence4 ,war is an integral part of
 ,god's ,universe1 said ,moltke1        
developing man's noblest attributes4    
,the condemnation of war1 said          
,treitschke1 is not only absurd1 it is  
immoral4#g ,these brave sayings scarcely
 bear calm and searching examination at 

the best1 but1 putting aside all loftier
 appeals to humanity or civilisation1 a 
national regenerator which we have good 
reason to suppose enfeebles and         
deteriorates the race1 cannot plausibly 
be put before us as a method of         
ennobling humanity or as a part of      
,god's ,universe1 only to be condemned  
on pain of seeing a company of ,german  
professors pointing the finger to our   
appalling ,immorality1 on their         
drill-sergeant's word of command4  ,at  
the same time1 this glorification of the
 regenerating powers of war quite       
overlooks the consideration that the    
fighting spirit tends to destroy itself1
 so that the best way to breed good     
fighters is not to preach war1 but to   
cultivate peace1 which is what the      
,germans have1 in actual practice1 done 
for over forty years past4 ,france1 the 
most military1 and the most gloriously  
military1 nation of the ,napoleonic era1
 is now the leader in anti-militarism1  
altogether indifferent to the lure of   

military glory1 though behind no nation 
in courage or skill4 ,belgium has not   
fought for generations1 and had only    
just introduced compulsory military     
service1 yet the ,belgians1 from their  
,king and their ,cardinal-,archbishop   
downwards1 threw themselves into the war
 with a high spirit scarcely paralleled 
in the world's history1 and ,belgian    
commercial travellers developed a rare  
military skill and audacity4 ,all the   
world admires the bravery with which the
 ,germans face death and the elaborate  
detail with which they organise battle1 
yet for all their perpetual             
glorification of war there is no sign   
that they fight with any more spirit    
than their enemies4 ,even if we were to 
feel ourselves bound to accept war as an
 integral part of ,god's ,universe1 we  
need not trouble ourselves to glorify   
war1 for1 when once war presents itself 
as a terrible necessity1 even the most  
peaceable of men are equal to the task4 
,this consideration brings us to those  

moral equivalents of war which ,william 
,james was once concerned over1 when he 
advocated1 in place of military         
conscription1 a conscription of the     
whole youthful population to form for a 
certain number of years a part of the   
army enlisted against ,nature4#h ,such a
 method of formally organising in the   
cause of civilisation1 instead of in the
 cause of savagery1 the old military    
traditions of hardihood and discipline  
may well have its value4 ,but the       
present war has shown us that in no case
 need we fear that these high qualities 
will perish in any vitally progressive  
civilisation4 ,for they are qualities   
that lie in the heart of humanity       
itself4 ,they are not created by the    
drill-sergeant2 he merely utilises them 
for his own1 as we may perhaps think1   
disastrous ends4 ,this present war has  
shown us that on every hand1 even in the
 unlikeliest places1 all the virtues of 
war have been fostered by the           
cultivation of the arts and sciences of 

peace1 ready to be transformed to       
warlike ends by men who never dreamed of
 war4 ,in ,france we find many of the   
most promising young scientists1 poets1 
and novelists cheerfully going forth to 
meet their death4 ,on the other side1 we
 find a ,kreisler1 created to be the joy
 of the world1 ready to be trampled to  
death beneath the hoofs of ,cossack     
horses4 ,the friends of ,gordon         
,mathison1 the best student ever turned 
out from the ,medical ,faculty of the   
,melbourne ,university and a            
distinguished young physiologist who    
seemed to be destined to become one of  
the first physicians of his time1 viewed
 with foreboding his resolve to go to   
the front1 for ,wherever he was he had  
to be in the game1 they said2 and a few 
weeks later he was killed at ,gallipoli 
on the threshold of his career4 ,the    
qualities that count in peace are the   
qualities that count in war1 and the    
high-spirited man who throws himself    
bravely into the dangerous adventures of

 peace is fully the equal of the hero of
 the battlefield1 and himself prepared  
to become that hero4#i  ,it would seem1 
therefore1 on the whole1 that when the  
eugenist takes a wide survey of this    
question1 he need not qualify his       
disapproval of war by any regrets over  
the loss of such virtues as warfare     
fosters4 ,in every progressive          
civilisation the moral equivalents of   
war are already in full play4 ,peace1 as
 well as war1 develops the noblest      
attributes of man2 peace1 rather than   
war1 preserves the human sea from       
putrescence2 it is the condemnation of  
peace1 rather than the condemnation of  
war1 which is not only absurd but       
immoral4 ,we are not called upon to     
choose between the manly virtues of war 
and the effeminate degeneracy of peace4 
,the ,great ,war of to-day may perhaps  
help us to realise that the choice      
placed before us is of another sort4    
,the virtues of daring and endurance    
will never fail in any vitally          

progressive community of men1 alike in  
the causes of war and of peace4#aj ,but 
on the one hand we find those virtues at
 work in the service of humanity1       
creating ever new marvels of science and
 of art1 adding to the store of the     
precious heirlooms of the race which are
 a joy to all mankind4 ,on the other    
hand1 we see these same virtues in the  
service of savagery1 extinguishing those
 marvels1 killing their creators1 and   
destroying every precious treasure of   
mankind within reach4 ,that--it seems to
 be one of the chief lessons of this    
war--is the choice placed before us who 
are to-day called upon to build the     
world of the future on a firmer         
foundation than our own world has been  
set4   #a ,d4,s4 ,jordan1 ,war and the  
,breed1 #aiae2 also articles on ,war and
 ,manhood in the ,eugenics ,review1     
,july1 #aiaj1 and on ,the ,eugenics of  
,war in the same ,review for ,oct41     
#aiac4  #b ,j4 ,arthur ,thomson1        
,eugenics and ,war1 ,eugenics ,review1  

,april1 #aiae4 ,major ,leonard ,darwin  
7,journal ,royal ,statistical ,society1 
,march1 #aiaf7 sets forth a similar     
view4  #c ,it is true that in the       
,gourdon cavern1 in the ,pyrenees1      
representing a very late and highly     
developed stage of ,magdalenian culture1
 there are indications that human brains
 were eaten 7,zaborowski1 ,l',homme     
,prhistorique1 p4 #hf74 ,it is surmised 
that they were the brains of enemies    
killed in battle1 but this remains a    
surmise4  #d ,zaborowski1 ,l',homme     
,prhistorique1 pp4 #aba1 #aci2 ,lapouge1
 ,les ,slections ,sociales1 p4 #bji4  #e
 ,revue d',anthropologie1 #ahgf1 pp4    
#fjh and #fee4  #f ,in ,france it is    
almost unknown except as preached by the
 ,syndicalist philosopher1 ,georges     
,sorel1 who insists1 quite in the       
,german manner1 on the purifying and    
invigorating effects of a great foreign 
war1 although1 very unlike the ,german  
professors1 he holds that a great       
extension of proletarian violence will  

do just as well as war4  #g ,the recent 
expressions of the same doctrine in     
,germany are far too numerous to deal   
with4 ,i may1 however1 refer to         
,professor ,fritz ,wilke's ,ist der     
,krieg sittlich berechtigt8 7#aiae7 as  
being the work of a theologian and      
,biblical scholar of ,vienna who has    
written a book on the politics of       
,isaiah and discussed the germs of      
historical veridity in the history of   
,abraham4 ,a world-history without war1 
he declares1 would be a history of      
materialism and degeneration2 and again3
 ,the solution is not ',weapons down6'  
but ',weapons up6' ,with pure hands and 
calm conscience let us grasp the sword4 
,he dwells1 of course1 on the supposed  
purifying and ennobling effects of war  
and insists that1 in spite of its       
horrors1 and when necessary1 ,war is a  
divine institution and a work of love4  
,the leaders of the world's peace       
movement are1 thank ,god6 not ,germans1 
but merely ,english and ,americans1 and 

he sums up1 with ,moltke1 that war is a 
part of the moral order of the world4   
#h ,william ,james1 ,popular ,science   
,monthly1 ,oct41 #aiaj4  #i ,we still   
often fall into the fallacy of          
over-estimating the advantages of       
military training--with its fine air of 
set-up manliness and restrained yet     
vitalised discipline--because we are    
mostly compelled to compare such        
training with the lack of training      
fostered by that tame1 dull sedentary   
routine of which there is far too much  
in our present phase of civilisation4   
,the remedy lies in stimulating the     
heroic and strenuous sides of           
civilisation rather than in letting     
loose the ravages of war4 ,as ,nietzsche
 long since pointed out 7,human1        
,all-too-,human1 section #ddb71 the     
vaunted national armies of modern times 
are merely a method of squandering the  
most highly civilised men1 whose        
delicately organised brains have been   
slowly produced through long            

generations2 in our day greater and     
higher tasks are assigned to men than   
patria and honor1 and the rough old     
,roman patriotism has become            
dishonourable1 at the best behind the   
times4  #aj ,the ,border of ,scotland   
and ,england was in ancient times1 it   
has been said1 a very ,paradise for     
murderers and robbers4 ,the war-like    
spirit was there very keen and deeds of 
daring were not too scrupulously        
effected1 for the culprit knew that     
nothing was easier and safer than to    
become an outlaw on the other side of   
the ,border4 ,yet these were the        
conditions that eventually made the     
,border one of the great ,british       
centres of genius 7the ,welsh ,border   
was another7 and the home of a          
peculiarly capable and vigorous race4   
,,iv   ,,morality ,,in ,,warfare  ,there
 are some idealistic persons who believe
 that morality and war are incompatible4
 ,war is bestial1 they hold1 war is     
devilish2 in its presence it is absurd1 

almost farcical1 to talk about morality4
 ,that would be so if morality meant the
 code1 for ever unattained1 of the      
,sermon on the ,mount4 ,but there is not
 only the morality of ,jesus1 there is  
the morality of ,mumbo ,jumbo4 ,in other
 words1 and limiting ourselves to the   
narrower range of the civilised world1  
there is the morality of ,machiavelli   
and ,bismarck1 and the morality of ,st4 
,francis and ,tolstoy4  ,the fact is1 as
 we so often forget1 and sometimes do   
not even know1 morality is fundamentally
 custom1 the mores1 as it has been      
called1 of a people4 ,it is a body of   
conduct which is in constant motion1    
with an exalted advance-guard1 which few
 can keep up with1 and a debased        
rearguard1 once called the black-guard1 
a name that has since acquired an       
appropriate significance4 ,but in the   
substantial and central sense morality  
means the conduct of the main body of   
the community4 ,thus understood1 it is  
clear that in our time war still comes  

into contact with morality4 ,the        
pioneers may be ahead2 the main body is 
in the thick of it4  ,that there really 
is a morality of war1 and that the      
majority of civilised people have more  
or less in common a certain conventional
 code concerning the things which may or
 may not be done in war1 has been very  
clearly seen during the present         
conflict4 ,this moral code is often said
 to be based on international           
regulations and understandings4 ,it     
certainly on the whole coincides with   
them4 ,but it is the popular moral code 
which is fundamental1 and international 
law is merely an attempt to enforce that
 morality4  ,the use of expanding       
bullets and poison gases1 the poisoning 
of wells1 the abuse of the ,red ,cross  
and the ,white ,flag1 the destruction of
 churches and works of art1 the         
infliction of cruel penalties on        
civilians who have not taken up         
arms--all such methods of warfare as    
these shock popular morality4 ,they are 

on each side usually attributed to the  
enemy1 they are seldom avowed1 and only 
adopted in imitation of the enemy1 with 
hesitation and some offence to the      
popular conscience1 as we see in the    
case of poison gas1 which was only used 
by the ,english after long delay1 while 
the ,french still hesitated4 ,the       
general feeling about such methods1 even
 when involving scientific skill1 is    
that they are barbarous4  ,as a matter  
of fact1 this charge of barbarism       
against those methods of warfare which  
shock our moral sense must not be taken 
too literally4 ,the methods of real     
barbarians in war are not especially    
barbarous4 ,they have sometimes         
committed acts of cruelty which are     
revolting to us to-day1 but for the most
 part the excesses of barbarous warfare 
have been looting and burning1 together 
with more or less raping of women1 and  
these excesses have been so frequent    
within the last century1 and still      
to-day1 that they may as well be called 

civilised as barbarous4 ,the sack of    
,rome by the ,goths at the beginning of 
the fifth century made an immense       
impression on the ancient world1 as an  
unparalleled outrage4 ,st4 ,augustine in
 his ,city of ,god1 written shortly     
afterwards1 eloquently described the    
horrors of that time4 ,yet to-day1 in   
the new light of our own knowledge of   
what war may involve1 the ways of the   
ancient ,goths seem very innocent4 ,we  
are expressly told that they spared the 
sacred ,christian places1 and the chief 
offences brought against them seem to be
 looting and burning2 yet the treasure  
they left untouched was vast and        
incalculable and we should be thankful  
indeed if any belligerent in the war of 
to-day inflicted as little injury on a  
conquered city as the ,goths on ,rome4  
,the vague rhetoric which this invasion 
inspired scarcely seems to be supported 
by definitely recorded facts1 and there 
can be very little doubt that the       
devastation wrought in many old wars    

exists chiefly in the writings of       
rhetorical chroniclers whose            
imaginations were excited1 as we may so 
often see among the journalists of      
to-day1 by the rumour of atrocities     
which have never been committed4 ,this  
is not to say that no devastation and   
cruelty have been perpetrated in ancient
 wars4 ,it seems to be generally agreed 
that in the famous ,thirty ,years' ,war1
 which the ,germans fought against each 
other1 atrocities were the order of the 
day4 ,we are constantly being told1 in  
respect of some episode or other of the 
war of to-day1 that nothing like it has 
been seen since the ,thirty ,years'     
,war4 ,but the writers who make this    
statement1 with an off-hand air of      
familiar scholarship1 never by any      
chance bring forward the evidence for   
this greater atrociousness of the       
,thirty ,years' ,war1#a and one is      
inclined to suspect that this           
oft-repeated allusion to the ,thirty    
,years' ,war as the acme of military    

atrocity is merely a rhetorical         
flourish4  ,in any case we know that1   
not so many years after the ,thirty     
,years' ,war1 ,frederick the ,great1 who
 combined supreme military gifts with   
freedom from scruple in policy1 and was 
at the same time a great representative 
,german1 declared that the ordinary     
citizen ought never to be aware that his
 country is at war4#b ,nothing could    
show more clearly the military ideal1   
however imperfectly it may sometimes    
have been attained1 of the old ,european
 world4 ,atrocities1 whether regarded as
 permissible or as inevitable1 certainly
 occurred4 ,but for the most part wars  
were the concern of the privileged upper
 class2 they were rendered necessary by 
the dynastic quarrels of monarchs and   
were carried out by a professional class
 with aristocratic traditions and a more
 or less scrupulous regard to ancient   
military etiquette4 ,there are many     
stories of the sufferings of the        
soldiery in old times1 in the midst of  

abundance1 on account of military       
respect for civilian property4 ,von der 
,goltz remarks that there was a time    
when the troops camped in the cornfields
 and yet starved1 and states that in    
#ahjf the ,prussian main army camped    
close to huge piles of wood and yet had 
no fires to warm themselves or cook     
their food4#c  ,the legend1 if legend it
 is1 of the ,french officer who politely
 requested the ,english officer opposite
 him to fire first shows how something  
of the ancient spirit of chivalry was   
still regarded as the accompaniment of  
warfare4 ,it was an occupation which    
only incidentally concerned the ordinary
 citizen4 ,the ,english1 especially1    
protected by the sea and always living  
in open undefended cities1 have usually 
been able to preserve this indifference 
to the continental wars in which their  
kings have constantly been engaged1 and1
 as we see1 even in the most unprotected
 ,european countries1 and the most      
profoundly warlike1 the ,great          

,frederick set forth precisely the same 
ideal of war4  ,the fact seems to be    
that while war is nowadays less chronic 
than of old1 less prolonged1 and less   
easily provoked1 it is a serious fallacy
 to suppose that it is also less        
barbarous4 ,we imagine that it must be  
so simply because we believe1 on more or
 less plausible grounds1 that our life  
generally is growing less barbarous and 
more civilised4 ,but war1 by its very   
nature1 always means a relapse from     
civilisation into barbarism1 if not     
savagery4#d ,we may sympathise with the 
endeavour of the ,european soldiers of  
old to civilise warfare1 and we may     
admire the remarkable extent to which   
they succeeded in doing so4 ,but we     
cannot help feeling that their romantic 
and chivalrous notions of warfare were  
absurdly incongruous4  ,the world in    
general might have been content with    
that incongruity4 ,but ,germany1 or more
 precisely ,prussia1 with its ancient   
genius for warfare1 has in the present  

war taken the decisive step in          
initiating the abolition of that        
incongruity by placing warfare          
definitely on the basis of scientific   
barbarism4 ,to do this is1 in a sense1  
we must remember1 not a step backwards1 
but a step forward4 ,it involved the    
recognition of the fact that ,war is not
 a game to be played for its own sake1  
by a professional caste1 in accordance  
with fixed rules which it would be      
dishonourable to break1 but a method1   
carried out by the whole organised      
manhood of the nation1 of effectively   
attaining an end desired by the ,state1 
in accordance with the famous statement 
of ,clausewitz that war is ,state policy
 continued by a different method4 ,if by
 the chivalrous method of old1 which was
 indeed in large part still their own   
method in the previous ,franco-,german  
war1 the ,germans had resisted the      
temptation to violate the neutrality of 
,luxemburg and ,belgium in order to rush
 behind the ,french defences1 and had   

battered instead at the ,gap of         
,belfort1 they would have won the       
sympathy of the world1 but they         
certainly would not have won the        
possession of the greater part of       
,belgium and a third part of ,france4   
,it has not alone been military instinct
 which has impelled ,germany on the new 
course thus inaugurated4 ,we see here   
the final outcome of a reaction against 
ancient ,teutonic sentimentality which  
the insight of ,goldwin ,smith clearly  
discerned forty years ago4#e ,humane    
sentiments and civilised traditions1    
under the moulding hand of ,prussian    
leaders of ,kultur1 have been slowly but
 firmly subordinated to a political     
realism which1 in the military sphere1  
means a masterly efficiency in the aim  
of crushing the foe by overwhelming     
force combined with panic-striking      
frightfulness4 ,in this conception1 that
 only is moral which served these ends4 
,the horror which this frightfulness may
 be expected to arouse1 even among      

neutral nations1 is from the ,german    
point of view a tribute of homage4  ,the
 military reputation of ,germany is so  
great in the world1 and likely to remain
 so1 whatever the issue of the present  
war1 that we are here faced by a grave  
critical issue which concerns the future
 of the whole world4 ,the conduct of    
wars has been transformed before our    
eyes4 ,in any future war the example of 
,germany will be held to consecrate the 
new methods1 and the belligerents who   
are not inclined to accept the supreme  
authority of ,germany may yet be forced 
in their own interests to act in        
accordance with it4 ,the mitigating     
influence of religion over warfare has  
long ceased to be exercised1 for the    
international ,catholic ,church no      
longer possesses the power to exert such
 influence1 while the national          
,protestant churches are just as        
bellicose as their flacks4 ,now we see  
the influence of morality over warfare  
similarly tending to disappear4         

,henceforth1 it seems1 we have to reckon
 with a conception of war which accounts
 it a function of the supreme ,state1   
standing above morality and therefore   
able to wage war independently of       
morality4 ,necessity--the necessity of  
scientific effectiveness--becomes the   
sole criterion of right and wrong4      
,when we look back from the standpoint  
of knowledge which we have reached in   
the present war to the notions which    
prevailed in the past1 they seem to us  
hollow and even childish4 ,seventy years
 ago1 ,buckle1 in his ,history of       
,civilisation1 stated complacently that 
only ignorant and unintellectual nations
 any longer cherished ideals of war4    
,his statement was part of the truth4   
,it is true1 for instance1 that ,france 
is now the most anti-military of        
nations1 though once the most military  
of all4 ,but1 we see1 it is only part of
 the truth4 ,the very fact1 which       
,buckle himself pointed out1 that       
efficiency has in modern times taken the

 place of morality in the conduct of    
affairs1 offers a new foundation for war
 when war is urged on scientific        
principle for the purpose of rendering  
effective the claims of ,state policy4  
,to-day we see that it is not sufficient
 for a nation to cultivate knowledge and
 become intellectual1 in the expectation
 that war will automatically go out of  
fashion4 ,it is quite possible to become
 very scientific1 most relentlessly     
intellectual1 and on that foundation to 
build up ideals of warfare much more    
barbarous than those of ,assyria4  ,the 
conclusion seems to be that we are      
to-day entering on an era in which war  
will not only flourish as vigorously as 
in the past1 although not in so chronic 
a form1 but with an altogether new      
ferocity and ruthlessness1 with a vastly
 increased power of destruction1 and on 
a scale of extent and intensity         
involving an injury to civilisation and 
humanity which no wars of the past ever 
perpetrated4 ,moreover1 this state of   

things imposes on the nations which have
 hitherto1 by their temper1 their       
position1 or their small size1 regarded 
themselves as nationally neutral1 a new 
burden of armament in order to ensure   
that neutrality4 ,it has been proclaimed
 on both sides that this war is a war to
 destroy militarism4 ,but the           
disappearance of a militarism that is   
only destroyed by a greater militarism  
offers no guarantee at all for any      
triumph of ,civilisation or ,humanity4  
,what then are we to do8 ,it seems clear
 that we have to recognise that our     
intellectual leaders of old who declared
 that to ensure the disappearance of war
 we have but to sit still and fold our  
hands while we watch the beneficent     
growth of science and intellect were    
grievously mistaken4 ,war is still one  
of the active factors of modern life1   
though by no means the only factor which
 it is in our power to grasp and direct4
 ,by our energetic effort the world can 
be moulded4 ,it is the concern of all of

 us1 and especially of those nations    
which are strong enough and enlightened 
enough to take a leading part in human  
affairs1 to work towards the initiation 
and the organisation of this immense    
effort4 ,in so far as the ,great ,war of
 to-day acts as a spur to such effort it
 will not have been an unmixed calamity4
   #a ,in so far as it may have been so1
 that seems merely due to its great     
length1 to the fact that the absence of 
commissariat arrangements involved a    
more thorough method of pillage1 and to 
epidemics4  #b ,treitschke1 ,history of 
,germany 7,english translation by ,e4   
and ,c4 ,paul71 ,vol4 ,i41 p4 #hg4  #c  
,von der ,goltz1 ,the ,nation in ,arms1 
pp4 #ad et seq4 ,this attitude was a    
final echo of the ancient ,truce of     
,god4 ,that institution1 which was first
 definitely formulated in the early     
eleventh century in ,roussillon and was 
soon confirmed by the ,pope in agreement
 with nobles and barons1 was extended to
 the whole of ,christendom before the   

end of the century4 ,it ordained peace  
for several days a week and on many     
festivals1 and it guaranteed the rights 
and liberties of all those following    
peaceful avocations1 at the same time   
protecting crops1 live-stock1 and farm  
implements4  #d ,it is interesting to   
observe how ,st4 ,augustine1 who was as 
familiar with classic as with ,christian
 life and thought1 perpetually dwells on
 the boundless misery of war and the    
supreme desirability of peace as a point
 at which pagan and ,christian are at   
one2 ,nihil gratius soleat audiri1 nihil
 desiderabilius concupisci1 nihil       
postremo possit melius inveniri 444     
,sicut nemo est qui gaudere nolit1 ita  
nemo est qui pacem habere nolit 7,city  
of ,god1 ,bk4 ,,xix41 ,chs4 #aa-ab74  #e
 ,contemporary ,review1 #ahgh4     ,v   
,,is ,,war ,,diminishing8  ,the cheerful
 optimism of those pacifists who looked 
for the speedy extinction of war has    
lately aroused much scorn4 ,there really
 seem to have been people who believed  

that new virtues of loving-kindness are 
springing up in the human breast to     
bring about the universal reign of peace
 spontaneously1 while we all still      
continued to cultivate our old vices of 
international greed1 suspicion1 and     
jealousy4 ,dr4 ,frederick ,adams ,woods1
 in the challenging and stimulating     
study of the prevalence of war in       
,europe from #adej to the present day   
which he has lately written in          
conjunction with ,mr4 ,alexander        
,baltzly1 easily throws contempt upon   
such pacifists4 ,all their beautiful    
arguments1 he tells us in effect1 count 
for nothing4 ,war is to-day raging more 
furiously than ever in the world1 and it
 is even doubtful whether it is         
diminishing4 ,that is the subject of the
 book ,dr4 ,woods and ,mr4 ,baltzly have
 written3 ,is ,war ,diminishing8  ,the  
method adopted by these authors is to   
count up the years of war since #adej   
for each of the eleven chief nations of 
,europe possessing an ancient history1  

and to represent the results by the aid 
of charts4 ,these charts show that      
certainly there has been a great falling
 off in war during the period in        
question4 ,wars1 as there presented to  
us1 seem to have risen to a climax in   
the century #aeej-afej and to have been 
declining ever since4 ,the authors1     
themselves1 however1 are not quite in   
sympathy with their own conclusion4     
,there is only1 ,dr4 ,woods declares1 a 
moderate amount of probability in favour
 of declining war4 ,he insists on the   
fact that the period under investigation
 represents but a very small fraction of
 the life of man4 ,he finds that if we  
take ,england several centuries further 
back1 and compare its number of         
war-years during the last four centuries
 with those during the preceding four   
centuries1 the first period shows #bab  
years of war1 the second shows #bjg     
years1 a negligible difference1 while   
for ,france the corresponding number of 
war-years are #aha and #aib1 an actual  

and rather considerable increase4 ,there
 is the further consideration that if we
 regard not frequency but intensity of  
war--if we could1 for instance1 measure 
a war by its total number of            
casualties--we should doubtless find    
that wars are showing a tendency to     
ever-increasing gravity4 ,on the whole1 
,dr4 ,woods is clearly rather           
discontented with the tendency of his   
own and his collaborator's work to show 
a diminution of war1 and modestly casts 
doubt on all those who believe that the 
tendency of the world's history is in   
the direction of such a diminution4  ,an
 honest and careful record of facts1    
however1 is always valuable4 ,dr4       
,woods' investigation will be found     
useful even by those who are by no means
 anxious to throw cold water over the   
too facile optimism of some pacifists1  
and this little book suggests lines of  
thought which may prove fruitful in     
various directions1 not always foreseen 
by the authors4  ,dr4 ,woods emphasises 

the long period in the history of the   
human race during which war has         
flourished4 ,he seems to suggest that   
war1 after all1 may be an essential and 
beneficial element in human affairs1    
destined to endure to the end1 just as  
it has been present from the beginning4 
,but has it been present from the       
beginning8 ,even though war may have    
flourished for many thousands of        
years--and it was certainly flourishing 
at the dawn of history--we are still    
very far indeed from the dawn of human  
life or even of human civilisation1 for 
the more our knowledge of the past grows
 the more remote that dawn is seen to   
be4 ,it is not only seen to be very     
remote1 it is seen to be very important4
 ,darwin said that it was during the    
first three years of life that a man    
learnt most4 ,that saying is equally    
true of humanity as a whole1 though here
 one must translate years into hundreds 
of thousands of years4 ,but neither     
infant man nor infant mankind could     

establish themselves firmly on the path 
that leads so far if they had at the    
very outset1 in accordance with ,dr4    
,woods' formula for more recent ages1   
fought about half the time4 ,an activity
 of this kind which may be harmless1 or 
even in some degree beneficial at a     
later stage1 would be fatally disastrous
 at an early stage4 ,war1 as ,mankind   
understands war1 seems to have no place 
among animals living in ,nature4 ,it    
seems equally to have had no place1 so  
far as investigation has yet been able  
to reveal1 in the life of early man4    
,men were far too busy in the great     
fight against ,nature to fight against  
each other1 far too absorbed in the task
 of inventing methods of                
self-preservation to have much energy   
left for inventing methods of           
self-destruction4 ,it was once supposed 
that the ,homeric stories of war        
presented a picture of life near the    
beginning of the world4 ,the ,homeric   
picture in fact corresponds to a stage  

in human barbarism1 certainly in its    
,european manifestation1 a stage also   
passed through in ,northern ,europe1    
where1 nearly fifteen hundred years ago1
 the ,greek traveller1 ,posidonius1     
found the ,celtic chieftains in ,britain
 living much like the people in ,homer4 
,but we now know that ,homer1 so far    
from bringing before us a primitive age1
 really represents the end of a long    
stage of human development1 marked by a 
slow and steady growth in civilisation  
and a vast accumulation of luxury4 ,war 
is a luxury1 in other words a           
manifestation of superfluous energy1 not
 possible in those early stages when all
 the energies of men are taken up in the
 primary business of preserving and     
maintaining life4 ,so it was that war   
had a beginning in human history4 ,is it
 unreasonable to suppose that it will   
also have an end8  ,there is another    
way1 besides that of counting the       
world's war-years1 to determine the     
probability of the diminution and       

eventual disappearance of war4 ,we may  
consider the causes of war1 and the     
extent to which these causes are1 or are
 not1 ceasing to operate4 ,dr4 ,woods   
passingly realises the importance of    
this test and even enumerates what he   
considers to be the causes of war1      
without1 however1 following up his clue4
 ,as he reckons them1 they are four in  
number3 racial1 economic1 religious1 and
 personal4 ,there is frequently a       
considerable amount of doubt concerning 
the cause of a particular war1 and no   
doubt the causes are usually mixed and  
slowly accumulative1 just as in disease 
a number of factors may have gradually  
combined to bring on the sudden         
overthrow of health4 ,there can be no   
doubt that the four causes enumerated   
have been very influential in producing 
war4 ,there can1 however1 be equally    
little doubt that nearly all of them are
 diminishing in their war-producing     
power4 ,religion1 which after the       
,reformation seemed to foment so many   

wars1 is now practically almost extinct 
as a cause of war in ,europe4 ,economic 
causes which were once regarded as good 
and sound motives for war have been     
discredited1 though they cannot be said 
to be abolished2 in the ,middle ,ages   
fighting was undoubtedly a most         
profitable business1 not only by the    
booty which might thus be obtained1 but 
by the high ransoms which even down to  
the seventeenth century might be        
legitimately demanded for prisoners4 ,so
 that war with ,france was regarded as  
an ,english gentleman's best method of  
growing rich4 ,later it was believed    
that a country could capture the wealth 
of another country by destroying that   
country's commerce1 and in the          
eighteenth century that doctrine was    
openly asserted even by responsible     
statesmen2 later1 the growth of         
political economy made clear that every 
nation flourishes by the prosperity of  
other nations1 and that by impoverishing
 the nation with which it traded a      

nation impoverishes itself1 for a       
tradesman cannot grow rich by killing   
his customers4 ,so it came about that1  
as ,mill put it1 the commercial spirit1 
which during one period of ,european    
history was the principal cause of war1 
became one of its strongest obstacles1  
though1 since ,mill wrote1 the old      
fallacy that it is a legitimate and     
advantageous method to fight for        
markets1 has frequently reappeared4#a   
,again1 the personal causes of war1     
although in a large measure             
incalculable1 have much smaller scope   
under modern conditions than formerly4  
,under ancient conditions1 with power   
centred in despotic monarchs or         
autocratic ministers1 the personal      
causes of war counted for much4 ,in more
 recent times it has been said1 truly or
 falsely1 that the ,crimean ,war was due
 to the wounded feelings of a           
diplomatist4 ,under modern conditions1  
however1 the checks on individual       
initiative are so many that personal    

causes must play an ever-diminishing    
part in war4  ,the same can scarcely be 
said as regards ,dr4 ,woods' remaining  
cause of war4 ,if by racialism we are to
 understand nationalism1 this has of    
late been a serious and ever-growing    
provocative of war4 ,internationalism of
 feeling is much less marked now than it
 was four centuries ago4 ,nationalities 
have developed a new self-consciousness1
 a new impulse to regain their old      
territories or to acquire new           
territories4 ,not only ,pan-,germanism1 
,pan-,slavism1 and ,british             
,imperialism1 like all other            
imperialisms1 but even the national     
ambitions of some smaller ,powers have  
acquired a new and dangerous energy4    
,they are not the less dangerous when1  
as is indeed most frequently the case1  
they merely represent the ambition1 not 
of the people as a whole1 but merely of 
a military or bureaucratic clique1 of a 
small chauvinistic group1 yet noisy and 
energetic enough to win over            

unscrupulous politicians4 ,a ,german    
soldier1 a young journalist of ability1 
recently wrote home from the trenches3  
,i have often dreamed of a new ,europe  
in which all the nations would be       
fraternally united and live together as 
one people2 it was an end which         
democratic feeling seemed to be slowly  
preparing4 ,now this terrible war has   
been unchained1 fomented by a few men   
who are sending their subjects1 their   
slaves rather1 to the battlefield1 to   
slay each other like wild beasts4 ,i    
should like to go towards these men they
 call our enemies and say1 ',brothers1  
let us fight together4 ,the enemy is    
behind us4' ,yes1 since ,i have been    
wearing this uniform ,i feel no hatred  
for those who are in front1 but my      
hatred has grown for those in power who 
are behind4 ,that is a sentiment which  
must grow mightily with the growth of   
democracy1 and as it grows the danger of
 nationalism as a cause of war must     
necessarily decrease4  ,there is1       

however1 one group of causes of war1 of 
the first importance1 which ,dr4 ,woods 
has surprisingly omitted1 and that is   
the group of political causes4 ,it is by
 overlooking the political aspects of   
war that ,dr4 ,woods' discussion is most
 defective4 ,supposed political         
necessity has been in modern times      
perhaps the very chief cause of war4    
,that is to say that wars are largely   
waged for what has been supposed to be  
the protection1 or the furtherance1 of  
the civilised organisation which orders 
the temporal benefits of a nation4 ,this
 is admirably illustrated by all three  
of the great ,european wars in which    
,england has taken part during the past 
four centuries3 the war against ,spain1 
the war against ,france1 and the present
 war against ,germany4 ,the fundamental 
motive of ,england's participation in   
all these wars has been what was        
conceived to be the need of ,england's  
safety1 it was essentially political4 ,a
 small island ,power1 dependent on its  

fleet1 and yet very closely adjoining   
the continental mainland1 is vitally    
concerned in the naval developments of  
possibly hostile ,powers and in the     
military movements which affect the     
opposite coast4 ,spain1 ,france1 and    
,germany all successively threatened    
,england by a formidable fleet1 and they
 all sought to gain possession of the   
coast opposite ,england4 ,to ,england1  
therefore1 it seemed a measure of       
political self-defence to strike a blow 
as each fresh menace arose4 ,in every   
case ,belgium has been the battlefield  
on land4 ,the neutrality of ,belgium is 
felt to be politically vital to         
,england4 ,therefore1 the invasion of   
,belgium by a ,great ,power is to       
,england an immediate signal of war4 ,it
 is not only ,england's wars that have  
been mainly political2 the same is true 
of ,germany's wars ever since ,prussia  
has had the leadership of ,germany4 ,the
 political condition of a country       
without natural frontiers and surrounded

 by powerful neighbours is a perpetual  
source of wars which1 in ,germany's     
case1 have been1 by deliberate policy1  
offensively defensive4  ,when we realise
 the fundamental importance of the      
political causation of warfare1 the     
whole problem of the ultimate fate of   
war becomes at once more hopeful4 ,the  
orderly growth and stability of nations 
has in the past seemed to demand war4   
,but war is not the only method of      
securing these ends1 and to most people 
nowadays it scarcely seems the best     
method4 ,england and ,france have fought
 against each other for many centuries4 
,they are now convinced that they really
 have nothing to fight about1 and that  
the growth and stability of each country
 are better ensured by friendship than  
by enmity4 ,there cannot be a doubt of  
it4 ,but where is the limit to the      
extension of that same principle8       
,france and ,germany1 ,england and      
,germany1 have just as much to lose by  
enmity1 just as much to gain by         

friendship1 and alike on both sides4    
,the history of ,europe and the charts  
of ,mr4 ,baltzly clearly show that this 
consideration has really been           
influential4 ,we find that there is a   
progressive tendency for the nations of 
,europe to abandon warfare4 ,sweden1    
,denmark1 and ,holland1 all vigorous and
 warlike peoples1 have long ceased to   
fight4 ,they have found their advantage 
in the abandonment of war1 but that     
abandonment has been greatly stimulated 
by awe of their mightier neighbours4    
,and therein1 again1 we have a clue to  
the probable course of the future4  ,for
 when we realise that the fundamental   
political need of self-preservation and 
good order has been a main cause of     
warfare1 and when we further realise    
that the same ends may be more          
satisfactorily attained without war     
under the influence of a sufficiently   
firm external pressure working in       
harmony with the growth of internal     
civilisation1 we see that the problem of

 fighting among nations is the same as  
that of fighting among individuals4     
,once upon a time good order and social 
stability were maintained in a community
 by the method of fighting among the    
individuals constituting the community4 
,no doubt all sorts of precious virtues 
were thus generated1 and no doubt in the
 general opinion no better method seemed
 possible or even conceivable4 ,but1 as 
we know1 with the development of a      
strong central ,power1 and with the     
growth of enlightenment1 it was realised
 that political stability and good order
 were more satisfactorily maintained by 
a tribunal1 having a strong police force
 behind it1 than by the method of       
allowing the individuals concerned to   
fight out their quarrels between        
themselves4  ,fighting between national 
groups of individuals stands on         
precisely the same footing as fighting  
between individuals4 ,the political     
stability and good order of nations1 it 
is beginning to be seen1 can be more    

satisfactorily maintained by a tribunal1
 having a strong police force behind it1
 than by the method of allowing the     
individual nations concerned to fight   
out quarrels between themselves4 ,the   
stronger nations have for a large part  
imposed this peace upon the smaller     
nations of ,europe to the great benefit 
of the latter4 ,how can we impose a     
similar peace upon the stronger nations1
 for their own benefit and for the      
benefit of the whole world8 ,to that    
task all our energies must be directed4 
,a long series of eminent thinkers and  
investigators1 from ,comte and ,buckle a
 century ago to ,dr4 ,woods and ,mr4    
,baltzly to-day1 have assured us that   
war is diminishing and even that the    
war-like spirit is extinct4 ,it is      
certainly not true that the war-like    
spirit is extinct1 even in the most     
civilised and peaceful peoples1 and we  
need not desire its extinction1 for it  
is capable of transformation into shapes
 of the finest use for humanity4 ,but   

the vast conflagration of to-day must   
not conceal from our eyes the great     
central fact that war is diminishing1   
and will one day disappear as completely
 as the mediaeval scourge of the ,black 
,death4 ,to reach this consummation all 
the best humanising and civilising      
energies of mankind will be needed4   #a
 ,it has been argued 7as by ,filippi    
,carli1 ,la ,ricchezza e la ,guerra1    
#aiaf7 that the ,germans are especially 
unable to understand that the prosperity
 of other countries is beneficial to    
them1 whether or not under ,german      
control1 and that they differ from the  
,english and ,french in believing that  
economic conquests should involve       
political conquests4     ,,vi   ,,war   
,,and ,,the ,,birth-,,rate  ,during     
recent years the faith had grown among  
progressive persons in various          
countries1 not excluding ,germany1 that 
civilisation was building up almost     
impassable barriers against any great   
war4 ,these barriers were thought to be 

of various kinds1 even apart from the   
merely sentimental and humanitarian     
developments of pacific feeling4 ,they  
were especially of an economic kind1 and
 that on a double basis1 that of        
,capital and that of ,labour4 ,it was   
believed1 on the one hand1 that the     
international ramifications of ,capital1
 and the complicated commercial and     
financial webs which bind nations       
together1 would cause so vivid a        
realisation of the disasters of war as  
to erect a wholesomely steadying effect 
whenever the danger of war loomed in    
sight4 ,on the other hand1 it was felt  
that the international unity of interest
 among the workers1 the growth of       
,labour's favourite doctrine that there 
is no conflict between nations1 but only
 between classes1 and even the actual   
international organisation and bonds of 
the workers' associations1 would        
interpose a serious menace to the plans 
of war-makers4 ,these influences were   
real and important4 ,but1 as we know1   

when the decisive moment came1 the      
diplomatists and the militarists were   
found to be at the helm1 to steer the   
ship of ,state in each country          
concerned1 and those on board had no    
voice in determining the course4 ,in    
,england only can there be said to have 
been any show of consulting ,parliament1
 but at that moment the situation had   
already so far developed that there was 
little left but to accept it4 ,the      
,great ,war of to-day has shown that    
such barriers against war as we at      
present possess may crumble away in a   
moment at the shock of the war-making   
machine4  ,we are to-day forced to      
undertake a more searching inquiry into 
the forces which1 in civilisation1      
operate against war4 ,i wish to call    
attention here to one such influence of 
fundamental character1 which has not    
been unrecognised1 but possesses an     
importance we are often apt to overlook4
  ,a ,french gentleman1 well acquainted 
with the constitution of his country1   

wrote ,thicknesse in #aggf1a told me    
above eight years since that ,france    
increased so rapidly in peace that they 
must necessarily have a war every twelve
 or fourteen years to carry off the     
refuse of the people4 ,recently a       
well-known ,german ,socialist1 ,dr4     
,eduard ,david1 member of the ,reichstag
 and a student of the population        
question1 setting forth the same great  
truth 7in ,die ,neue ,generation for    
,november1 #aiad7 states that it would  
have been impossible for ,germany to    
wage the present war if it had not been 
for the high ,german birth-rate during  
the past half-century4 ,and the         
impossibility of this war would1 for    
,dr4 ,david1 have been indeed tragic4   
,a more distinguished social hygienist1 
,professor ,max ,gruber1 of ,munich1 who
 took a leading part in organising that 
marvellous ,exposition of ,hygiene at   
,dresden which has been ,germany's      
greatest service to real civilisation in
 recent years1 lately set forth an      

identical opinion4 ,the war1 he         
declares1 was inevitable and            
unavoidable1 and ,germany was           
responsible for it1 not1 he hastens to  
add1 in any moral sense1 but in a       
biological sense1 because in forty-four 
years ,germans have increased in numbers
 from forty millions to eighty millions4
 ,the war was1 therefore1 a biological  
necessity4  ,if we survey the           
belligerent nations in the war we may   
say that those which took the initiative
 in drawing it on1 or at all events were
 most prepared to welcome it1 were      
,russia1 ,austria1 ,germany1 and        
,serbia4 ,we may also note that these   
include nearly all the nations in       
,europe with a high birth-rate4 ,we may 
further note that they are all nations  
which--putting aside their cultural     
summits and taking them in the mass--are
 among the most backward in ,europe2 the
 fall in the birth-rate has not yet had 
time to permeate them4 ,on the other    
hand1 of the belligerent peoples of     

to-day1 all indications point to the    
,french as the people most intolerant1  
silently but deeply1 of the war they are
 so ably and heroically waging4 ,yet the
 ,france of the present1 with the lowest
 birth-rate and the highest             
civilisation1 was a century ago the     
,france of a birth-rate higher than that
 of ,germany to-day1 the most militarist
 and aggressive of nations1 a perpetual 
menace to ,europe4 ,for all those among 
us who have faith in civilisation and   
humanity1 and are unable to believe that
 war can ever be a civilising or        
humanising method of progress1 it must  
be a daily prayer that the fall of the  
birth-rate may be hastened4  ,it seems  
too elementary a point to insist on1 yet
 the mists of ignorance and prejudice   
are so dense1 the cataract of false     
patriotism is so thick1 that for many   
even the most elementary truths cannot  
be discerned4 ,in most of the smaller   
nations1 indeed1 an intelligent view    
prevails4 ,their smallness has1 on the  

one hand1 rendered them more open to    
international culture1 and1 on the other
 hand1 enabled them to outgrow the      
illusions of militarism2 there is a     
higher standard of education among them2
 their birth-rates are low and they     
accept that fact as a condition of      
progressive civilisation4 ,that is the  
case in ,switzerland1 as in ,norway1 and
 notably in ,holland4 ,it is not so in  
the larger nations4 ,here we constantly 
find1 even in those lands where the bulk
 of the population are civilised and    
reasonably level-headed1 a small        
minority who publicly tear their hair   
and rage at the steady decline in the   
birth-rate4 ,it is1 of course1 only the 
declining birth-rate of their own       
country that they have in view2 for they
 are patriots1 which means that the fall
 of the birth-rate in all other         
countries but their own is a source of  
much gratification4 ,woe to us1 they    
exclaim in effect1 if we follow the     
example of these wicked and degenerate  

peoples6 ,our nation needs men4 ,we have
 to populate the earth and to carry the 
blessings of our civilised culture all  
over the world4 ,in executing that high 
mission we cannot have too much         
cannon-fodder in defending ourselves    
against the jealousy and aggression of  
other nations4 ,let us promote parentage
 by law2 let us repress by law every    
influence which may encourage a falling 
birth-rate2 otherwise there is nothing  
left to us but speedy national disaster1
 complete and irremediable4 ,this is not
 caricature1#b though these apostles of 
race-suicide may easily arouse a smile  
by the verbal ardour of their           
procreative energy4 ,but we have to     
recognise that in ,germany for years    
past it has been difficult to take up a 
serious periodical without finding some 
anxiously statistical article about the 
falling birth-rate and some wild        
recommendations for its arrest1 for it  
is the militaristic ,german who of all  
,europeans is most worried by this fall2

 indeed ,germans often even refuse to   
recognise it4 ,thus to-day we find      
,professor ,gruber declaring that if the
 population of the ,german ,empire      
continues to grow at the rate of the    
first five years of the present century1
 at the end of the century it will have 
reached #bej1jjj1jjj4 ,by such a vast   
increase in population1 the ,professor  
complacently concludes1 ,germany will be
 rendered invulnerable4 ,we know what   
that means4 ,the presence of an         
invulnerable nation among nations that  
are vulnerable means inevitable         
aggression and war1 a perpetual menace  
to civilisation and humanity4 ,it is not
 along that line that hope can be found 
for the world's future1 or even         
,germany's future1 and ,gruber          
conveniently neglects to estimate what1 
on his basis1 the population of ,russia 
will be at the end of the century4 ,but 
,gruber's estimate is altogether        
fallacious4 ,german births have fallen1 
roughly speaking1 about one per thousand

 of the population1 every year since the
 beginning of the century1 and it would 
be equally reasonable to estimate that  
if they continue to fall at the present 
rate 7which we cannot1 of course1       
anticipate7 births will altogether have 
ceased in ,germany long before the end  
of the century4 ,the ,german birth-rate 
reached its climax forty years ago      
7#ahga-ahhj7 with #dj4g per #a1jjj2 in  
#aijf it was #cd per #a1jjj2 in #aiji1  
#ca per #a1jjj2 in #aiab1 #bh per       
#a1jjj2 in an almost measurable period  
of time1 in all probability long before 
the end of the century1 it will have    
reached the same low level as that of   
,france1 when there will be little      
difference between the invulnerability  
of ,france and of ,germany1 a           
consummation which1 for the world's     
sake1 is far more devoutly to be wished 
than that anticipated by ,gruber4  ,we  
have to remember1 moreover1 that this   
tendency is by no means1 as we are      
sometimes tempted to suppose1 a sign of 

degeneration or of decay2 but1 on the   
contrary1 a sign of progress4 ,when we  
survey broadly that course of zoological
 evolution of which we are pleased to   
regard ,man as the final outcome1 we    
note that on the whole the mighty stream
 has become the less productive as it   
has advanced4 ,we note the same of the  
various lines taken separately4 ,we     
note1 also1 that intelligence and all   
the qualities we admire have usually    
been most marked in the less prolific   
species4 ,progress1 roughly speaking1   
has proved incompatible with high       
fertility4 ,and the reason is not far to
 seek4 ,if the creature produced is more
 evolved1 it is more complex and more   
highly organised1 and that means the    
need for much time and much energy4 ,to 
attain this1 the offspring must be few  
and widely spaced2 it cannot be attained
 at all under conditions that are highly
 destructive4 ,the humble herring1 which
 evokes the despairing envy of our human
 apostles of fertility1 is largely      

composed of spawn1 and produces a vast  
number of offspring1 of which few reach 
maturity4 ,the higher mammals spend     
their lives in the production of a small
 number of offspring1 most of whom      
survive4 ,thus1 even before ,man began1 
we see a fundamental principle          
established1 and the relationship       
between the birth-rate and the          
death-rate in working order4 ,all       
progressive evolution may be regarded as
 a mechanism for concentrating an ever  
greater amount of energy in the         
production of ever fewer and ever more  
splendid individuals4 ,nature is        
perpetually striving to replace the     
crude ideal of quantity by the higher   
ideal of quality4  ,in human history    
these same tendencies have continually  
been illustrated4 ,the ,greeks1 our     
pioneers in all insight and knowledge1  
grappled 7as ,professor ,myres has      
lately set forth#c71 and realised that  
they were grappling1 with this same     
problem4 ,even in the ,minoan ,age their

 population would appear to have been   
full to overflowing2 there were too many
 people in the world1 and to the old    
,greeks the ,trojan ,war was the        
earliest divinely-appointed remedy4     
,wars1 famines1 pestilences1            
colonisation1 wide-spread infanticide   
were the methods1 voluntary and         
involuntary1 by which this excessive    
birth-rate was combated1 while the      
greatest of ,greek philosophers1 a      
,plato or an ,aristotle1 clearly saw    
that a regulated and limited birth-rate1
 a eugenically improved race1 is the    
road to higher civilisation4 ,we may    
even see in ,greek antiquity how a      
sudden rise in industrialism leads to a 
crowded and fertile urban population1   
the extension of slavery1 and all the   
resultant evils4 ,it was a foretaste of 
what was seen during the eighteenth and 
nineteenth centuries1 when a sudden     
industrial expansion led to an          
enormously high birth-rate1 a servile   
urban proletariat 7that very word       

indicates1 as ,roscher has pointed out1 
that a large family means inferiority71 
and a consequent outburst of misery and 
degradation from which we are only now  
emerging4  ,as we are now able to       
realise1 the sudden expansion of the    
population accompanying the industrial  
revolution was an abnormal and1 from the
 point of view of society1 a morbid     
phenomenon4 ,all the evidence goes to   
show that previously the population     
tended to increase very slowly1 and     
social evolution was thus able to take  
place equably and harmoniously4 ,it is  
only gradually that the birth-rate has  
begun to right itself again4 ,the       
movement1 as is well known1 began in    
,france1 always the most advanced       
outpost of ,european civilisation4 ,it  
has now spread to ,england1 to ,germany1
 to all ,europe1 to the whole world     
indeed1 in so far as the world is in    
touch with ,european civilisation1 and  
has long been well marked in the ,united
 ,states4  ,when we realise this we are 

also enabled to realise how futile1 how 
misplaced1 and how mischievous it is to 
raise the cry of ,race-suicide4 ,it is  
futile because no outcry can affect a   
world-wide movement of civilisation4 ,it
 is misplaced because the rise and fall 
of the population is not a matter of the
 birth-rate alone1 but of the birth-rate
 combined with the death-rate1 and while
 we cannot expect to touch the former we
 can influence the latter4 ,it is       
mischievous because by fighting against 
a tendency which is not only inevitable 
but altogether beneficial1 we blind     
ourselves to the advance of civilisation
 and risk the misdirection of all our   
energies4 ,how far this blindness may be
 carried we see in the false patriotism 
of those who in the decline of the      
birth-rate fancy they see the ruin of   
their own particular country1 oblivious 
of the fact that we are concerned with a
 phenomenon of world-wide extension4    
,the whole tendency of civilisation is  
to reduce the birth-rate1 as            

,leroy-,beaulieu concludes in his       
comprehensive work on the population    
question4 ,we may go further1 and assert
 with the distinguished ,german         
economist1 ,roscher1 that the chief     
cause of the superiority of a highly    
civilised ,state over lower stages of   
civilisation is precisely a greater     
degree of forethought and self-control  
in marriage and child-bearing4#d        
,instead of talking about race-suicide1 
we should do well to observe at what an 
appalling rate1 even yet1 the population
 is increasing1 and we should note that 
it is everywhere the poorest and most   
primitive countries1 and in every       
country 7as in ,germany7 the poorest    
regions1 which show the highest         
birth-rate4 ,on every hand1 however1 are
 hopeful signs4 ,thus1 in ,russia1 where
 a very high birth-rate is to some      
extent compensated by a very high       
death-rate--the highest infantile       
death-rate in ,europe--the birth-rate is
 falling1 and we may anticipate that it 

will fall very rapidly with the         
extension of education and social       
enlightenment among the masses4 ,driven 
out of ,europe1 the alarmist falls back 
on the ,yellow ,peril4 ,but in ,japan we
 find amid confused variations of the   
birth-rate and the death-rate nothing to
 indicate any alarming expansion of the 
population1 while as to ,china we are in
 the dark4 ,we only know that in ,china 
there is a high birth-rate largely      
compensated by a very high death-rate4  
,we also know1 however1 that as ,lowes  
,dickinson has lately reminded us1 the  
fundamental attitude of the ,chinese    
towards life is that of the most modern 
,west1#e and we shall probably find that
 with the growth of enlightenment the   
,chinese will deal with their high      
birth-rate in a far more radical and    
thorough manner than we have ever       
ventured on4  ,one last resort the      
would-be patriotic alarmist seeks when  
all others fail4 ,he is good enough to  
admit that a general decline in the     

birth-rate might be beneficial4 ,but1 he
 points out1 it affects social classes  
unequally4 ,it is initiated1 not by the 
degenerate and the unfit1 whom we could 
well dispense with1 but by the very best
 classes in the community1 the          
well-to-do and the educated4 ,one is    
inclined to remark1 at once1 that a     
social change initiated by its best     
social classes is scarcely likely to be 
pernicious4 ,where1 it may be asked1 if 
not among the most educated classes1 is 
any process of amelioration to be       
initiated8 ,we cannot make the world    
topsy-turvy to suit the convenience of  
topsy-turvy minds4 ,all social movements
 tend to begin at the top and to        
permeate downwards4 ,this has been the  
case with the decline in the birth-rate1
 but it is already well marked among the
 working classes1 and has only failed to
 touch the lowest social stratum of all1
 too weak-minded and too reckless to be 
amenable to ordinary social motives4    
,the rational method of meeting this    

situation is not a propaganda in favour 
of procreation--a truly imbecile        
propaganda1 since it is only carried out
 and only likely to be carried out1 by  
the very class which we wish to         
sterilise--but by a wise policy of      
regulative eugenics4 ,we have to create 
the motives1 and it is not an impossible
 task1 which will act even upon the     
weak-minded and reckless lowest social  
stratum4  ,these facts have a           
significance which many of us have      
failed to realise4 ,the ,great ,war has 
brought home the gravity of that        
significance4 ,it has been the perpetual
 refrain of the ,pan-,germanists for    
many years that the vast and sudden     
expansion of the ,german peoples makes  
necessary a new movement of the ,german 
nations into the world and a new        
enlargement of frontiers1 in other      
words1 ,war4 ,it is not only among the  
,germans1 though among them it may have 
been more conscious1 that a similar     
cause has led to the like result4 ,it   

has ever been so4 ,the expanding nation 
has always been a menace to the world   
and to itself4 ,the arrest of the       
falling birth-rate1 it cannot be too    
often repeated1 would be the arrest of  
all civilisation and of all humanity4   
#a ,ralph ,thicknesse1 ,a ,year's       
,journey ,through ,france and ,spain1   
#aggg1 p4 #bih4  #b ,the last twelve    
words quoted are by ,miss ,ethel        
,elderton in an otherwise sober memoir  
7,report on the ,english ,birth-rate1   
#aiad1 p4 #bcg7 which shows that the    
birth control movement has begun1 just  
where we should expect it to begin1     
among the better instructed classes4  #c
 ,j4,l4 ,myres1 ,the ,causes of ,rise   
and ,fall in the ,population of the     
,ancient ,world1 ,eugenics ,review1     
,april1 #aiae4  #d ,roscher1 ,grundlagen
 der ,nationalkonomie1 #bcrd ed41 #aijj1
 ,bk4 ,,vi4  #e ,g4 ,lowes ,dickinson1  
,the ,civilisation of ,india1 ,china1   
and ,japan1 #aiad1 p4 #dg4     ,,vii    
,,war ,,and ,,democracy  ,when we read  

our newspapers to-day we are constantly 
met by ingenious plans for bringing to  
an end the activities of ,germany after 
the ,war4 ,german military activity1 it 
is universally agreed1 must be brought  
to an end2 ,germany will have no further
 need of a military system save on the  
most modest scale4 ,germany must also be
 deprived of any colonial empire and    
shut out from eastward expansion4 ,that 
being the case1 ,germany no longer needs
 a fleet1 and must be brought back to   
,bismarck's naval attitude4 ,moreover1  
the industrial activities of ,germany   
must also be destroyed2 the ,allied     
opponents of ,germany will henceforth   
manufacture for themselves or for one   
another the goods they have hitherto    
been so foolish as to obtain from       
,germany1 and though this may mean      
cutting themselves aloof from the       
country which has hitherto been their   
own best customer1 that is a sacrifice  
to be cheerfully borne for the sake of  
principle4 ,it is further argued that   

the world has no need of ,german        
activities in science2 they are1 it     
appears1 much less valuable than we had 
been led to believe1 and in any case no 
self-respecting people would encourage a
 science tainted by ,kultur4 ,the       
puzzled reader of these arguments1      
overlooking the fallacies they contain1 
may perhaps sometimes be tempted to ask3
 ,but what are ,germans to be allowed to
 do8 ,the implied answer is clear3      
,nothing4  ,the writers who urge these  
arguments with such conviction may be   
supposed to have an elementary knowledge
 of the history of the ,germans4 ,we are
 concerned1 that is to say1 with a      
people which has displayed an           
irrepressible energy1 in one field or   
another1 ever since the time1 more than 
fifteen hundred years ago1 when it      
excited the horror of the civilised     
world by sacking ,rome4 ,the same energy
 was manifested1 a thousand years later1
 when the ,germans again knocked at the 
door of ,rome and drew away half the    

world from its allegiance to the        
,church4 ,still more recently1 in yet   
other fields of industry and commerce   
and colonisation1 these same ,germans   
have displayed their energy by entering 
into more or less successful competition
 with that ,modern ,rome1 as some have  
termed it1 which has its seat in the    
,british ,islands4 ,here is a           
people1--still youthful as we count age 
in our ,european world1 for even the    
,celts had preceded them by nearly a    
thousand years1--which has successfully 
displayed its explosive or methodical   
force in the most diverse fields1       
military1 religious1 economic4 ,from    
henceforth it is invited1 by an allied  
army of terrified journalists1 to expend
 these stupendous and irresistible      
energies on just ,nothing4  ,we know1 of
 course1 what would happen were it      
possible to subject ,germany to any such
 process of attempted repression4       
,whenever an individual or a mass of    
individuals is bidden to do nothing1 it 

merely comes about that the activities  
aimed at1 far from being suppressed1 are
 turned into precisely the direction    
most unpleasant for the would-be        
suppressors4 ,when in #ahgj the ,germans
 tried to crush ,france1 the result was 
the reverse of that intended4 ,the      
effects of crushing had been even more  
startingly reverse1 on the other        
side--and this may furnish us with a    
precedent--when ,napoleon trampled down 
,germany4 ,two centuries ago1 after the 
brilliant victories of ,marlborough1 it 
was proposed to crush permanently the   
,militarism of ,france4 ,but1 as ,swift 
wrote to ,archbishop ,king just before  
the ,peace of ,utrecht1 limiting ,france
 to a certain number of ships and troops
 was1 ,i doubt1 not to be compassed4 ,in
 spite of the exhaustion of ,france it  
was not even attempted4 ,in the present 
case1 when the war is over it is        
probable that ,germany will still hold  
sufficiently great pledges to bargain   
with in safeguarding her own vital      

interests4 ,if it were not so1 if it    
were possible to inflict permanent      
injury on ,germany1 that would be the   
greatest misfortune that could happen to
 us2 for it is clear that we should then
 be faced by a yet more united and yet  
more aggressively military ,germany than
 the world has seen4#a ,in ,germany     
itself there is no doubt on this point4 
,germans are well aware that ,german    
activities cannot be brought to a sudden
 full stop1 and they are also aware that
 even among ,germany's present enemies  
there are those who after the ,war will 
be glad to become her friends4 ,any     
doubt or anxiety in the minds of        
thoughtful ,germans is not concerning   
the continued existence of ,german      
energy in the world1 but concerning the 
directions in which that energy will be 
exerted4  ,what is ,germany's greatest  
danger8 ,that is the subject of a       
pamphlet by ,rudolf ,goldscheid1 of     
,vienna1 now published in ,switzerland1 
with a preface by ,professor ,forel1 as 

originally written a year earlier1      
because it is believed that in the      
interval its conclusions have been      
confirmed by events4#b ,goldscheid is an
 independent and penetrating thinker in 
the economic field1 and the author of a 
book on the principles of ,social       
,biology 7,hherentwicklung und          
,menschenkonomie7 which has been        
described by an ,english critic as the  
ablest defence of ,socialism yet        
written4 ,by the nature of his studies  
he is concerned with problems of human  
rather than merely national development1
 but he ardently desires the welfare of 
,germany1 and is anxious that that      
welfare shall be on the soundest and    
most democratic basis4 ,after the ,war1 
he says1 there must necessarily be a    
tendency to approximate between the     
,central ,powers and one or other of    
their present foes4 ,it is clear 7though
 this point is not discussed7 that      
,italy1 whose presence in the ,triple   
,alliance was artificial1 will not      

return1 while ,french resentment at     
,german devastation is far too great to 
be appeased for a long period to come4  
,there remain1 therefore1 ,russia and   
,england4 ,after the ,war ,german       
interests and ,german sympathies must   
gravitate either eastwards towards      
,russia or westwards towards ,england4  
,which is it to be8  ,there are many    
reasons why ,germany should gravitate   
towards ,russia4 ,such a movement was   
indeed already in active progress before
 the war1 notwithstanding ,russia's     
alliance with ,france1 and may easily   
become yet more active after the war1   
when it is likely that the bonds between
 ,russia and ,france may grow weaker1   
and when it is possible that the        
,germans1 with their immense industry1  
economy and recuperative power1 may     
prove to be in the best position--unless
 ,america cuts in--to finance ,russia4  
,industrially ,russia offers a vast     
field for ,german enterprise which no   
other country can well snatch away1 and 

,german is already to some extent the   
commercial language of ,russia4#c       
,politically1 moreover1 a close         
understanding between the two supreme   
autocratic and anti-democratic powers of
 ,europe is of the greatest mutual      
benefit1 for any democratic movement    
within the borders of either ,power is  
highly inconvenient to the other1 so    
that it is to the advantage of both to  
stimulate each other in the task of     
repression4#d ,it is this aspect of the 
approximation which arouses             
,goldscheid's alarm4 ,it is mainly on   
this ground that he advocates a         
counter-balancing approximation between 
,germany and ,england which would lay   
,germany open to the ,west and serve to 
develop her latent democratic           
tendencies4 ,he admits that at some     
points the interests of ,germany and    
,england run counter to each other1 but 
at yet a greater number of points their 
interests are common4 ,it is only by the
 development of these common interests1 

and the consequent permeation of        
,germany by democratic ,english ideas1  
that ,goldscheid sees any salvation from
 ,czarism1 for that is ,germany's       
greatest danger1 and at the same time   
the greatest danger to ,europe4  ,that  
is ,goldscheid's point of view4 ,our    
,english point of view is necessarily   
somewhat different4 ,with our           
politically democratic tendencies we see
 very little difference between ,russia 
and ,prussia4 ,as they are at present   
constituted1 we have no wish to be in   
very close political intimacy with      
either4 ,it so happens1 indeed1 that1   
for the moment1 the chances of          
fellowship in ,war have brought us into 
a condition of almost sentimental       
sympathy with the ,russian people1 such 
as has never existed among us before4   
,but this sympathy1 amply justified1 as 
all who know ,russia agree1 is          
exclusively with the ,russian people4   
,it leaves the ,russian ,government1 the
 ,russian bureaucracy1 the ,russian     

political system1 all that ,goldscheid  
concentrates into the term ,czarism1    
severely alone4 ,our hostility to these 
may be for the moment latent1 but it is 
as profound as it ever was4 ,czarism is 
even more remote from our sympathies    
than ,kaiserism4 ,all that has happened 
is that we cherish the pious hope that  
,russia is becoming converted to our own
 ideas on these points1 although there  
is not the smallest item of solid fact  
to support that hope4 ,otherwise1       
,russian oppression of the ,finns is    
just as odious to us as ,prussian       
oppression of the ,poles1 and ,russian  
persecution of ,liberals as alien as    
,german persecution of ,war-prisoners4#e
 ,our future policy1 in the opinion of  
many1 should1 however1 be to isolate    
,germany as completely as possible from 
,english influence and to cultivate     
closer relations with ,russia4#f ,such a
 policy1 ,goldscheid argues1 will defeat
 its own ends4 ,the more stringently    
,england holds aloof from ,germany the  

more anxiously will ,germany cultivate  
good relationships with ,russia4 ,such  
relationships1 as we know1 are easy to  
cultivate1 because they are much in the 
interests of both countries which       
possess so large an extent of common    
frontier and so admirably supply each   
other's needs2 it may be added also that
 the ,russian commercial world is       
showing no keen desire to enter into    
close relations with ,england4          
,moreover1 after the ,war1 we may expect
 a weakening of ,french influence in    
,russia1 for that influence was largely 
based on ,french gold1 and a ,france no 
longer able or willing to finance       
,russia would no longer possess a strong
 hold over ,russia4 ,a ,russo-,german   
understanding1 difficult to prevent in  
any case1 is inimical to the interests  
of ,england1 but it would be rendered   
inevitable by an attempt on the part of 
,england to isolate ,germany4#g  ,such  
an attempt could not be carried out     
completely and would break down on its  

weakest side1 which is the ,east4 ,so   
that the way lies open to a ,league of  
the ,three ,kaisers1 the                
,dreikaiserbndnis which would form a    
great island fortress of militarism and 
reaction amid the surrounding sea of    
democracy1 able to repress those immense
 possibilities of progress within its   
own walls which would have been         
liberated by contact with the vital     
currents outside4  ,so long as the ,war 
lasts it is the interest of ,england to 
strike ,germany and to strike hard4     
,that is here assumed as certain4 ,but  
when the ,war is over1 it will no longer
 be in the interests of ,england1 it    
will indeed be directly contrary to     
those interests1 to continue cultivating
 hostility1 provided1 that is1 that no  
rankling wounds are left4 ,the fatal    
mistake of ,bismarck in annexing        
,alsace-,lorraine introduced a poison   
into the ,european organism which is    
working still4 ,but the ,russo-,japanese
 ,war produced a more amicable          

understanding than had existed before1  
and the ,boer ,war led to still more    
intimate relationships between the      
belligerents4 ,it may be thought that   
the impression in ,england of ,german   
frightfulness1 and in ,germany of       
,english treachery1 may prove           
ineffaceable4 ,but the ,germans have    
been considered atrocious and the       
,english perfidious for a long time     
past1 yet that has not prevented        
,english and ,germans fighting side by  
side at ,waterloo and on many another   
field2 nor has it stood in the way of   
,german worship of the quintessential   
,englishman1 ,shakespeare1 nor ,english 
homage to the quintessential ,german    
,goethe4  ,the question of the future   
relations of ,england and ,germany may1 
indeed1 be said to lie on a higher plane
 than that of interest and policy1      
vitally urgent as their claims may be4  
,it is the merit of ,goldscheid's little
 book that--with faith in a future      
,united ,states of ,europe in which     

every country would develop its own     
peculiar aptitudes freely and           
harmoniously--he is able to look at the 
,war from that ,european standpoint     
which is so rarely attained in ,england4
 ,he sees that more is at stake than a  
mere question of national rivalries2    
that democracy is at stake1 and the     
whole future direction of civilisation4 
,he looks beyond the enmities of the    
moment1 and he knows that1 unless we    
look beyond them1 we not only condemn   
,europe to the prospect of unending war1
 we do more3 we ensure the triumph of   
,reaction and the destruction of        
,democracy4 ,war and ,reaction are      
brethren2 on that point ,goldscheid is  
very sure1 and he foretells and laments 
the temporary demolition of ,democracy  
in ,england4 ,we have only too much     
reason to believe his prophetic words1  
for since he wrote we have had a        
,coalition ,government which is         
predominantly democratic1 ,liberal and  
,labour1 and yet has been fatally       

impelled towards reaction and           
autocracy4#h ,that the impulse is really
 fatal and inevitable we cannot doubt1  
for we see exactly the same movement in 
,france1 and even in ,russia1 where it  
might seem that reaction has so few     
triumphs to achieve4 ,the blood of the  
battlefield is the stream that drives   
the mills of ,reaction4 ,the elementary 
and fundamental fact that in ,democracy 
the officers obey the men1 while in     
,militarism the men obey the officers1  
is the key to the whole situation4 ,we  
see at once why all reactionaries are on
 the side of war and a military basis of
 society4 ,the fate of democracy in     
,europe hangs on this question of       
adequate pacification4 ,democratisation 
and ,pacification march side by side4#i 
,unless we realise that fact we are not 
competent to decide on a sound ,european
 policy4 ,for there is an intimate      
connection between a country's external 
policy and its internal policy4 ,an     
internal reactionary policy means an    

external aggressive policy4 ,to shut out
 ,english influence from ,germany1 to   
fortify ,german ,junkerism and          
,militarism1 to drive ,germany into the 
arms of a yet more reactionary ,russia1 
is to create a perpetual menace1 alike  
to peace and to democracy1 which        
involves the arrest of civilisation4    
,however magnanimous the task may seem  
to some1 it is not only the interest of 
,england1 but ,england's duty to        
,europe1 to take the initiative in      
preparing the ground for a clear and    
good understanding with ,germany4 ,it   
is1 moreover1 only through ,england that
 ,france can be brought into harmonious 
relations with ,germany1 and when       
,russia then approaches her neighbour it
 will be in sympathy with her more      
progressive ,western ,allies and not in 
reactionary response to a reactionary   
,germany4 ,it is along such lines as    
these that amid the confusion of the    
present we may catch a glimpse of the   
,europe of the future4  ,we have to     

remember that1 as ,goldscheid reminds   
us1 this ,war is making all of us into  
citizens of the world4 ,a world-wide    
outlook can no longer be reserved merely
 for philosophers4 ,some of the old     
bridges1 it is true1 have been washed   
away1 but on every side walls are       
falling1 and the petty fears and        
rivalries of ,european nations begin to 
look worse than trivial in the face of  
greater dangers4 ,as our eyes begin to  
be opened we see ,europe lying between  
the nether millstone of ,asia and the   
upper millstone of ,america4 ,it is not 
by constituting themselves a ,mutual    
,suicide ,club that the nations of      
,europe will avoid that peril4#aj ,a    
wise and far-seeing world-policy can    
alone avail1 and the enemies of to-day  
will see themselves compelled1 even by  
the mere logic of events1 to join hands 
to-morrow lest a worse fate befall them4
 ,in so doing they may not only escape  
possible destruction1 but they will be  
taking the greatest step ever taken in  

the organisation of the world4 ,which   
nation is to assume the initiative in   
such combined organisation8 ,that       
remains the fateful question for        
,democracy4   #a ,treitschke in his     
,history 7,bk4 ,i41 ,ch4 ,,iii47 has    
well described the elemental hatred     
which foreign injury pours into the     
veins of our good-natured people1 for   
ever pursued by the question3 ',art thou
 yet on thy feet1 ,germania8 ,is the day
 of thy revenge at hand6'  #b ,rudolf   
,goldscheid1 ,deutschlands ,grsste      
,gefahr1 ,institut ,orell ,fssli1       
,zrich1 #aiaf4  #c ,one may remark that 
up to the outbreak of war fifty per     
cent4 of the import trade of ,russia has
 been with ,germany4 ,to suppose that   
that immense volume of trade can        
suddenly be transferred after the war   
from a neighbouring country which has   
intelligently and systematically adapted
 itself to its requirements to a remote 
country which has never shown the       
slightest aptitude to meet those        

requirements argues a simplicity of mind
 which in itself may be charming1 but   
when translated into practical affairs  
it is stupendous folly4  #d ,sir        
,valentine ,chirol remarks of ,bismarck1
 in an ,oxford ,pamphlet on ,germany and
 the ,fear of ,russia3--,friendship with
 ,russia was one of the cardinal        
principles of his foreign policy1 and   
one thing he always relied upon to make 
,russia amenable to ,german influence   
was that she should never succeed in    
healing the ,polish sore4  #e ,in making
 these observations on the ,russians and
 the ,prussians1 ,i do not1 of course1  
overlook the fact that all nations1 like
 individuals1      ,compound for sins   
they are inclined to     ,by damning    
those they have no mind to1  and the    
,english treatment of the conscientious 
objector in the ,great ,war has been    
just as odious as ,russian treatment of 
the ,finns or ,prussian treatment of war
 prisoners1 and even more foolish1 since
 it strikes at our own most cherished   

principles4  #f ,there is1 indeed1      
another school which would like to shut 
off all foreign countries by a tariff   
wall and make the ,british ,empire      
mutually self-supporting1 on the        
economic basis adopted by those three   
old ladies in decayed circumstances who 
subsisted by taking tea in one another's
 houses4  #g ,even if partially         
successful1 as has lately been pointed  
out1 the greater the financial          
depression of ,germany the greater would
 be the advantage to ,russia of doing   
business with ,germany4  #h ,it may be  
proper to point out that ,i by no means 
wish to imply that democracy is         
necessarily the ultimate and most       
desirable form of political society1 but
 merely that it is a necessary stage for
 those peoples that have not yet reached
 it4 ,even ,treitschke in his famous    
,history1 while idealising the ,prussian
 ,state1 always assumes that movement   
towards democracy is beneficial         
progress4 ,for the larger question of   

the comparative merits of the different 
forms of political society1 see an      
admirable little book by ,c4 ,delisle   
,burns1 ,political ,ideals 7#aiae74 ,and
 see also the searching study1          
,political ,parties 7,english           
translation1 #aiae71 by ,robert         
,michels1 who1 while accepting democracy
 as the highest political form1 argues  
that practically it always works out as 
oligarchy4  #i ,professor ,d4,s4 ,jordan
 has quoted the letter of a ,german     
officer to a friend in ,roumania        
7published in the ,bucharest ,adverul1  
#ba ,aug41 #aiae73 ,how difficult it was
 to convince our ,emperor that the      
moment had arrived for letting loose the
 war1 otherwise ,pacifism1              
,internationalism1 ,anti-,militarism1   
and so many other noxious weeds would   
have infected our stupid people4 ,that  
would have been the end of our dazzling 
nobility4 ,we have everything to gain by
 the war1 and all the chimeras and      
stupidities of democracy will be chased 

from the world for an infinite time4    
#aj ,let us be patient1 a ,japanese is  
reported to have said lately1 until     
,europe has completed her hara-kiri4    
,,viii   ,,feminism ,,and ,,masculinism 
,during more than a century we have seen
 the slow but steady growth of the great
 ,women's movement1 of the movement of  
,feminism in the wide sense of that     
term4 ,the conquests of this movement   
have sometimes been described by        
rhetorical feminists as triumphs over   
,man4 ,that is scarcely true4 ,the      
champions of ,feminism have nearly as   
often been men as women1 and the forces 
of ,anti-feminism have been the vague   
massive inert forces of an order which  
had indeed made the world in an undue   
degree a man's world1 but unconsciously 
and involuntarily1 and by an            
instrumentation which was feminine as   
well as masculine4 ,the advocates of    
,woman's ,rights have seldom been met by
 the charge that they were unjustly     
encroaching on the ,rights of ,man4     

,feminism has never encountered an      
aggressive and self-conscious           
,masculinism4  ,now1 however1 when the  
claims of ,feminism are becoming        
practically recognised in our social    
life1 and some of its largest demands   
are being granted1 it is interesting to 
observe the appearance of a new         
attitude4 ,we are1 for the first time1  
beginning to hear of ,masculinism4 ,just
 as ,feminism represents the affirmation
 of neglected rights and functions of   
,womanhood1 so ,masculinism represents  
the assertion of the rights and         
functions of ,manhood which1 it is      
supposed1 the rising tide of ,feminism  
threatens to submerge4  ,those who      
proclaim the necessity of an assertion  
of the rights of ,masculinism usually   
hold up ,america as an awful example of 
the triumph of ,feminism4 ,thus ,fritz  
,voechting in a book published in       
,germany1 ,on the ,american ,cult of    
,woman1 is appalled by what he sees in  
the ,united ,states4 ,to him it is the  

,american danger1 and he thinks it may  
be traced partly to the influence of the
 matriarchal system of the ,american    
,indians on the early ,european invaders
 and partly to the effects of           
co-education in undermining the         
fundamental conceptions of feminine     
subordination4 ,this state of things is 
so terrible to the ,german mind1 which  
has a constitutional bias to            
masculinism1 that to ,herr ,voechting   
,america seems a land where all the     
privileges have been captured by ,woman 
and nothing is left to ,man1 but1 like a
 good little boy1 to be seen and not    
heard4 ,that is a slight exaggeration1  
as other ,germans1 even since the ,war1 
have pointed out in ,german periodicals4
 ,even if it were true1 however1 as a   
,german ,feminist has remarked1 it would
 still be a pleasant variation from a   
rule we are so familiar with in the ,old
 ,world4 ,that it should be put forward 
at all indicates the growing perception 
of a cleavage between the claims of     

,masculinism and the claims of          
,feminism4  ,it is not altogether easy  
at present to ascertain whom we are to  
recognise as the champions and          
representatives of ,masculinism4        
,various notable figures are mentioned1 
from ,nietzsche to ,mr4 ,theodore       
,dreiser4 ,nietzsche1 however1 can      
scarcely be regarded as in all respects 
an opponent to ,feminism1 and some      
prominent feminists even count          
themselves his disciples4 ,one may also 
feel doubtful whether ,mr4 ,dreiser     
feels himself called upon to put on the 
armour of masculinism and play the part 
assigned to him4 ,another distinguished 
novelist1 ,mr4 ,robert ,herrick1 whose  
name has been mentioned in this         
connection1 is probably too             
well-balanced1 too comprehensive in his 
outlook1 to be fairly claimed as a      
banner-bearer of masculinism4 ,the name 
of ,strindberg is most often mentioned1 
but surely very unfortunately4 ,however 
great ,strindberg's genius1 and however 

acute and virulent his analysis of      
woman1 ,strindberg with his pronounced  
morbidity and sensitive fragility seems 
a very unhappy figure to put forward as 
the ideal representative of the virtues 
of masculinity4 ,much the same may be   
said of ,weininger4 ,the name of ,mr4   
,belfort ,bax1 once associated with     
,william ,morris in the ,socialistic    
campaign1 may fairly be mentioned as a  
pioneer in this field4 ,for many years  
he has protested vigorously against the 
encroachment of ,feminism1 and pointed  
out the various privileges1 social and  
legal1 which are possessed by women to  
the disadvantage of men4 ,but although  
he is a distinguished student of        
philosophy1 it can scarcely be said that
 ,mr4 ,bax has clearly presented in any 
wide philosophic manner the demands of  
the masculinistic spirit or definitely  
grasped the contest between ,feminism   
and ,masculinism4 ,the name of ,william 
,morris would be an inspiring battle-cry
 if it could be fairly raised on the    

side of ,masculinism4 ,unfortunately1   
however1 the masculine figures scarcely 
seem eager to put on the armour of      
,masculinism4 ,they are far too         
sensitive to the charm of ,womanhood    
ever to rank themselves actively in any 
anti-feministic party4 ,at the most they
 remain neutral4  ,thus it is that the  
new movement cannot yet be regarded as  
organised4 ,there is1 however1 a        
temptation for those among us who have  
all their lives been working in the     
cause of ,feminism to belittle the      
future possibilities of ,masculinism4   
,there can be no doubt that all         
civilisation is now1 and always has been
 to some extent1 on the side of         
,feminism4 ,wherever a great development
 of civilisation has occurred--whether  
in ancient ,egypt1 or in later ,rome1 or
 in eighteenth-century ,france--there   
the influence of woman has prevailed1   
while laws and social institutions have 
taken on a character favourable to      
women4 ,the whole current of            

civilisation tends to deprive men of the
 privileges which belong to brute force1
 and to confer on them the qualities    
which in ruder societies are especially 
associated with women4 ,whenever1 as in 
the present great ,european ,war1 brute 
force becomes temporarily predominant1  
the causes associated with ,feminism are
 roughly pushed into the background4 ,it
 is1 indeed1 the ,war which gives a new 
actuality to this question4 ,war has    
always been regarded as the special and 
peculiar province of ,man1 indeed1 the  
sacred refuge of the masculine spirit   
and the ultimate appeal in human        
affairs4 ,that is not the view of       
,feminism1 nor yet the standpoint of    
,eugenics4 ,yet1 to-day1 in spite of all
 our homage to ,feminism and ,eugenics1 
we witness the greatest war of the      
world4 ,it is an instructive spectacle  
from our present point of view4 ,we     
realise1 for one thing1 how futile it is
 for ,feminism to adopt the garb of     
masculine militancy4 ,the militancy of  

the ,suffragettes1 which looked so brave
 and imposing in times of peace1        
disappeared like child's play at the    
first touch of real militancy4 ,that was
 patriotic of the ,suffragettes1 no     
doubt2 but it was also a necessary      
measure of self-preservation1 for       
non-combatants who carry bombs about in 
time of war1 when armed sentries are    
swarming everywhere1 are not likely to  
have much time for hunger-striking4  ,we
 witness another feature of war which   
has a bearing on ,eugenics4 ,it is      
sometimes said that war is necessary for
 the preservation of heroic and virile  
qualities which1 without war and the    
cultivation of military ideals1 would be
 lost to the race1 and that so the race 
would degenerate4 ,to-day ,france1 which
 is the chief seat of anti-,militarism1 
and ,belgium1 a land of peaceful        
industrialism which had no military     
service until a few years ago1 and      
,england1 which has always been content 
to possess a contemptible little army1  

and ,russia whose popular ideals are    
humane and mystical1 have sent to the   
front swarms of professional men and    
clerks and artisans and peasants who had
 never occupied themselves with war at  
all4 ,yet these men have proved as      
heroic and even as skilful in the game  
of war as the men of ,germany1 where war
 is idolised and where the practice of  
military virtues and military exercises 
is regarded as the highest function     
alike of the individual and of the      
,state4 ,we see that we need not any    
longer worry over the possible          
extinction of these heroic qualities4   
,what we may more profitably worry over 
is the question whether there is not    
some higher and nobler way of employing 
them than in the destruction of the     
finest fruits of civilisation and the   
slaughter of those very stocks on which 
,eugenics mainly relies for its         
materials4  ,we can also realise to-day 
that war is not only an opportunity for 
the exercise of virtues4 ,it is also an 

opportunity for the exercise of vices4  
,war is ,hell said ,sherman1 and that is
 the opinion of most great reflective   
soldiers4 ,we see that there is nothing 
too brutal1 too cruel1 too cowardly1 too
 mean1 and too filthy for some1 at all  
events1 of modern civilised troops to   
commit1 whether by1 or against1 the     
orders of their officers4 ,in ,france1 a
 few months before the present ,war1 ,i 
found myself in a railway train at ,laon
 with two or three soldiers2 a young    
woman came to the carriage door1 but1   
seeing the soldiers1 she passed on2 they
 were decent1 well-behaved men1 and one 
of them remarked1 with a smile1 on the  
suspicion which the military costume    
arouses in women4 ,perhaps1 however1 it 
is a suspicion that is firmly based on  
ancient traditions4 ,there is the       
fatally seamy side of be-praised        
,militarism1 and there ,feminism has a  
triumphant argument4  ,in this          
connection ,i may allude in passing to a
 little conflict between ,masculinism   

and ,feminism which has lately taken    
place in ,germany4 ,germany1 as we know1
 is the country where the claims of     
,masculinism are most loudly asserted1  
and those of ,feminism treated with most
 contempt4 ,it is the country where the 
ideals of men and of women are in       
sharpest conflict4 ,there has been a    
great outcry among men in ,germany      
against the treachery and unworthiness  
of ,german women in bestowing chocolates
 and flowers on the prisoners1 as well  
as doing other little services for them4
 ,the attitude towards prisoners        
approved by the men--one trusts it is   
not to be regarded as a characteristic  
outcome of ,masculinism--is that of     
petty insults1 of spiteful cruelty1 and 
mean deprivations4 ,dr4 ,helene ,stcker1
 a prominent leader of the more advanced
 band of ,german ,feminists1 has lately 
published a protest against this        
treatment of enemies who are helpless1  
unarmed1 and often wounded--based1 not  
on sentiment1 but on the highest and    

most rational grounds--which is an      
honour to ,german women and to their    
,feminist leaders4#a  ,taken altogether1
 it seems probable that when this most  
stupendous of wars is ended1 it will be 
felt--not only from the side of         
,feminism1 but even of                  
,masculinism1--that ,war is merely an   
eruption of ancient barbarism which in  
its present virulent forms would not    
have been tolerated even by savages4    
,such methods are hopelessly out of date
 in days when wars may be engineered by 
a small clique of ambitious politicians 
and self-interested capitalists1 while  
whole nations fight1 with or without    
enthusiasm1 merely because they have no 
choice in the matter4 ,all the powers of
 civilisation are working towards the   
elimination of wars4 ,in the future1 it 
seems evident1 militarism will not      
furnish the basis for the masculinistic 
spirit4 ,it must seek other supports4   
,that is what will probably happen4 ,we 
must expect that the increasing power of

 women and of the feminine influence    
will be met by a more emphatic and a    
more rational assertion of the qualities
 of men and the masculine spirit in     
life4 ,it was unjust and unreasonable to
 subject women to conditions that were  
primarily made by men and for men4 ,it  
would be equally unjust and unreasonable
 to expect men to confine their         
activities within limits which are more 
and more becoming adjusted to feminine  
preferences and feminine capacities4 ,we
 are now learning to realise that the   
tertiary physical1 and psychic sexual   
differences--those distinctions which   
are only found on the average1 but on   
the average are constant#b--;are very   
profound and very subtle4 ,a man is a   
man throughout1 a woman is a woman      
throughout1 and that difference is      
manifest in all the energies of body and
 soul4 ,the modern doctrine of the      
internal secretions--the hormones which 
are the intimate stimulants to physical 
and psychic activity in the             

organism--makes clear to us one of the  
deepest and most all-pervading sources  
of this difference between men and      
women4 ,the hormonic balance in men and 
women is unlike2 the generative ferments
 of the ductless glands work to         
different ends4#c ,masculine qualities  
and feminine qualities are fundamentally
 and eternally distinct and             
incommensurate4 ,energy1 struggle1      
daring1 initiative1 originality1 and    
independence1 even though sometimes     
combined with rashness1 extravagance1   
and defect1 seem likely to remain       
qualities in which men--on the average1 
it must be remembered--will be more     
conspicuous than women4 ,their          
manifestation will resist the efforts   
put forth to constrain them by the      
feminising influences of life4  ,such   
considerations have a real bearing on   
the problem of ,eugenics4 ,as ,i view   
that problem1 it is first of all        
concerned1 in part with the acquisition 
of scientific knowledge concerning      

heredity and the influences which affect
 heredity2 in part with the             
establishment of sound ideals of the    
types which the society of the future   
demands for its great tasks2 and in     
part--perhaps even in chief part--with  
the acquisition of a sense of personal  
responsibility4 ,eugenic legislation is 
a secondary matter which cannot come at 
the beginning4 ,it cannot come before   
our knowledge is firmly based and widely
 diffused2 it cannot come until we are  
clear as to the ideals which we wish to 
see embodied in human character and     
human action2 it cannot come until the  
sense of personal responsibility towards
 the race is so widely spread throughout
 the community that its absence is      
universally felt to be either a crime or
 a disease4  ,i fear that point of view 
is not always accepted in ,england and  
still less in ,america4 ,it is widely   
held throughout the world that ,america 
is not only the land of ,feminism1 but  
the land in which laws are passed on    

every possible subject1 and with        
considerable indifference as to whether 
they are carried out1 or even whether   
they could be carried out4 ,this        
tendency is certainly well illustrated  
by eugenic legislation in the ,united   
,states4 ,in the single point of        
sterilisation for eugenic ends--and ,i  
select a point which is admirable in    
itself and for which legislation is     
perhaps desirable--at least twelve      
,states have passed laws4 ,yet most of  
these laws are a dead letter2 every one 
of them is by the best experts          
considered at some point unwise2 and the
 remarkable fact remains that the total 
number of eugenical sterilising         
operations performed in the ,states     
without any law at all is greater than  
the total of those performed under the  
laws4 ,so that the laws really seem to  
have themselves a sterilising effect on 
a most useful eugenic operation4#d  ,i  
refrain from mentioning the muddles and 
undesigned evils produced by other      

legislation of a much less admirable    
nature4#e ,but ,i may perhaps be allowed
 to mention that it has seemed to some  
observers that there is a connection    
between the ,feminism of ,america and   
the ,american mania for hasty laws which
 will not1 and often cannot1 be carried 
out in practice4 ,certainly there is no 
reason to suppose that women are firmly 
antagonistic to such legislation4 ,nice1
 pretty1 virtuous little laws1 complete 
in every detail1 seem to appeal         
irresistibly to the feminine mind4      
7,and1 of course1 many men have feminine
 minds47 ,it is true that such laws are 
only meant for show4 ,but then women are
 so accustomed to things that are only  
meant for show1 and are well aware that 
if one attempted to use such things they
 would fall to pieces at once4  ,however
 that may be1 we shall probably find at 
last that we must fall back on the      
ancient truth that no external          
regulation1 however pretty and          
plausible1 will suffice to lead men and 

women to the goal of any higher social  
end4 ,we must realise that there can be 
no sure guide to fine living save that  
which comes from within1 and is         
supported by the firmly cultivated sense
 of personal responsibility4 ,our prayer
 must still be the simple1 old-fashioned
 prayer of the ,psalmist3 ,create in me 
a clean heart1 ,o ,god--and to ,hell    
with your laws6  ,in other words1 our   
aim must be to evolve a social order in 
which the sense of freedom and the sense
 of responsibility are both carried to  
the highest point1 and that is          
impossible by the aid of measures which 
are only beneficial for the children of 
,perdition4 ,that there are such beings1
 incapable alike either of freedom or of
 responsibility1 we have to recognise4  
,it is our business to care for         
them--until with the help of eugenics we
 can in some degree extinguish their    
stocks--in such refuges and             
reformatories as may be found desirable4
 ,but it is not our business to treat   

the whole world as a refuge and a       
reformatory4 ,that is fatal to human    
freedom and fatal to human              
responsibility4 ,by all means provide   
the halt and the lame with crutches4    
,but do not insist that the sound and   
the robust shall never stir abroad      
without crutches4 ,the result will only 
be that we shall all become more or less
 halt and lame4  ,it is only by such a  
method as this--by segregating the      
hopelessly feeble members of society and
 by allowing the others to take all the 
risks of their freedom and              
responsibility even though we strongly  
disapprove--that we can look for the    
coming of a better world4 ,it is only by
 such a method as this that we can      
afford to give scope to all those       
varying and ever-contradictory          
activities which go to the making of any
 world worth living in4 ,for ,conflict1 
even the conflict of ideals1 is a part  
of all vital progress1 and each party to
 the conflict needs free play if that   

conflict is to yield us any profit4     
,that is why ,masculinists have no right
 to impede the play of ,feminism1 and   
,feminists no right to impede the play  
of ,masculinism4 ,the fundamental       
qualities of ,man1 equally with the     
fundamental qualities of ,woman1 are for
 ever needed in any harmonious          
civilisation4 ,there is a place for     
,masculinism as well as a place for     
,feminism4 ,from the highest standpoint 
there is not really any conflict at all4
 ,they alike serve the large cause of   
,humanity1 which equally includes them  
both4   #a ,wrdelose ,weiber1 ,die ,neue
 ,generation1 ,aug4-,sept41 #aiad4  #b  
,havelock ,ellis1 ,man and ,woman1 fifth
 ed41 #aiad1 p4 #ba4  #c ,the conception
 of sexuality as dependent on the       
combined operation of various internal  
ductless glands1 and not on the sexual  
glands proper alone1 has been especially
 worked out by ,professor ,w4 ,blair    
,bell1 ,the ,sex ,complex1 #aiaf4  #d   
,h4,h4 ,laughlin1 ,the ,legal1          

,legislative1 and ,administrative       
,aspects of ,sterilisation1 ,eugenics   
,record ,office ,bulletin1 ,no4 #a1     
,,ob1 #aiad4  #e ,i have discussed these
 already in a chapter of my book1 ,the  
,task of ,social ,hygiene4     ,,ix     
,,the ,,mental ,,differences ,,of ,,men 
,,and ,,women  ,the ,great ,war1 which  
has changed so many things1 has nowhere 
effected a greater change than in the   
sphere of women's activities4 ,in all   
the belligerent countries women have    
been called upon to undertake work which
 they had never been offered before4    
,europe has thus become a great         
experimental laboratory for testing the 
aptitudes of women4 ,the results of     
these tests1 as they are slowly         
realised1 cannot fail to have permanent 
effects on the sexual division of       
labour4 ,it is still too early to speak 
confidently as to what those effects    
will be4 ,but we may be certain that1   
whatever they are1 they can only spring 
from deep-lying natural distinctions4   

,the differences between the minds of   
men and the minds of women are1 indeed1 
presented to all of us every day4 ,it   
should1 therefore1 we might imagine1 be 
one of the easiest of tasks to ascertain
 what they are4 ,and yet there are few  
matters on which such contradictory and 
often extravagant opinions are          
maintained4 ,for many people the        
question has not arisen2 there are no   
mental differences1 they seem to take   
for granted1 between men and women4 ,for
 others the mental superiority of man at
 every point is an unquestionable       
article of faith1 though they may not   
always go so far as to agree with the   
,german doctor1 ,mobius1 who boldly     
wrote a book on ,the ,physiological     
,weak-mindedness of ,women4 ,for others1
 again1 the predominance of men is an   
accident1 due to the influences of brute
 force2 let the intelligence of women   
have freer play and the world generally 
will be straightened out4  ,in these    
conflicting attitudes we may trace not  

only the confidence we are all apt to   
feel in our intimate knowledge of a     
familiar subject we have never studied1 
but also the inevitable influence of    
sexual bias4 ,of such bias there is more
 than one kind4 ,there is the egoistic  
bias by which we are led to regard our  
own sex as naturally better than any    
other could be1 and there is the        
altruistic bias by which we are led to  
find a charming and mysterious          
superiority in the opposite sex4 ,these 
different kinds of sexual bias act with 
varying force in particular cases2 it is
 usually necessary to allow for them4   
,notwithstanding the fantastic          
divergencies of opinion on this matter1 
it seems not impossible to place the    
question on a fairly sound and rational 
base4 ,in so complex a question there   
must always be room for some variations 
of individual opinion1 for no two       
persons can approach the consideration  
of it with quite the same               
prepossessions1 or with quite the same  

experience4  ,at the outset there is one
 great fundamental fact always to be    
borne in mind3 the difference of the    
sexes in physical organisation4 ,that we
 may term the biological factor in      
determining the sexual mental           
differences4 ,a strong body does not    
involve a strong brain nor a weak body a
 weak brain2 but there is still an      
intimate connection between the         
organisation of the body generally and  
the organisation of the brain1 which may
 be regarded as an executive assemblage 
of delegates from all parts of the body4
 ,fundamental differences in the        
organisation of the body cannot fail to 
involve differences in the nervous      
system generally1 and especially in that
 supreme collection of nervous ganglia  
which we term the brain4 ,in this way   
the special adaptation of woman's body  
to the exercise of maternity1 with the  
presence of special organs and glands   
subservient to that object1 and without 
any important equivalents in man's body1

 cannot fail to affect the brain4 ,we   
now know that the organism is largely   
under the control of a number of        
internal secretions or hormones1 which  
work together harmoniously in normal    
persons1 influencing body and mind1 but 
are liable to disturbance1 and are      
differently balanced and with a         
different action in the two sexes4#a ,it
 is not1 we must remember1 by any means 
altogether the exercise of the maternal 
function which causes the difference2   
the organs and aptitudes are equally    
present even if the function is not     
exercised1 so that a woman cannot make  
herself a man by refraining from        
childbearing4  ,in another way this     
biological factor makes itself felt1 and
 that is in the differences in the      
muscular systems of men and women4      
,these we must also consider            
fundamental4 ,although the extreme      
muscular weakness of average civilised  
women as compared to civilised men is   
certainly artificial and easily possible

 to remove by training1 yet even in     
savages1 among whom the women do most of
 the muscular work1 they seldom equal or
 exceed the men in strength2 any        
superiority1 when it exists1 being      
mainly shown in such passive forms of   
exertion as bearing burdens4 ,in        
civilisation1 even under the influence  
of careful athletic training1 women are 
unable to compete muscularly with men2  
and it is a significant fact that on the
 variety stage there are very few strong
 women4 ,it would seem that the         
difficulty in developing great muscular 
strength in women is connected with the 
special adaptation of woman's form and  
organisation to the maternal function4  
,but whatever the cause may be1 the     
resulting difference is one which has a 
very real bearing on the mental         
distinctions of men and women4 ,it is   
well ascertained that what we call      
mental fatigue expresses itself         
physiologically in the same bodily      
manifestation as muscular fatigue4 ,the 

avocations which we commonly consider   
mental are at the same time muscular2   
and even the sensory organs1 like the   
eye1 are largely muscular4 ,it is       
commonly found in various great business
 departments where men and women may be 
said to work more or less side by side  
that the work of women is less valuable1
 largely because they are not able to   
bear additional strain2 under pressure  
of extra work they give in before men   
do4 ,it is noteworthy that the claims   
for sick benefit made by women under the
 ,national ,insurance ,system in        
,england have proved much greater 7even 
three times greater7 than the actuaries 
anticipated beforehand2 while the ,sick 
,insurance ,societies of ,germany1      
,france1 ,austria1 and ,switzerland also
 report that women are ill oftener and  
for longer periods than men4 ,largely1  
no doubt1 that is due to the special    
strain and the rigid monotony of our    
modern industrial system1 but not       
entirely4 ,nearly two hundred years ago 

7in #agbi7 ,swift wrote of women to     
,bolingbroke3 ,i protest ,i never knew a
 very deserving person of that sex who  
had not too much reason to complain of  
ill-health4 ,the regulations of the     
world have been mainly made by men on   
the instinctive basis of their own      
needs1 and until women have a large part
 in making them on the basis of their   
needs1 women are not likely to be so    
healthy as men4  ,this by no means      
necessarily implies any mental          
inferiority2 it is much more the result 
of muscular inferiority4 ,even in the   
arts muscular qualities count for much  
and are often essential1 since a solid  
muscular system is needed even for very 
delicate actions2 the arts of design    
demand muscular qualities2 to play the  
violin is a muscular strain1 and only a 
robust woman can become a famous singer4
  ,the greater precocity of girls is    
another aspect of the biological factor 
in sexual mental differences4 ,it is a  
psychic as well as a physical fact4     

,this has been shown conclusively by    
careful investigation in many parts of  
the civilised world and notably in      
,america1 where the school system       
renders such sexual comparison easy and 
reliable at all ages4 ,there can now be 
no doubt that a girl at1 let us say1 the
 age of fourteen is on the average      
taller and heavier than a boy at the    
same age1 though the degrees of this    
difference and the precise age at which 
it occurs vary with the individual and  
the race4 ,corresponding to this is a   
mental difference2 in many branches of  
study1 though not all1 the girl of      
fourteen is superior to the boy1        
quicker1 more intelligent1 gifted with a
 better memory4 ,precocity1 however1 is 
a quality of dubious virtue4 ,it is     
frequently found1 indeed1 in men of the 
highest genius2 but1 on the other hand1 
it is found among animals and among     
savages1 and is here of no good augury4 
,many observers of the lower races have 
noted how the child is highly           

intelligent and well disposed1 but seems
 to degenerate as he grows older2 ,in   
the comparison of girls and boys1 both  
as regards physical and mental          
qualities1 it is constantly found that  
while the girls hold their own1 and in  
many respects more than hold their own1 
with boys up to the age of fifteen or   
sixteen1 after that the girls remain    
almost or quite stationary1 while in the
 boys the curve of progress is continued
 without interruption4 ,some people have
 argued1 hypothetically1 that the       
greater precocity of girls is an        
artificial product of civilisation1 due 
to the confined life of girls1 produced1
 as it were1 by the artificial          
overheating of the system in the        
hothouse of the home4 ,this is a        
mistake4 ,the same precocity of girls   
appears to exist even among the         
uncivilised1 and independently of the   
special circumstances of life4 ,it is   
even found among animals also1 and is   
said to be notably obvious in giraffes4 

,it will hardly be argued that the      
female giraffe leads a more confined and
 domestic life than her brother4  ,yet  
another aspect of the biological factor 
is to be found in the bearing of        
heredity on this question4 ,to judge by 
the statements that one sometimes sees1 
men and women might be two distinct     
species1 separately propagated4 ,the    
conviction of some men that women are   
not fitted to exercise various social   
and political duties1 and the conviction
 of some women that men are a morally   
inferior sex1 are both alike absurd1 for
 they both rest on the assumption that  
women do not inherit from their fathers1
 nor men from their mothers4 ,nothing is
 more certain than that--when1 of       
course1 we put aside the sexual         
characters and the special qualities    
associated with those characters--men   
and women1 on the average1 inherit      
equally from both of their parents1     
allowing for the fact that that heredity
 is controlled and modified by the      

special organisation of each sex4 ,there
 are1 indeed1 various laws of heredity  
which qualify this statement1 and       
notably the tendency whereby extremes of
 variation are more common in the male  
sex--so that genius and idiocy are alike
 more prevalent in men4 ,but1 on the    
whole1 there can be no doubt that the   
qualities of a man or of a woman are a  
more or less varied mixture of those of 
both parents2 and1 even when there is no
 blending1 both parents are almost      
equally likely to be influential in     
heredity4 ,the good qualities of the one
 parent will therefore benefit the child
 of the opposite sex1 and the bad       
qualities will equally be transmitted to
 the offspring of opposite sex4  ,there 
is another element in the settlement of 
this question which may also be fairly  
called objective1 and that is the       
historical factor4 ,we are prone to     
believe that the particular status of   
the sexes that prevails among ourselves 
corresponds to a universal and          

unchangeable order of things4 ,in       
reality this is far from being the case4
 ,it may1 indeed1 be truly said that    
there is no kind of social position1 no 
sort of avocation1 public or domestic1  
among ourselves exclusively appertaining
 to one sex1 which has not at some time 
or in some part of the world belonged to
 the opposite sex1 and with the most    
excellent results4 ,we regard it as     
alone right and proper for a man to take
 the initiative in courtship1 yet among 
the ,papuans of ,new ,guinea a man would
 think it indecorous and ridiculous to  
court a girl2 it was the girl's         
privilege to take the initiative in this
 matter1 and she exercised it with      
delicacy and skill and the best moral   
results1 until the shocked missionaries 
upset the native system and             
unintentionally introduced looser ways4 
,there is1 again1 no implement which we 
regard as so peculiarly and exclusively 
feminine as the needle4 ,yet in some    
parts of ,africa a woman never touches a

 needle2 that is man's work1 and a wife 
who can show a neglected rent in her    
petticoat is even considered to have a  
fair claim for a divorce4 ,innumerable  
similar examples appear when we consider
 the human species in time and space4   
,the historical aspect of this matter   
may thus be said in some degree to      
counterbalance the biological aspect4   
,if the fundamental constitution of the 
sexes renders their mental characters   
necessarily different1 the difference is
 still not so pronounced as to prevent  
one sex sometimes playing effectively   
the parts which are generally played by 
the other sex4  ,it is not necessary to 
go outside the white ,european race to  
find evidences of the reality of this   
historical factor of the question before
 us4 ,it would appear that at the dawn  
of ,european civilisation women were    
taking a leading part in the evolution  
of human progress4 ,various survivals   
which are enshrined in the myths and    
legends of classic antiquity show us the

 most ancient deities as goddesses2 and1
 moreover1 we encounter the significant 
fact that at the origin nearly all the  
arts and industries were presided over  
by female1 not by male1 deities4 ,in    
,greece1 as well as in ,asia ,minor1    
,india1 and ,egypt1 as ,paul ,lafargue  
has pointed out1 woman seems to have    
taken divine rank before men2 all the   
first inventions of the more useful arts
 and crafts1 except in metals1 are      
ascribed to goddesses2 the ,muses       
presided over poetry and music long     
before ,apollo2 ,isis was the lady of   
bread1 and ,demeter taught men to sow   
barley and corn instead of eating each  
other4 ,thus even among our own         
forefathers we may catch a glimpse of a 
state of things which1 as various       
anthropologists have shown 7notably     
,otis ,mason in his ,woman's ,share in  
,primitive ,culture71 we may witness in 
the most widely separated parts of the  
world4 ,thus among the ,xosa ,kaffirs1  
as well as other ,a-bantu stocks1       

,fritsch states that the man claims for 
himself war1 hunting1 occupation with   
cattle2 all household cares1 even the   
building of the house1 as well as the   
cultivation of the ground1 are woman's  
affair2 hardly in the most laborious    
work will a man lend a hand4#b ,so that 
when to-day we see women entering the   
most various avocations1 that is not a  
dangerous innovation1 but perhaps merely
 a return to ancient and natural        
conditions4  ,it is not until           
specialisation becomes necessary and    
until men are relieved from the constant
 burden of battle and the chase that the
 frequent superiority of woman is lost4 
,the modern industrial activities are   
dangerous1 when they are dangerous1 not 
because the work is too hard--for the   
work of primitive women is harder--but  
because it is an unnaturally and        
artificially dreary and monotonous work 
which stifles the mind1 depresses the   
spirits1 and injures the body1 so that1 
it is said1 #dj per cent4 of married    

women who have been factory girls are   
treated for pelvic disorders before they
 are thirty4 ,it is the conditions of   
women's work which need changing in     
order that they may become1 like those  
of primitive women1 so various that they
 develop the mind and fortify the body4 
,this1 however1 is an evil which will be
 righted by the development of the      
mechanical side of industry1 for        
machines tend constantly to become      
larger1 heavier1 speedier1 more numerous
 and more automatic1 requiring fewer    
workers to tend them1 and these more    
frequently men4#c  ,it may be added that
 the early predominance of woman in the 
work of civilisation is altogether      
independent of that conception of a     
primitive matriarchate1 or government of
 women1 which was set forth some fifty  
years ago by ,bachofen1 and has since   
caused so much controversy4 ,descent in 
the female line1 not uncommonly found   
among primitive peoples1 undoubtedly    
tended to place women in a position of  

great influence2 but it by no means     
necessarily involved any gynecocracy1 or
 rule of women1 and such rule is merely 
a hypothesis which by some enthusiasts  
has been carried to absurd lengths4  ,we
 see1 therefore1 that when we are       
approaching the question of the mental  
differences of the sexes among ourselves
 to-day1 it is not impossible to find   
certain guiding clues which will save us
 from running into extravagance in      
either direction4  ,without doubt the   
only way in which we can obtain a       
satisfactory answer to the numerous     
problems which meet us when we approach 
the question is by experiment4 ,i have1 
indeed1 insisted on the importance of   
these preliminary biological and        
historical considerations mainly because
 they indicate with what safety and     
freedom from risk we may trust to       
experiment4 ,the sexes are far too      
securely poised by organic constitution 
and ancient tradition for any           
permanently injurious results to occur  

from the attempt to attain a better     
social readjustment in this matter4     
,when the experiment fails1 individuals 
may to some extent suffer1 but social   
equilibrium swiftly and automatically   
rights itself4 ,practically1 however1   
nearly every social experiment of this  
kind means that certain restrictions    
limiting the duties or privileges of    
women are removed1 and when artificial  
coercions are thus taken away it can    
merely happen1 as ,mary ,wollstonecraft 
long ago put it1 that by the common law 
of gravity the sexes fall into their    
proper places4 ,that1 we may be sure1   
will be the final result of the         
interesting experiments for which the   
laboratory to-day is furnished by all   
the belligerent countries4  ,definitely 
formulated statistical data of these    
results are scarcely yet available4 ,but
 we may study the action of this natural
 process on one great practical         
experiment in mental sexual differences 
which has been going on for some time   

past4 ,at one time in the various       
administrations of the ,international   
,postal ,union there was a sudden       
resolve to introduce female labour to a 
very large extent2 it was thought that  
this would be cheaper than male labour  
and equally efficient4 ,there was       
consequently a great outcry at the      
ousting of male labour1 the introduction
 of the thin end of a wedge which would 
break up society4 ,we can now see that  
that outcry was foolish4 ,within recent 
years nearly all the countries which    
previously introduced women freely into 
their postal and telegraph services are 
now doing so only under certain         
conditions1 and some are ceasing to     
admit them at all4 ,this great practical
 experiment1 carried out on an immense  
scale in thirty-five different          
countries1 has1 on the whole1 shown that
 while women are not inferior to men1 at
 all events within the ordinary range of
 work1 the substitution of a female for 
a male staff always means a considerable

 increase of numbers1 that women are    
less rapid than men1 less able to       
undertake the higher grade work1 less   
able to exert authority over others1    
more lacking both in initiative and in  
endurance1 while they require more sick 
leave and lose interest and energy on   
marriage4 ,the advantages of female     
labour are thus to some extent          
neutralised1 and in the opinions of the 
administrations of some countries more  
than neutralised1 by certain            
disadvantages4 ,the general result is   
that men are found more fitted for some 
branches of work and women more fitted  
for other branches2 the result is       
compensation without any tendency for   
one sex to oust the other4  ,it may1    
indeed1 be objected that in practical   
life no perfectly satisfactory          
experiments exist as to the respective  
mental qualities of men and women1 since
 men and women are never found working  
under conditions that are exactly the   
same for both sexes4 ,if1 however1 we   

turn to the psychological laboratory1   
where it is possible to carry on        
experiments under precisely identical   
conditions1 the results are still the   
same4 ,there are nearly always          
differences between men and women1 but  
these differences are complex and       
manifold2 they do not always agree2 they
 never show any general piling up of the
 advantages on the side of one sex or of
 the other4 ,in reaction-time1 in       
delicacy of sensory perception1 in      
accuracy of estimation and precision of 
movement1 there are nearly always sexual
 differences1 a few that are fairly     
constant1 many that differ at different 
ages1 in various countries1 or even in  
different groups of individuals4 ,we    
cannot usually explain these differences
 or attach any precise significance to  
them1 any more than we can say why it is
 that 7at all events in ,america7 blue  
is most often the favourite colour of   
men and red of women4 ,we may be sure   
that these things have a meaning1 and   

often a really fundamental significance1
 but at present1 for the most part1 they
 remain mysterious to us4  ,when we     
attempt to survey and sum up all the    
variegated facts which science and      
practical life are slowly accumulating  
with reference to the mental differences
 between men and women#d we reach two   
main conclusions4 ,on the one hand there
 is a fundamental equality of the sexes4
 ,it would certainly appear that women  
vary within a narrower range than       
men--that is to say1 that the two       
extremes of genius and of idiocy are    
both more likely to show themselves in  
men4 ,this implies that the pioneers in 
progress are most likely to be men4     
,that1 indeed1 may be said to be a      
biological fact4 ,in all that concerns  
the evolution of ornamental characters  
the male leads2 in him we see the trend 
which evolution is taking2 the female   
and young afford us the measure of their
 advance along the new line which has to
 be taken4#e ,in the human sphere of the

 arts and sciences1 similarly1 men1 not 
women1 take the lead4 ,that men were the
 first decorative artists1 rather than  
women1 is indicated by the fact that the
 natural objects designed by early      
pre-historic artists were mainly women  
and wild beasts1 that is to say1 they   
were the work of masculine hunters1     
executed in idle intervals of the chase4
 ,but within the range in which nearly  
all of us move1 there are always many   
men who in mental respects can do what  
most women can do1 many women who can do
 what most men can do4 ,we are not      
justified in excluding a whole sex      
absolutely from any field4 ,in so doing 
we should certainly be depriving the    
world of some portion of its executive  
ability4 ,the sexes may always safely be
 left to find their own levels4  ,on the
 other hand1 the mental diversity of men
 and women is equally fundamental4 ,it  
is rooted in organisation4 ,the         
well-intentioned efforts of many        
pioneers in women's movements to treat  

men and women as identical1 and1 as it  
were1 to force women into masculine     
moulds1 were both mischievous and       
useless4 ,women will always be different
 from men1 mentally as well as          
physically4 ,it is well for both sexes  
that it should be so4 ,it is owing to   
these differences that each sex can     
bring to the world's work various       
aptitudes that the other lacks4 ,it is  
owing to these differences also that men
 and women have their undying charm for 
each other4 ,we cannot change them1 and 
we need not wish to4   #a ,see1 for     
instance1 ,blair ,bell's ,the ,sex      
,complex1 #aiaf1 though the deductions  
drawn in this book must not always be   
accepted without qualifications4  #b ,g4
 ,fritsch1 ,die ,eingeborene            
,sd-,afrikas1 #ahib1 p4 #gi4  #c #a     
,d4,r4 ,malcolm ,keir1 ,women in        
,industry1 ,popular ,science ,monthly1  
,october1 #aiac4  #d ,see1 for many of  
the chief of these1 ,havelock ,ellis1   
,man and ,woman1 #eth ,edition1 #aiad4  

#e ,w4,p4 ,pycraft1 ,the ,courtship of  
,animal1 p4 #i4     ,x   ,,the ,,white  
,,slave ,,crusade  ,during recent years 
we have witnessed a remarkable          
attempt--more popular and more          
international in character than any     
before--to deal with that ancient sexual
 evil which has for some time been      
picturesquely described as the ,white   
,slave ,traffic4 ,less than forty years 
ago ,professor ,sheldon ,amos wrote that
 this subject can scarcely be touched   
upon by journalists1 and can never form 
a topic of common conversation4         
,nowadays ,churches1 societies1         
journalists1 legislators have all joined
 the ranks of the agitators4 ,not only  
has there been no voice on the opposite 
side1 which was scarcely to be          
expected--for there has never been any  
anxiety to cry aloud the defence of     
,white ,slavery from the house-tops--but
 there has been a new and noteworthy    
conquest over indifference and over that
 sacred silence which was supposed to   

encompass all sexual topics with        
suitable darkness4 ,the banishment of   
that silence in the cause of social     
hygiene is1 indeed1 not the least       
significant feature of this agitation4  
,it is inevitable1 however1 that these  
periodical fits of virtuous indignation 
by which ,society is overtaken should   
speedily be spent4 ,the victim of the   
moral fever finds himself exhausted by  
the struggle1 scarcely able to cope with
 the complications of the disease1 and1 
at the best1 only too anxious to forget 
what he has passed through4 ,he has an  
uneasy feeling that in the course of his
 delirium he has said and done many     
foolish things which it would now be    
unpleasant to recall too precisely4     
,there is no use in attempting to       
disguise the fact that this is what     
happened in the ,white ,slave ,traffic  
agitation4 ,it became clear that we had 
been largely misled in regard to the    
evils to be combated1 and that we were  
seduced into sanctioning various        

remedies for these evils which in cold  
blood it is impossible to approve of1   
even if we could believe them to be     
effective4  ,it is not even clear that  
all those who have talked about the     
,white ,slave ,traffic have been quite  
sure what they meant by the term4 ,some 
people1 indeed1 have seemed to think    
that it meant prostitution in general4  
,that is1 of course1 an absurd          
misapprehension4 ,we are concerned with 
a trade which flourishes on             
prostitution1 but that trade is not     
itself the trade or 7as some prefer to  
call it7 the profession of prostitutes4 
,indeed1 the prostitute1 under ordinary 
conditions and unharassed by            
persecution1 is in many respects        
anything but a slave4 ,she is much less 
a slave than the ordinary married woman4
 ,she is not fettered in humble         
dependence on the will of a husband from
 whom it is the most difficult thing in 
the world to escape2 she is bound to no 
man and free to make her own terms in   

life2 while if she should have a child1 
that child is absolutely her own1 and   
she is not liable to have it torn from  
her arms by the hands of the law4 ,apart
 from arbitrary and accidental          
circumstances1 due to the condition of  
social feeling1 the prostitute enjoys a 
position of independence which the      
married woman is still struggling to    
obtain4  ,the ,white ,slave ,traffic1   
therefore1 is not prostitution2 it is   
the commercialised exploitation of      
prostitutes4 ,the independent           
prostitute1 living alone1 scarcely lends
 herself to the ,white ,slave trader4   
,it is on houses of prostitution1 where 
the less independent and usually        
weaker-minded prostitutes are           
segregated1 that the traffic is based4  
,such houses cannot even exist without  
such traffic4 ,there is little          
inducement for a girl to enter such a   
house1 in full knowledge of what it     
involves1 on her own initiative4 ,the   
proprietors of such houses must         

therefore give orders for the goods they
 desire1 and it is the business of      
procurers1 by persuasion1               
misrepresentation1 deceit1 intoxication1
 to supply them4 ,the ,white ,slave     
,traffic1 as ,kneeland states1 is thus  
not only a hideous reality1 but a       
reality almost wholly dependent on the  
existence of houses of prostitution1 and
 as the authors of ,the ,social ,evil   
state1 it is the most shameful species  
of business enterprise in modern        
times4#a  ,in this intimate dependence  
of the ,white ,slave ,traffic on houses 
of prostitution1 there lies1 it may be  
pointed out1 a hope for the future4 ,we 
are concerned1 for the most part1 with  
the more coarse-grained part of the     
masculine population and with the more  
ignorant1 degraded1 and weak-minded part
 of the army of prostitutes4 ,although  
much has been said of the enormous      
extension of the ,white ,slave ,traffic 
during recent years1 it is important to 
remember that that extension is chiefly 

marked in connection with the great new 
centres of population in the younger    
countries4 ,it is fostered by the       
conditions prevailing in crude1         
youthful1 prosperous1 but incompletely  
blended1 communities1 which have too    
swiftly attained luxury1 but have not   
yet attained the more humane and refined
 developments of civilisation1 and among
 whom women are often scarce4#b         
,although there are not yet any very    
clear signs of the decay of prostitution
 in civilisation1 there can hardly be a 
doubt that civilisation is unfavourable 
to houses of prostitution4 ,they offer  
no inducements to the more intelligent  
and independent prostitutes1 and their  
inmates usually present little          
attraction to any men save those whose  
demands are of the humblest character4  
,there is1 therefore1 a tendency to the 
natural and spontaneous decay of        
organised houses of prostitution under  
modern civilised conditions2 the        
prostitute and her clients alike shun   

such houses4 ,along this line we may    
foresee the disappearance of the ,white 
,slave ,traffic1 apart altogether from  
any social or legal attempts at its     
direct suppression4#c  ,it is sometimes 
said that the relation of the isolated  
prostitute to her souteneur constitutes 
a form of white slavery4 ,undoubtedly   
that may sometimes be the case4 ,we are 
here in a confused field where the facts
 are complicated by a number of         
considerations1 and where circumstances 
may very widely differ1 for the fancy   
boy--selected from affection by the     
prostitute herself--may easily become   
the souteneur1 or cadet as he is termed 
in ,new ,york1 who seduces and trains to
 prostitution a large number of girls4  
,the prostitute is so often a little    
weak in character and a little defective
 in intelligence2 she is so often       
regarded as a legitimate prey by the    
world in which she moves1 and a         
legitimate object of contempt and       
oppression by the social world above her

 and its legal officers1 that she easily
 becomes abjectly dependent on the man  
who in some degree protects her from    
this extortion1 contempt1 and           
oppression1 even though he sometimes    
trains her to his own ends and exploits 
her professional activities for his own 
advantage4 ,these circumstances so often
 occur that some investigators consider 
that they represent the general rule4   
,no doubt they are the most conspicuous 
cases4 ,but they can scarcely be        
regarded as representing the normal     
relations of the prostitute to the man  
she is attracted to4 ,she is earning her
 own living1 and if she possesses a     
little modicum of character and         
intelligence1 she knows that she can    
choose her own lover and dismiss him    
when she so pleases4 ,he may beat her   
occasionally1 but all over the world    
this is not always displeasing to the   
primitively feminine woman4 ,it is      
indeed true1 as ,kneeland remarks1 that 
many prostitutes do not believe their   

lovers care for them unless they 'beat  
them up' occasionally4 ,the woman in    
this position is not more of a white    
slave than many wives1 and some         
husbands1 who submit to the whims and   
tyrannies of their conjugal partners1   
with1 indeed1 the additional hardship   
and misfortune that they are legally    
bound to them4 ,and the souteneur1      
although from the respectable point of  
view he has put himself into a low-down 
moral position1 is1 after all1 not so   
very unlike those parasitic wives who1  
on a higher social level1 live lazily on
 their husbands' professional earnings1 
and sometimes give much less than the   
souteneur in return4  ,when1 however1 we
 put aside the complicated question of  
the prostitute's relationship to the man
 who is her lover1 protector1 and bully1
 we have to recognise that there really 
is a ,white ,slave ,traffic1 carried on 
in a ruthlessly business-like manner and
 on an international scale1 with        
watchful agents1 men and women1 ever    

ready to detect and lure the victims4   
,but even this too amply demonstrated   
fact was not found sufficiently highly  
spiced by the ,white ,slave ,traffic    
agitators4 ,it was necessary to excite  
the public mind by sensational          
incidents4 ,everyone was told stories1  
as of incidents that had lately occurred
 in the next street1 of innocent1       
refined1 and well-bred girls who were   
snatched away by infamous brigands      
beneath the eyes of their friends1 to be
 immured in dungeons of vice and never  
more heard of4 ,such incidents1 if they 
ever occurred1 would be too bizarre to  
be justifiably taken into account in    
great social movements4 ,but it is even 
doubtful whether they ever occur4 ,the  
,white ,slave traders are not heroes of 
romance1 even of infamous romance2 less 
so1 indeed1 than many more ordinary     
criminals2 they are engaged in a very   
definite and very profitable business4  
,they have no need to run serious risks4
 ,the world is full of girls who are    

over-worked1 ill-paid1 ignorant1 weak1  
vain1 greedy1 lazy1 or even only        
afflicted with a little innocent love of
 adventure1 and it is among these that  
,white ,slave traders may easily find   
what their business demands1 while      
experience enables them to detect the   
most likely subjects4  ,careful inquiry1
 even among those who have made it their
 special business to collect all the    
evidence that can be brought together to
 prove the infamous character of the    
,white ,slave ,traffic1 has apparently  
failed to furnish any reliable evidence 
of these sensational stories4 ,it is    
easy to find prostitutes who are often  
dissatisfied with the life 7in what     
occupation is it not easy871 but it is  
not easy to find prostitutes who cannot 
escape from that life when they         
sufficiently wish to do so1 and are     
willing to face the difficulty of       
finding some other occupation4 ,the very
 fact that the whole object of their    
exploitation is to bring them in contact

 with men belonging to the outside world
 is itself a guarantee that they are    
kept in touch with that world4 ,mrs4    
,billington-,grieg1 a well-known pioneer
 in social movements1 has carefully     
investigated the alleged cases of       
forcible abduction which were so freely 
talked about when the ,white ,slave     
,bill was passed into law in ,england1  
but even the ,vigilance ,societies      
actively engaged in advocating the bill 
could not enable her to discover a      
single case in which a girl had been    
entrapped against her will4#d ,no other 
result could reasonably have been       
expected4 ,when so many girls are       
willing1 and even eager1 to be          
persuaded1 there is little need for the 
risky adventure of capturing the        
unwilling4 ,the uneasy realisation of   
these facts cannot fail to leave many   
honest ,vice-,crusaders with unpleasant 
memories of their past4  ,it is not only
 in regard to alleged facts1 but also in
 regard to proposed remedies1 that the  

,white ,slave ,agitation may properly be
 criticised4 ,in ,england it            
distinguished itself by the ferocity    
with which the lash was advocated1 and  
finally legalised4 ,benevolent bishops  
joined with genteel old maids in calling
 loudly for whips1 and even in desiring 
to lay them personally on the backs of  
the offenders1 notwithstanding that     
these ,crusaders were nominally         
,christians1 the followers of a ,master 
who conspicuously reserved ,his         
indignation1 not for sinners and        
law-breakers1 but for self-satisfied    
saints and scrupulous law-keepers--just 
the same kind of excellent people1 in   
fact1 who are most prone to become      
,vice-,crusaders4 ,here again1 it is    
probable1 many unpleasant memories have 
been stored up4  ,it is well recognised 
by criminologists that the lash is both 
a barbarous and an ineffective method of
 punishment4 ,the history of            
flagellation1 as ,collas states in his  
great work on this subject1 is the      

history of a moral bankruptcy4#e ,the   
survival of barbarous punishments from  
barbarous days1 when ferocious          
punishments were a matter of course and 
the death penalty was inflicted for     
horse-stealing without in the least     
diminishing that offence1 may be        
intelligible4 ,but the re-enactment of  
such measures in so-called civilised    
days is an everlasting discredit to     
those who advocate it1 and a disgrace to
 the community which permits it4 ,this  
was pointed out at the time by a large  
body of social reformers1 and will no   
doubt be realised at leisure by the     
persons concerned in the agitation4     
,apart altogether from its barbarity1   
the lash is peculiarly unsuited for use 
in the ,white ,slave trade1 because it  
will never descend on the back of the   
real trader4 ,the whip has no terrors   
for those engaged in illegitimate       
financial transactions1 for in such     
transactions the principal can always   
afford to arrange that it shall fall on 

a subordinate who finds it worth while  
to run the risks4 ,this method has long 
been practised by those who exploit     
prostitution for profit4 ,to increase   
the risks merely means that the         
subordinate must be more heavily paid4  
,that means that the whole business must
 be carried on more actively to cover   
the increased risks and expenses4 ,it is
 a very ancient fact that moral         
legislation increases the evil it is    
designed to combat4#f  ,it is necessary 
to point out some of the unhappy        
features of this agitation1 not in order
 to minimise the evils it was directed  
against1 nor to insinuate that they     
cannot be lessened1 but as a warning    
against the reaction which follows such 
ill-considered efforts4 ,the fiery      
zealot in a fury of blind rage strikes  
wildly at the evil he has just          
discovered1 and then flings down his    
weapon1 glad to forget all about his    
momentary rage and the errors it led him
 into4 ,it is not so that ancient evils 

are destroyed1 evils1 it must be        
remembered1 that derive their vitality  
in part from human nature and in part   
from the structure of our society4 ,by  
ensuring that our workers1 and          
especially our women workers1 are       
decently paid1 so that they can live    
comfortably on their wages1 we shall not
 indeed have abolished prostitution1    
which is more than an economic          
phenomenon1#g but we shall more         
effectually check the ,white ,slave     
trader than by the most draconic        
legislation the most imaginative        
,vice-,crusader ever devised4 ,and when 
we ensure that these same workers have  
ample time and opportunity for free and 
joyous recreation1 we shall have done   
more to kill the fascination of the     
,white ,slave ,traffic than by endless  
police regulations for the moral        
supervision of the young4  ,no doubt the
 element of human nature in the         
manifestations we are concerned with    
will still be at work1 an obscure       

instinct often acting differently in    
each sex1 but tending to drive both into
 the same risks4 ,here we need even more
 fundamental social changes4 ,it is     
sheer foolishness to suppose that when  
we raise our little dams in the path of 
a great stream of human impulse that    
stream will forthwith flow calmly back  
to its source4 ,we must make our new    
channels concurrently with our dams4 ,if
 we wish to influence prostitution we   
must re-make our marriage laws and      
modify our whole conception of the      
sexual relationships4 ,in the meanwhile1
 we can at least begin to-day a task of 
education which must slowly though      
surely undermine the ,white ,slave      
trader's stronghold4 ,such an education 
needs to be not merely instruction in   
the facts of sex and wise guidance      
concerning all the dangers and risks of 
the sexual life2 it must also involve a 
training of the will1 a development of  
the sense of responsibility1 such as can
 never be secured by shutting our young 

people up in a hot-house1 sheltered from
 every fortifying breath of the outside 
world4 ,certainly there are many among  
us--and precisely the most hopeless     
persons from our present point of       
view--who can never grow into really    
responsible persons4#h ,neither should  
they ever have been born4 ,it is our    
business to see that they are not born2 
and that1 if they are1 they are at least
 placed under due social guardianship1  
so that we may not be tempted to make   
laws for society in general which are   
only needed by this feeble and infirm   
folk4 ,thus it is that when we seek to  
deal with the ,white ,slave ,trader and 
his victims and his patrons we have to  
realise that they are all very much1 as 
we have made them1 moulded by their     
parents before birth1 nourished on their
 mothers' knees4 ,the task of making    
them over again next time1 and making   
them better1 is a revolutionary task1   
but it begins at home1 and there is no  
home in which some part of the task     

cannot be carried out4  ,it is possible 
that at some period in the world's      
history1 not only will the ,white ,slave
 ,traffic disappear1 but even           
prostitution itself1 and it is for us to
 work towards that day4 ,but we may be  
quite sure that the social state which  
sees the last of the social evil will be
 a social state very unlike ours4   #a  
,the nature of prostitution and of the  
,white ,slave ,traffic and their        
relation to each other may clearly be   
studied in such valuable first-hand     
investigations of the subject as ,the   
,social ,evil3 ,with ,special ,reference
 to ,conditions ,existing in the ,city  
of ,new ,york1 #bnd edition1 edited by  
,e4,r4,a4 ,seligman1 ,putnam's1 #aiab2  
,commercialised ,prostitution in ,new   
,york ,city1 by ,g4,j4 ,kneeland1 ,new  
,york ,century ,co41 #aiac2             
,prostitution in ,europe1 by ,abraham   
,flexner1 ,new ,york ,century ,co41     
#aiad2 ,the ,social ,evil in ,chicago1  
by the ,vice-,commission of ,chicago1   

#aiaa4 ,as regards prostitution in      
,england and its causes ,i should like  
to call attention to an admirable little
 book1 ,downward ,paths1 published by   
,bell  ,sons1 #aiaf4 ,the literature of 
the subject is1 however1 extensive1 and 
a useful bibliography will be found in  
the first-named volume4  #b ,this is    
especially true of many regions in      
,america1 both ,north and ,south1 where 
a hideous mixture of disparate          
nationalities furnishes conditions      
peculiarly favourable to the ,white     
,slave ,traffic1 when prosperity        
increases4 ,see1 for instance1 the      
well-informed and temperately written   
book by ,miss ,jane ,addams1 ,a ,new    
,conscience and an ,ancient ,evil1      
#aiab4  #c ,see ,havelock ,ellis3 ,sex  
in ,relation to ,society 7,studies in   
the ,psychology of ,sex71 ,vol4 ,,vi41  
,ch4 ,,vii4  #d ,the ,white ,slave      
,traffic1 ,english ,review1 ,june1      
#aiac4 ,it is just just the same in     
,america4 ,mr4 ,brand-,whitlock1 when   

,mayor of ,toledo1 thoroughly           
investigated a sensational story of this
 kind brought to him in great detail by 
a social worker and found that it       
possessed not the slightest basis of    
truth4 ,it was1 he remarks in an able   
paper on ,the ,white ,slave 7,forum1    
,feb41 #aiad71 simply another variant of
 the story that had gone the rounds of  
the continents1 a story which had been  
somehow psychologically timed to meet   
the hysteria which the pulpit1 the      
,press1 and the legislature had         
displayed4  #e ,g4,f4 ,collas1          
,geschichte des ,flagellantismus1 #aiac1
 ,vol4 ,i41 p4 #af4  #f ,i have brought 
together some of the evidence on this   
point in the chapter on ,immorality and 
the ,law in my book1 ,the ,task of      
,social ,hygiene4  #g ,the idea is      
cherished by many1 especially among     
socialists1 that prostitution is mainly 
an economic question1 and that to raise 
wages is to dry up the stream of        
prostitution4 ,that is certainly a      

fallacy1 unsupported by careful         
investigators1 though all are agreed    
that the economic condition of the      
wage-earner is one factor in the        
problem4 ,thus ,commissioner ,adelaide  
,cox1 at the head of the ,women's       
,social ,wing of the ,salvation ,army1  
speaking from a very long and extensive 
acquaintance with prostitutes1 while not
 denying that women are often wickedly  
underpaid1 finds that the cause of      
prostitution is essentially a moral one1
 and cannot be successfully fought by   
other than moral weapons4--7,westminster
 ,gazette1 ,dec4 #bnd1 #aiab74 ,in a yet
 wider sense1 it may be said that the   
question of the causes of prostitution  
is essentially social4  #h ,this is a   
very important clue indeed in dealing   
with the problem of prostitution4 ,it is
 the weak-minded1 unintelligent girl1   
,goddard states in his valuable work on 
,feeblemindedness1 who makes the ,white 
,slave ,traffic possible4 ,dr4 ,hickson 
found that over #he per cent4 of the    

women brought before the ,morals ,court 
in ,chicago were distinctly             
feeble-minded1 and ,dr4 ,olga ,bridgeman
 states that among the girls committed  
for sexual delinquency to the ,training 
,school of ,geneva1 ,illinois1 #ig per  
cent4 were feeble-minded by the ,binet  
tests1 and to be regarded as helpless   
victims4 7,walter ,clarke1 ,social      
,hygiene1 ,june1 #aiae1 and ,journal of 
,mental ,science1 ,jan41 #aiaf1 p4      
#bbb47 ,there are fallacies in these    
figures1 but it would appear that about 
half of the prostitutes in institutions 
are to be regarded as mentally          
defective4     ,,xi   ,,the ,,conquest  
,,of ,,venereal ,,disease  ,the final   
,report of the ,royal ,commission on    
,venereal ,diseases has brought to an   
end an important and laborious          
investigation at what many may regard as
 an unfavourable moment4 ,perhaps1      
however1 the moment is not so           
unfavourable as it seems4 ,there is no  
period when venereal diseases flourish  

so exuberantly as in war time1 and we   
shall have a sad harvest to gather here 
when the ,war is over4#a ,moreover1 the 
,war is teaching us to face the real    
facts of life more frankly and more     
courageously than ever before1 and there
 is no field1 scarcely even a           
battlefield1 where a training in        
frankness and courage is so necessary as
 in this of ,venereal ,disease4 ,it is  
difficult even to say that there is any 
larger field1 for it has been found     
possible to doubt whether the great ,war
 of to-day1 when all is summed up1 will 
have produced more death1 disease1 and  
misery than is produced in the ordinary 
course of events1 during a single       
generation1 by venereal disease4  ,there
 are1 as every man and woman ought to   
know1 two main and quite distinct       
diseases 7any other being unimportant7  
poetically termed ,venereal because     
chiefly1 though not by any means only1  
propagated in the intercourse over which
 the ,roman goddess ,venus once         

presided4 ,these two diseases are       
syphilis and gonorrhoea4 ,both these    
diseases are very serious1 often        
terrible1 in their effects on the       
individual attacked1 and both liable to 
be poisonous to the race4 ,there has    
long been a popular notion that1 while  
syphilis is indeed an awful disease1    
gonorrhoea may be accepted with a light 
heart4 ,that1 we now know1 is a grave   
mistake4 ,gonorrhoea may seem trivial at
 the outset1 but its results1 especially
 for a woman and her children 7when it  
allows her to have any71 are anything   
but trivial2 while its greater          
frequency1 and the indifference with    
which it is regarded1 still further     
increase its dangers4  ,about the       
serious nature of syphilis there is no  
doubt4 ,it is a comparatively modern    
disease1 not clearly known in ,europe   
before the discovery of ,america at the 
end of the fifteenth century1 and by    
some authorities#b to-day supposed to   
have been imported from ,america4 ,but  

it soon ravaged the whole of our world1 
and has continued to do so ever since4  
,during recent years it has perhaps     
shown a slight tendency to decrease1    
though nothing to what could be achieved
 by systematic methods2 but its evils   
are still sufficiently alarming4        
,exactly how common it is cannot be     
ascertained with certainty4 ,at least   
#aj per cent41 probably more1 of the    
population in our large cities have been
 infected by syphilis1 some before      
birth4 ,in #aiab for an average strength
 of #abj1jjj men in the ,english ,navy1 
nearly #cjj1jjj days were lost as a     
result of venereal disease1 while among 
#ajj1jjj soldiers in the ,home ,army for
 the same year1 an average of nearly    
#fjj men were constantly sick from the  
same cause4 ,we may estimate from this  
small example how vast must be the total
 loss of working power due to venereal  
disease4 ,moreover1 in ,sir ,william    
,osler's words1 of the killing diseases 
syphilis comes third or fourth4 ,its    

prevalence varies in different regions  
and different social classes4 ,the      
mortality rate from syphilis for males  
above fifteen is highest for unskilled  
labour1 then for the group intermediate 
between unskilled and skilled labour1   
then for the upper and middle class1    
followed by the group intermediate      
between this class and skilled labour1  
while skilled labour1 textile workers1  
and miners follow1 and agricultural     
labourers come out most favourably of   
all4 ,these differences do not represent
 any ascending grade in virtue or sexual
 abstinence1 but are dependent upon     
differences in social condition2 thus   
syphilis is comparatively rare among    
agricultural labourers because they     
associate only with women they know and 
are not exposed to the temptation of    
strange women1 while it is high among   
the upper class because they are shut   
out from sexual intimacy with women of  
their own class and so resort to        
prostitutes4 ,on the whole1 however1 it 

will be seen1 the poison of syphilis is 
fairly diffused among all classes4 ,this
 poison may work through many years or  
even the whole of life1 and its early   
manifestations are the least important4 
,it may begin before birth3 thus1 one   
recent investigation shows that in #aej 
syphilitic families there were only #cij
 seemingly healthy children to #dja     
infant deaths1 stillbirths1 and         
miscarriages 7as against #agb in #ahj   
healthy families71 the great majority of
 these failures being infant deaths and 
thus representing a large amount of     
wasted energy and expense4#c ,syphilis  
is1 again1 the most serious single cause
 of the most severe forms of brain      
disease and insanity1 this often coming 
on many years after the infection1 and  
when the early symptoms were but slight4
 ,blindness and deafness from the       
beginning of life are in a large        
proportion of cases due to syphilis4    
,there is1 indeed1 no organ of the body 
which is not liable to break down1 often

 with fatal results1 through syphilis1  
so that it has been well said that a    
doctor who knows syphilis thoroughly is 
familiar with every branch of his       
profession4  ,gonorrhoea is a still     
commoner disease than syphilis2 how     
common it is very difficult to say4 ,it 
is also an older disease1 for the       
ancient ,egyptians knew it1 and the     
,biblical ,king ,esarhaddon of ,assyria1
 as the records of his court show1 once 
caught it4 ,it seems to some people no  
more serious than a common cold1 yet it 
is able to inflict much prolonged misery
 on its victims1 while on the race its  
influence in the long run is even more  
deadly than that of syphilis1 for       
gonorrhoea is the chief cause of        
sterility in women1 that is to say1 in  
from #cj to #ej per cent4 of such cases1
 while of cases of sterility in men     
7which form a quarter to a third of the 
whole7 gonorrhoea is the cause in from  
#gj to #ij per cent4 ,the inflammation  
of the eyes of the new-born leading to  

blindness is also in #gj per cent4 cases
 due to gonorrhoea in the mother1 and   
this occurs in over six per #a1jjj      
births4  ,three years ago a ,royal      
,commission was appointed to investigate
 the best methods of controlling        
venereal disease1 as small-pox1 typhus1 
and to a large extent typhoid1 have     
already been controlled4 ,the           
,commission was well composed1 not      
merely of officials and doctors1 but of 
experienced men and women in various    
fields1 and the final ,report is signed 
by all the members1 any difference of   
opinion being confined to minor points  
7which it is unnecessary to touch on    
here7 and to two members only4 ,the     
recommendations are conceived in the    
most practical and broad-minded spirit4 
,they are neither faddy nor goody-goody4
 ,some indeed may wish that they had    
gone further4 ,the ,commission leave    
over for later consideration the        
question of notifying venereal disease  
as other infectious diseases are        

notified1 and there is no recommendation
 for the provision of preventive methods
 against infection for use before       
intercourse1 such as are officially     
favoured in ,germany4 ,but at both these
 points the ,commissioners have been    
wise1 for they are points to which      
sections of public opinion are still    
strongly hostile4#d ,as they stand1 the 
recommendations should carry conviction 
to all serious and reasonable persons4  
,already1 indeed1 the ,government1      
without opposition1 has expressed its   
willingness to undertake the financial  
burden which the ,commission would      
impose on it4  ,the main                
,recommendations made by the            
,commission1 if we put aside the        
suggestions for obtaining a more exact  
statistical knowledge1 may be placed    
under the heads of ,treatment and       
,prevention4 ,as regards the first1 it  
is insisted that measures should be     
taken to render the best modern         
treatment1 which should be free to all1 

readily available for the whole         
community1 in such a way that those     
affected will have no hesitation in     
taking advantage of the facilities thus 
offered4 ,the means of treatment should 
be organised by ,county ,councils and   
,boroughs1 under the ,local ,government 
,board1 which should have power to make 
independent arrangements when the local 
authorities fail in their duties4       
,institutional treatment should be      
provided at all general hospitals1      
special arrangements made for the       
treatment of out-patients in the        
evenings1 and no objection offered to   
patients seeking treatment outside their
 own neighbourhoods4 ,the expenditure   
should be assisted by grants from       
,imperial ,funds to the extent of #ge   
per cent4 ,it may be added that1 however
 heavy such expenditure may be1 an      
economy can scarcely fail to be         
effected4 ,the financial cost of        
venereal disease to-day is so vast as to
 be beyond calculation4 ,it enters into 

every field of life4 ,it is enough      
merely to consider the significant      
little fact that the cost of educating a
 deaf child is ten times as great as    
that of educating an ordinary child4    
,under the head of ,prevention we may   
place such a suggestion as that the     
existence of infective venereal disease 
should constitute legal incapacity for  
marriage1 even when unknown1 and be a   
sufficient cause for annulling the      
marriage at the discretion of the court4
 ,but by far the chief importance under 
this head is assigned by the ,commission
 to education and instruction4 ,we see  
here the vindication of those who for   
years have been teaching that the first 
essential in dealing with venereal      
disease is popular enlightenment4 ,there
 must be more careful                   
instruction--through all types and      
grades of education--on the sexual      
relations in regard to conduct1 while   
further instruction should be provided  
in evening continuation schools1 as well

 as factories and works1 with the aid of
 properly constituted voluntary         
associations4  ,these are sound and     
practical recommendations which1 as the 
,government has realised1 can be put in 
action at once4 ,a few years ago any    
attempt to control venereal disease was 
considered by many to be almost impious4
 ,such disease was held to be the just  
visitation of ,god upon sin and to      
interfere would be wicked4 ,we know     
better now4 ,a large proportion of those
 who are most severely struck by        
venereal disease are new-born children  
and trustful wives1 while a simple kiss 
or the use of towels and cups in common 
has constantly served to spread venereal
 disease in a family4 ,even when we turn
 to the commonest method of infection1  
we have still to remember that we are   
dealing largely with inexperienced      
youths1 with loving and trustful girls1 
who have yielded to the deepest and most
 volcanic impulse of their natures1 and 
have not yet learnt that that impulse is

 a thing to be held sacred for their own
 sakes and the sake of the race4 ,in so 
far as there is sin1 it is sin which    
must be shared by those who have failed 
to train and enlighten the young4 ,a    
,pharisaic attitude is not only highly  
mischievous in its results1 but is here 
altogether out of place4 ,much harm has 
been done in the past by the action of  
,benefit ,societies in withholding      
recognition and treatment from venereal 
disease4  ,it is evident that this      
thought was at the back of the minds of 
those who framed these wise             
recommendations4 ,we cannot expect to do
 away all at once with the feeling that 
venereal disease is shameful4 ,it may   
not even be desirable4 ,but we can at   
least make clear that1 in so far as     
there is any shame1 it must be a        
question between the individual and his 
own conscience4 ,from the point of view 
of science1 syphilis and gonorrhoea are 
just diseases1 like cancer and          
consumption1 the only diseases with     

which they can be compared in the       
magnitude and extent of their results1  
and therefore it is best to speak of    
them by their scientific names1 instead 
of trying to invent vague and awkward   
circumlocutions4 ,from the point of view
 of society1 any attitude of shame is   
unfortunate1 because it is absolutely   
essential that these diseases should be 
met in the open and grappled with       
methodically and thoroughly4 ,otherwise1
 as the ,commission recognises1 the     
sufferer is apt to become the prey of   
ignorant quacks whose inefficient       
treatment is largely responsible for the
 development of the latest and worst    
afflictions these diseases produce when 
not effectually nipped in the bud4 ,that
 they can be thus cut short--far more   
easily than consumption1 to say nothing 
of cancer--is the fact which makes it   
possible to hope for a conquest over    
venereal disease4 ,it is a conquest that
 would make the whole world more        
beautiful and deliver love from its     

ugliest shadow4 ,but the victory cannot 
be won by science alone1 not even in    
alliance with officialdom4 ,it can only 
be won through the enlightened          
co-operation of the whole nation4   #a  
,the increase of venereal disease during
 the ,great ,war has been noted alike in
 ,germany1 ,france1 and ,england4 ,thus1
 as regards ,france1 ,gaucher has stated
 at the ,paris ,academy of ,medicine    
7,journal de ,medicine1 ,may #ajth1     
#aiaf7 that since mobilisation syphilis 
had increased by nearly one half1 alike 
among soldiers and civilians2 it had    
much increased in quite young people and
 in elderly men4 ,in ,germany1 ,neisser1
 a leading authority1 states 7,deutsche 
,medizinische ,wochenschrift1 #adth     
,jan41 #aiae7 that the prevalence of    
venereal disease is much greater than in
 the war of #ahgj1 and that every day   
many thousands1 not to say tens of      
thousands1 of otherwise able-bodied men 
are withdrawn from the service on this  
account4  #b ,the chief is ,iwan ,bloch 

who1 in his elaborate work1 ,der        
,ursprung der ,syphilis 7#b vols41      
#aija1 #aiaa71 has fully investigated   
the evidence4  #c ,n4 ,bishop ,harman1  
,the ,influence of ,syphilis on the     
,chances of ,progeny1 ,british ,medical 
,journal1 ,feb4 #eth1 #aiaf4  #d ,it is 
true that in my book1 ,sex in ,relation 
to ,society 7,ch4 ,,viii47 ,i have      
stated my belief that notification1 as  
in the case of other serious infectious 
diseases1 is the first step in the      
conquest of venereal disease4 ,i still  
think it ought to be so4 ,but a yet more
 preliminary step is popular            
enlightenment as to the need for such   
notification4 ,the recommendations seem 
to me to go as far as it is possible to 
go at the moment in ,english-speaking   
countries without producing friction and
 opposition4 ,in so far as they are     
carried out the recommendations will    
ensure the necessary popular            
enlightenment4     ,,xii   ,,the        
,,nationalisation ,,of ,,health  ,it was

 inevitable that we should some day have
 to face the problem of medical         
reorganisation on a social basis4 ,along
 many lines social progress has led to  
the initiation of movements for the     
improvement of public health4 ,but they 
are still incomplete and imperfectly    
co-ordinated4 ,we have never realised   
that the great questions of health      
cannot safely be left to municipal      
tinkering and the patronage of          
,bumbledom4 ,the result is chaos and a  
terrible waste1 not only of what we call
 hard cash1 but also of sensitive flesh 
and blood4 ,health1 there cannot be the 
slightest doubt1 is a vastly more       
fundamental and important matter than   
education1 to say nothing of such minor 
matters as the post office or the       
telephone system4 ,yet we have          
nationalised these before even giving a 
thought to the ,nationalisation of      
,health4  ,at the present day medicine  
is mainly in the hands1 as it was two   
thousand years ago1 of the private      

practitioner4 ,his mental status has1   
indeed1 changed4 ,to-day he is submitted
 to a long and arduous training in      
magnificently equipped institutions2 all
 the laboriously acquired processes and 
results of modern medicine and hygiene  
are brought within the student's reach4 
,and when he leaves the hospital1 often 
with the largest and noblest conception 
of the physician's place in life1 what  
do we do with him8 ,he becomes a private
 practitioner1 which means1 as ,duclaux1
 the late distinguished ,director of the
 ,pasteur ,institute1 put it1 that we   
place him on the level of a retail      
grocer who must patiently stand behind  
his counter 7without the privilege of   
advertising himself7 until the public   
are pleased to come and buy advice or   
drugs which are usually applied for too 
late to be of much use1 and may be      
thrown away at the buyer's good         
pleasure1 without the possibility of any
 protest by the seller4 ,it is little   
wonder that in many cases the doctor's  

work and aims suffer under such         
conditions2 his nature is subdued to    
what it works in2 he clings convulsively
 to his counter and its retail methods4 
,the fact is--and it is a fact that is  
slowly becoming apparent to all--that   
the private practice of medicine is out 
of date4 ,it fails to answer the needs  
of our time4 ,there are various reasons 
why this should be the case1 but two are
 fundamental4 ,in the first place1      
medicine has outgrown the capacity of   
any individual doctor2 the only adequate
 private practitioner must have a sound 
general knowledge of medicine with an   
expert knowledge of a dozen specialties2
 that is to say1 he must give place to a
 staff of doctors acting co-ordinately1 
for the present system1 or lack of      
system1 by which a patient wanders at   
random from private practitioner to     
specialist1 from specialist to          
specialist ad infinitum1 is altogether  
mischievous4 ,moreover1 not only is it  
impossible for the private practitioner 

to possess the knowledge required to    
treat his patients adequately3 he cannot
 possess the scientific mechanical      
equipment nowadays required alike for   
diagnosis and treatment1 and every day  
becoming more elaborate1 more expensive1
 more difficult to manipulate4 ,it is   
installed in our great hospitals for the
 benefit of the poorest patient2 it     
could1 perhaps1 be set up in a          
millionaire's palace1 but it is         
hopelessly beyond the private           
practitioner1 though without it his work
 must remain unsatisfactory and         
inadequate4#a ,in the second place1 the 
whole direction of modern medicine is   
being changed and to an end away from   
private practice2 our thoughts are not  
now mainly bent on the cure of disease  
but on its prevention4 ,medicine is     
becoming more and more transformed into 
hygiene1 and in this transformation1    
though the tasks presented are larger   
and more systematic1 they are also      
easier and more economical4 ,these two  

fundamental tendencies of modern        
medicine--greater complexity of its     
methods and the predominantly preventive
 character of its aims--alone suffice to
 render the position of the private     
practitioner untenable4 ,he cannot cope 
with the complexity of modern medicine2 
he has no authority to enforce its      
hygiene4  ,the medical system of the    
future must be a national system        
co-ordinating all the conditions of     
health4 ,at the centre we should expect 
to find a ,minister of ,health1 and     
every doctor of the ,state would give   
his whole time to his work and be paid  
by salary which in the case of the      
higher posts would be equal to that now 
fixed for the higher legal offices1 for 
the chief doctor in the ,state ought to 
be at least as important an official as 
the ,lord ,chancellor4 ,hospitals and   
infirmaries would be alike nationalised1
 and1 in place of the present antagonism
 between hospitals and the bulk of the  
medical profession1 every doctor would  

be in touch with a hospital1 thus having
 behind him a fully equipped and staffed
 institution for all purposes of        
diagnosis1 consultation1 treatment1 and 
research1 also serving for a centre of  
notification1 registration1 preventive  
and hygienic measures4 ,in every        
district the citizen would have a       
certain amount of choice as regards the 
medical man to whom he may go for       
advice1 but no one would be allowed to  
escape the medical supervision and      
registration of his district1 for it is 
essential that the central ,health      
,authority of every district should know
 the health conditions of all the       
inhabitants of the district4 ,only by   
some such organised and co-ordinated    
system as this can the primary          
conditions of ,health1 and preventive   
measures against disease1 be genuinely  
socialised4  ,these views were put      
forward by the present writer twenty    
years ago in a little book on ,the      
,nationalisation of ,health1 which1     

though it met with wide approval1 was   
probably regarded by most people as     
,utopian4 ,since then the times have    
moved1 a new generation has sprung up1  
and ideas which1 twenty years ago1 were 
brooded over by isolated thinkers are   
now seen to be in the direct line of    
progress2 they have become the property 
of parties and matters of active        
propaganda4 ,even before the            
introduction of ,state ,insurance       
,professor ,benjamin ,moore1 in his able
 book1 ,the ,dawn of the ,health ,age1  
anticipating the actual march of events1
 formulated a ,state ,insurance ,scheme 
which would lead on1 as he pointed out1 
to a genuinely ,national ,medical       
,service1 and later1 ,dr4 ,macilwaine1  
in a little book entitled ,medical      
,revolution1 again advocated the same   
changes3 the establishment of a         
,ministry of ,health1 a medical service 
on a preventive basis1 and the reform of
 the hospitals which must constitute the
 nucleus of such a service4 ,it may be  

said that for medical men no longer     
engaged in private practice it is easy  
to view the disappearance of private    
practice with serenity2 but it must be  
added that it is precisely that         
disinterested serenity which makes      
possible also a clear insight into the  
problems and a wider view of the new    
horizons of medicine4 ,thus it is that  
to-day the dreamers of yesterday are    
justified4  ,the great scheme of ,state 
,insurance was certainly an important   
step towards the socialisation of       
medicine4 ,it came short1 indeed1 of the
 complete ,nationalisation of ,health as
 an affair of ,state4 ,but that could   
not possibly be introduced at one move4 
,apart even from the difficulty of      
complete reorganisation1 the two great  
vested interests of private medical     
practice on the one hand and ,friendly  
,societies on the other would stand in  
the way4 ,a complicated transitional    
period is necessary1 during which those 
two interests are conciliated and       

gradually absorbed4 ,it is this         
transitional period which ,state        
,insurance has inaugurated4 ,to compare 
small things to great--as we may1 for   
the same laws run all through ,nature   
and ,society--this scheme corresponds to
 the ancient ,ptolomaean system of      
astronomy1 with its painfully elaborate 
epicycles1 which preceded and led on to 
the sublime simplicity of the           
,copernican system4 ,we need not        
anticipate that the transitional stage  
of national insurance will endure as    
long as the ancient astronomy4          
,professor ,moore estimated that it     
would lead to a completely national     
medical service in twenty-five years1   
and since the introduction of that      
method he has1 too optimistically1      
reduced the period to ten years4 ,we    
cannot reach simplicity at a bound2 we  
must first attempt to systematise the   
recognised and established activities   
and adjust them harmoniously4  ,the     
organised refusal of the medical        

profession at the outset to carry on1   
under the conditions offered1 the part  
assigned to it in the great ,national   
,insurance scheme opened out prospects  
not clearly realised by the organisers4 
,no doubt its immediate aspects were    
unfortunate4 ,it not only threatened to 
impede the working of a very complex    
machine1 but it dismayed many who were  
not prepared to see doctors apparently  
taking up the position of the           
syndicalists1 and arguing that a        
profession which is essential to the    
national welfare need not be carried out
 on national lines1 but can be run      
exclusively by itself in its own        
interests4 ,such an attitude1 however1  
usefully served to make clear how       
necessary it is becoming that the       
extension of medicine and hygiene in the
 national life should be accompanied by 
a corresponding extension in the        
national government4 ,if we had had a   
,council of ,national ,health1 as well  
as of ,national ,defence1 or a ,board of

 ,health as well as a ,board of ,trade1 
a ,minister of ,health with a seat in   
the ,cabinet1 any scheme of ,insurance  
would have been framed from the outset  
in close consultation with the          
profession which would have the duty of 
carrying it out4 ,no subsequent friction
 would have been possible4  ,had the    
,insurance scheme been so framed1 it is 
perhaps doubtful whether it would have  
been so largely based on the old        
contract system4 ,club medical practice 
has long been in discredit1 alike from  
the point of view of patient and doctor4
 ,it furnishes the least satisfactory   
form of medical relief for the patient1 
less adequate than that he could obtain 
either as a private patient or as a     
hospital patient4 ,the doctor1 on his   
side1 though he may find it a very      
welcome addition to his income1 regards 
,club practice as semi-charitable1 and1 
moreover1 a form of charity in which he 
is often imposed on2 he seldom views his
 club patients with much satisfaction1  

and unless he is a self-sacrificing     
enthusiast1 it is not to them that his  
best attention1 his best time1 his most 
expensive drugs1 are devoted4 ,to       
perpetuate and enlarge the club system  
of practice and to glorify it by        
affixing to it a national seal of       
approval1 was1 therefore1 a somewhat    
risky experiment1 not wisely to be      
attempted without careful consultation  
with those most concerned4  ,another    
point might then also have become clear3
 the whole tendency of medicine is      
towards a recognition of the            
predominance of ,hygiene4 ,the modern   
aim is to prevent disease4 ,the whole   
national system of medicine is being    
slowly though steadily built up in      
recognition of the great fact that the  
interests of ,health come before the    
interests of ,disease4 ,it has been an  
unfortunate flaw in the magnificent     
scheme of ,insurance that this vital    
fact was not allowed for1 that the      
old-fashioned notion that treatment     

rather than prevention is the object of 
medicine was still perpetuated1 and that
 nothing was done to co-ordinate the    
,insurance scheme with the existing     
,health ,services4  ,it seems probable  
that in a ,service of ,state medical    
officers the solution may ultimately be 
found4 ,such a solution would1 indeed1  
immensely increase the value of the     
,insurance scheme1 and1 in the end1     
confer far greater benefits than at     
present on the millions of people who   
would come under its operation4 ,for    
there can be no doubt the ,club system  
is not only unscientific2 it is also    
undemocratic4 ,it perpetuates what was  
originally a semi-charitable and        
second-rate method of treatment of the  
poorer classes4 ,a ,state medical       
officer1 devoting his whole time and    
attention to his ,state patients1 has no
 occasion to make invidious distinctions
 between public and private patients4   
,a further advantage of a ,state        
,medical ,service is that it will       

facilitate the inevitable task of       
nationalising the hospitals1 whether    
charitable or ,poor-law4 ,the ,insurance
 ,act1 as it stands1 opens no definite  
path in this direction4 ,but nowadays1  
so vast and complicated has medicine    
become1 even the most skilful doctor    
cannot adequately treat his patient     
unless he has a great hospital at his   
back1 with a vast army of specialists   
and research-workers1 and a manifold    
instrumental instalment4  ,a third1 and 
even more fundamental1 advantage of a   
,state ,medical ,service is that it     
would help to bring ,treatment into     
touch with ,prevention4 ,the private    
practitioner1 as such1 inside or outside
 the ,insurance scheme1 cannot          
conveniently go behind his patient's    
illness4 ,but the ,state doctor would be
 entitled to ask3 ,why has this man     
broken down8 ,the ,state's guardianship 
of the health of its citizens now begins
 at birth 7is tending to be carried back
 before birth7 and covers the school    

life4 ,if a man falls ill1 it is1       
nowadays1 legitimate to inquire where   
the responsibility lies4 ,it is all very
 well to patch up the diseased man with 
drugs or what not4 ,but at best that is 
a makeshift method4 ,the ,consumptive   
,sanatoriums have aroused enthusiasm1   
and they also are all very well4 ,but   
the ,charity ,organisation ,society has 
shown that only about #ej per cent4 of  
those who pass through such institutions
 become fit for work4 ,it is not more   
treatment of disease that we want1 it is
 less need for treatment4 ,and a ,state 
,medical ,service is the only method by 
which ,medicine can be brought into     
close touch with ,hygiene4  ,the present
 attitude of the medical profession     
sometimes strikes people as narrow1     
unpatriotic1 and merely self-interested4
 ,but the ,insurance ,act has brought a 
powerful ferment of intellectual        
activity into the medical profession    
which in the end will work to finer     
issues4 ,a significant sign of the times

 is the establishment of the ,state     
,medical ,service ,association1 having  
for its aim the organisation of the     
medical profession as a ,state ,service1
 the nationalisation of hospitals1 and  
the unification of preventive and       
curative medicine4 ,to many in the      
medical profession such schemes still   
seem ,utopian2 they are blind to a      
process which has been in ever          
increasing action for more than half a  
century and which they are themselves   
taking part in every day4   #a ,the     
result sometimes is that the ambitious  
doctor seeks to become a specialist in  
at least one subject1 and instals a     
single expensive method of treatment to 
which he enthusiastically subjects all  
his patients4 ,this would be comic if it
 were not sometimes rather tragic4      
,,xiii   ,,eugenics ,,and ,,genius  ,the
 cry is often heard to-day from those   
who watch with disapproval the efforts  
made to discourage the reckless         
procreation of the degenerate and the   

unfit3 ,you are stamping out the germs  
of genius6 ,it is widely held that      
genius is a kind of flower1 unknown to  
the horticulturist1 which only springs  
from diseased roots2 make the plant     
healthily sound and your hope of        
blossoms is gone1 you will see nothing  
but leaves4 ,or1 according to the       
happier metaphor of ,lombroso1 the work 
of genius is an exquisite pearl1 and    
pearls are the product of an obscure    
disease4 ,to the medical mind1          
especially1 it has sometimes been1      
naturally and properly no doubt1 a      
source of satisfaction to imagine that  
the loveliest creations of human        
intellect may perhaps be employed to    
shed radiance on the shelves of the     
pathological museum4 ,thus we find      
eminent physicians warning us against   
any effort to decrease the vigour of    
pathological processes1 and influential 
medical journals making solemn          
statements in the same sense4 ,already1 
,i read in a recent able and interesting

 editorial article in the ,british      
,medical ,journal1 eugenists in their   
kind enthusiasm are threatening to stamp
 out the germs of possible genius4  ,now
 it is quite easy to maintain that the  
health1 happiness1 and sanity of the    
whole community are more precious even  
than genius4 ,it is so easy1 indeed1    
that if the question of eugenics were   
submitted to the ,referendum on this    
sole ground there can be little doubt   
what the result would be4 ,there are not
 many people1 even in the most highly   
educated communities1 who value the     
possibility of a new poem1 symphony1 or 
mathematical law so highly that they    
would sacrifice their own health1       
happiness1 and sanity to retain that    
possibility for their offspring4 ,of    
course we may declare that a majority   
which made such a decision must be      
composed of very low-minded uncultured  
people1 altogether lacking in           
appreciation of pathology1 and          
reflecting no credit on the eugenic     

cause they supported2 but there can be  
little doubt that we should have to     
admit their existence4  ,we need not    
hasten1 however1 to place the question  
on this ground4 ,it is first necessary  
to ascertain what reason there is to    
suppose that a regard for eugenic       
considerations in mating would tend to  
stamp out the germs of genius4 ,is there
 any reason at all8 ,that is the        
question ,i am here concerned with4     
,the anti-eugenic argument on this      
point1 whenever any argument is brought 
forward1 consists in pointing to all    
sorts of men of genius and of talent    
who1 it is alleged1 were poor citizens1 
physical degenerates the prey of all    
manner of constitutional diseases1      
sometimes candidates for the lunatic    
asylum which they occasionally reached4 
,the miscellaneous data which may thus  
be piled up are seldom critically       
sifted1 and often very questionable1 for
 it is difficult enough to obtain any   
positive biological knowledge concerning

 great men who died yesterday1 and      
practically impossible in most cases to 
reach an unquestionable conclusion as   
regards those who died a century or more
 ago4 ,many of the most positive        
statements commonly made concerning the 
diseases even of modern genius are      
without any sure basis4 ,the case of    
,nietzsche1 who was seen by some of the 
chief specialists of the day1 is still  
really quite obscure4 ,so is that of    
,guy de ,maupassant4 ,rousseau wrote the
 fullest and frankest account of his    
ailments1 and the doctors made a        
post-mortem examination4 ,yet nearly all
 the medical experts--and they are      
many--who have investigated ,rousseau's 
case reach different conclusions4 ,it   
would be easy to multiply indefinitely  
the instances of great men of the past  
concerning whose condition of health or 
disease we are in hopeless perplexity4  
,this fact is1 however1 one that1 as an 
argument1 works both ways1 and the      
important point is to make clear that it

 cannot concern us4 ,no eugenic         
considerations can annihilate the man of
 genius when he is once born and bred4  
,if eugenics is to stamp out the man of 
genius it must do so before he is born1 
by acting on his parents4  ,nor is it   
possible to assume that if the man of   
genius1 apart from his genius1 is an    
unfit person to procreate the race1     
therefore his parents1 not possessing   
any genius1 were likewise unfit to      
propagate4 ,it is easy to find persons  
of high ability who in other respects   
are unfit for the ends of life1         
ill-balanced in mental or physical      
development1 neurasthenic1              
valetudinarian1 the victims in varying  
degrees of all sorts of diseases4 ,yet  
their parents1 without any high ability1
 were1 to all appearance1 robust1       
healthy1 hard-working1 commonplace      
people who would easily pass any        
ordinary eugenic tests4 ,we know nothing
 as to the action of two seemingly      
ordinary persons on each other in       

constituting heredity1 how hypertrophied
 intellectual aptitude comes about1 what
 accidents1 normal or pathological1 may 
occur to the germ before birth1 nor even
 how strenuous intellectual activity may
 affect the organism generally4 ,we     
cannot argue that since these persons1  
apart from their genius1 were not       
seemingly the best people to carry on   
the race1 therefore a like judgment     
should be passed on their parents and   
the germs of genius thus be stamped out4
  ,we only arrive at the crucial        
question when we ask3 ,have the         
characters of the parents of men of     
genius been of such an obviously        
unfavourable kind that eugenically they 
would nowadays be dissuaded from        
propagation1 or under a severe rgime of 
compulsory certificates 7the            
desirability of which ,i am far indeed  
from assuming7 be forbidden to marry8   
,have the parents of genius belonged to 
the unfit8 ,that is a question which    
must be answered in the affirmative if  

this objection to eugenics has any      
weight4 ,yet so far as ,i know1 none of 
those who have brought forward the      
objection have supported it by any      
evidence of the kind whatever4 ,thirty  
years ago ,dr4 ,maudsley dogmatically   
wrote3 ,there is hardly ever a man of   
genius who has not insanity or nervous  
disorder of some form in his family4    
,but he never brought forward any       
evidence in support of that             
pronouncement4 ,nor has anyone else1 if 
we put aside the efforts of more or less
 competent writers--like ,lombroso in   
his ,man of ,genius and ,nisbet in his  
,insanity of ,genius--to rake in        
statements from all quarters regarding  
the morbidities of genius1 often without
 any attempt to authenticate1 criticise1
 or sift them1 and never with any effort
 to place them in due perspective4#a    
,it so happens that1 some years ago1    
with no relation to eugenic             
considerations1 ,i devoted a            
considerable amount of attention to the 

biological characters of ,british men of
 genius1 considered1 so far as possible1
 on an objective and impartial basis4#b 
,the selection1 that is to say1 was     
made1 so far as possible1 without regard
 to personal predilections1 in          
accordance with certain rules1 from the 
,dictionary of ,national ,biography4 ,in
 this way one thousand and thirty names 
were obtained of men and women who      
represent the flower of ,british genius 
during historical times1 only excluding 
those persons who were alive at the end 
of the last century4 ,what proportion of
 these were the offspring of parents who
 were insane or mentally defective to a 
serious extent8  ,if the view of        
,maudsley--that there is hardly ever a  
man of genius who is not the product of 
an insane or nervously-disordered       
stock--had a basis of truth1 we should  
expect that in one or other parents of  
the man of genius actual insanity had   
occurred in a very large proportion of  
cases2 #be per cent4 would be a moderate

 estimate4 ,but what do we find8 ,in not
 #a per cent4 can definite insanity be  
traced among the parents of ,british men
 and women of genius4 ,no doubt this    
result is below the truth2 the insanity 
of the parents must sometimes have      
escaped the biographer's notice4 ,but   
even if we double the percentage to     
escape this source of error1 the        
proportion still remains insignificant4 
,there is more to be said4 ,if the      
insanity of the parent occurred early in
 life1 we should expect it to attract   
attention more easily than if it        
occurred late in life4 ,those parents of
 men of genius falling into insanity    
late in life1 the critic may argue1     
escape notice4 ,but it is precisely to  
this group to which all the             
ascertainably insane parents of ,british
 men of genius belong4 ,there is not a  
single recorded instance1 so far as ,i  
have been able to ascertain1 in which   
the parent had been definitely and      
recognisably insane before the birth of 

the distinguished child2 so that any    
prohibition of the marriage of persons  
who had previously been insane would    
have left ,british genius untouched4 ,in
 all cases the insanity came on late in 
life1 and it was usually1 without doubt1
 of the kind known as senile dementia4  
,this was so in the case of the mother  
of ,bacon1 the most distinguished person
 in the list of those with an insane    
parent4 ,charles ,lamb's father1 we are 
told1 eventually became imbecile4       
,turner's mother became insane4 ,the    
same is recorded of ,archbishop         
,tillotson's mother and of ,archbishop  
,leighton's father4 ,this brief list    
includes all the parents of ,british men
 of genius who are recorded 7and not    
then always very definitely7 as having  
finally died insane4 ,in the description
 given of others of the parents of our  
men of genius it is not1 however1       
difficult to detect that1 though they   
were not recognised as insane1 their    
mental condition was so highly abnormal 

as to be not far removed from insanity4 
,this was the case with ,gray's father  
and with the mothers of ,arthur ,young  
and ,andrew ,bell4 ,even when we allow  
for all the doubtful cases1 the         
proportion of persons of genius with an 
insane parent remains very low1 less    
than #b per cent4  ,senile dementia1    
though it is one of the least important 
and significant of the forms of         
insanity1 and is entirely compatible    
with a long and useful life1 must not1  
however1 be regarded1 when present in a 
marked degree1 as the mere result of old
 age4 ,entirely normal people of sound  
heredity do not tend to manifest signs  
of pronounced mental weakness or        
abnormality even in extreme old age4 ,we
 are justified in suspecting a neurotic 
strain1 though it may not be of severe  
degree4 ,this is1 indeed1 illustrated by
 our records of ,british genius4 ,some  
of the eminent men of genius on my list 
7at least twelve7 suffered before death 
from insanity which may probably be     

described as senile dementia4 ,but      
several of these were somewhat abnormal 
during earlier life 7like ,swift7 or had
 a child who became insane 7like ,bishop
 ,marsh74 ,in these and in other cases  
there has doubtless been some hereditary
 neurotic strain4  ,it is clearly1      
however1 not due to any intensity of    
this strain that we find the incidence  
of insanity in men of genius1 as        
illustrated1 for example1 by senile     
dementia1 so much more marked than its  
incidence on their parents4 ,there is   
another factor to be invoked here3      
convergent morbid heredity4 ,if a man   
and a woman1 each with a slight tendency
 to nervous abnormality1 marry each     
other1 there is a much greater chance of
 the offspring manifesting a severe     
degree of nervous abnormality than if   
they had married entirely sound         
partners4 ,now both among normal and    
abnormal people there is a tendency for 
like to mate with like4 ,the attraction 
of the unlike for each other1 which was 

once supposed to prevail1 is not        
predominant1 except within the sphere of
 the secondary sexual characters1 where 
it clearly prevails1 so that the        
ultra-masculine man is attracted to the 
ultra-feminine woman1 and the feminine  
man to the boyish or mannish woman4     
,apart from this1 people tend to marry  
those who are both psychically and      
physically of the same type as          
themselves4 ,it thus happens that       
nervously abnormal people become mated  
to the nervously abnormal4 ,this is well
 illustrated by the ,british men of     
genius themselves4 ,although insanity is
 more prevalent among them than among   
their parents1 the same can scarcely be 
said of them in regard to their wives4  
,it is notable that the insane wives of 
these men of genius are almost as       
numerous as the insane men of genius1   
though it rarely happens 7as in the case
 of ,southey7 that both husband and wife
 go out of their minds4 ,but in all     
these cases there has probably been a   

mutual attraction of mentally abnormal  
people4  ,it is to this tendency in the 
parents of men of genius1 leading to a  
convergent heredity1 that we must       
probably attribute the undue tendency of
 the men of genius themselves to        
manifest insanity4 ,each of the parents 
separately may have displayed but a     
minor degree of neuropathic abnormality1
 but the two strains were fortified by  
union and the tendency to insanity      
became more manifest4 ,this was1 for    
instance1 the case as regards ,charles  
,lamb4 ,the nervous abnormality of the  
parents in this case was less profound  
than that of the children1 but it was   
present in both4 ,under such            
circumstances what is called the law of 
anticipation comes into play2 the       
neurotic tendency of the parents1       
increased by union1 is also antedated1  
so that definite insanity occurs earlier
 in the life of the child than1 if it   
had appeared at all1 it occurred in the 
life of the parent4 ,lamb's father only 

became weak-minded in old age1 but since
 the mother also had a mentally abnormal
 strain1 ,lamb himself had an attack of 
insanity early in life1 and his sister  
was liable to recurrent insanity during 
a great part of her life4               
,notwithstanding1 however1 the influence
 of this convergent heredity1 it is     
found that the total insanity of        
,british men and women of genius is not 
more1 so far as can be ascertained--even
 when slight and dubious cases are      
included--than #d4b per cent4 ,that     
ascertainable proportion must be        
somewhat below the real proportion1 but 
in any case it scarcely suggests that   
insanity is an essential factor of      
genius4  ,let us1 however1 go beyond the
 limits of ,british genius1 and consider
 the evidence more freely4 ,there is1   
for instance1 ,tasso1 who was           
undoubtedly insane for a good part of   
his life1 and has been much studied by  
the pathologists4 ,de-,gaudenzi1 who has
 written one of the best                

psychopathological studies of ,tasso1   
shows clearly that his father1          
,bernardo1 was a man of high            
intelligence1 of great emotional        
sensibility1 with a tendency to         
melancholy as well as a mystical        
idealism1 of somewhat weak character1   
and prone to invoke ,divine aid in the  
slightest difficulty4 ,it was a         
temperament that might be considered a  
little morbid1 outside a monastery1 but 
it was not insane1 nor is there any     
known insanity among his near relations4
 ,this man's wife1 ,porzia1 ,tasso's    
mother1 arouses the enthusiasm of all   
who ever mention her1 as a creature of  
angelic perfection4 ,no insanity here   
either1 but something of the same undue 
sensitiveness and melancholy as in the  
father1 the same absence of the coarser 
and more robust virtues4 ,moreover1 she 
belonged to a family by no means so     
angelic as herself1 not insane1 but     
abnormal--malevolent1 cruel1 avaricious1
 almost criminal4 ,the most scrupulous  

modern alienist would hesitate to       
deprive either ,bernardo or ,porzia of  
the right to parenthood4 ,yet1 as we    
know1 the son born of this union was not
 only a world-famous poet1 but an       
exceedingly unhappy1 abnormal1 and      
insane man4  ,let us take the case of   
another still greater and more famous   
man1 ,rousseau4 ,it cannot reasonably be
 doubted that1 at some moments in his   
life at all events1 and perhaps during a
 considerable period1 ,rousseau was     
definitely insane4 ,we are intimately   
acquainted with the details of the life 
and character of his relations and of   
his ancestry4 ,we not only possess the  
full account he set forth at the        
beginning of his ,confessions1 but we   
know very much more than ,rousseau knew4
 ,geneva was paternal--paternal in the  
most severe sense--in scrutinising every
 unusual act of its children1 and       
castigating every slightest deviation   
from the straight path4 ,the whole life 
of the citizens of old ,geneva may be   

read in ,genevan archives1 and not a    
scrap of information concerning the     
conduct of ,rousseau's ancestors and    
relatives as set down in these archives 
but has been brought to the light of    
day4 ,if there is any great man of      
genius whom the activities of these     
fanatical eugenists would have rendered 
impossible1 it must surely have been    
,rousseau4 ,let us briefly examine his  
parentage4 ,rousseau's father was the   
outcome of a fine stock which for two   
generations had been losing something of
 its fine qualities1 though without     
sinking anywhere near insanity1         
criminality1 or pauperism4 ,the         
,rousseaus still exercised their craft  
with success2 they were on the whole    
esteemed2 ,jean-,jacques's father was   
generally liked1 but he was somewhat    
unstable1 romantic1 with no strong sense
 of duty1 hot-tempered1 easily taking   
offence4 ,the mother1 from a modern     
standpoint1 was an attractive1 highly   
accomplished1 and admirable woman4 ,in  

her neighbours' eyes she was not quite  
,puritanical enough1 high-spirited1     
independent1 adventurous1 fond of       
innocent gaiety1 but a devoted wife     
when1 at last1 at the age of thirty1 she
 married4 ,more than once before        
marriage she was formally censured by   
the ecclesiastical authorities for her  
little insubordinations1 and these may  
be seen to have a certain significance  
when we turn to her father2 he was a    
thorough mauvais sujet1 with an         
incorrigible love of pleasure1 and      
constantly falling into well-deserved   
trouble for some escapade with the young
 women of ,geneva4 ,thus on both sides  
there was a certain nervous instability1
 an uncontrollable wayward emotionality4
 ,but of actual insanity1 of nervous    
disorder1 of any decided abnormality or 
downright unfitness in either father or 
mother1 not a sign4 ,isaac ,rousseau and
 ,susanne ,bernard would have been      
passed by the most ferocious eugenist4  
,it is again a case in which the chances

 of convergent heredity have produced a 
result which in its magnitude1 in its   
heights and in its depths1 none could   
foresee4 ,it is one of the most famous  
and most accurately known examples of   
insane genius in history1 and we see    
what amount of support it offers to the 
ponderous dictum concerning the insane  
heredity of genius4  ,let us turn from  
insanity to grave nervous disease4      
,epilepsy at once comes before us1 all  
the more significantly since it has been
 considered1 more especially by         
,lombroso1 to be the special disease    
through which genius peculiarly         
manifests itself4 ,it is true that much 
importance here is attached to those    
minor forms of epilepsy which involve no
 gross and obvious convulsive fit4 ,the 
existence of these minor attacks is1 in 
the case of men of genius1 usually      
difficult to disprove and equally       
difficult to prove4 ,it certainly should
 not be so as regards the major form of 
epilepsy4 ,yet among the thousand and   

thirty persons of ,british genius ,i was
 only able to find epilepsy mentioned   
twice1 and in both cases incorrectly1   
for the ,national ,biographer had       
attributed it to ,lord ,herbert of      
,cherbury through misreading a passage  
in ,herbert's ,autobiography1 while the 
epileptic fits of ,sir ,w4,r4 ,hamilton 
in old age were most certainly not true 
epilepsy4 ,without doubt1 no eugenist   
could recommend an epileptic to become a
 parent4 ,but if epilepsy has no        
existence in ,british men of genius it  
is improbable that it has often occurred
 among their parents4 ,the loss to      
,british genius through eugenic activity
 in this sphere would probably1         
therefore1 have been nil4  ,putting     
aside ,british genius1 however1 one     
finds that it has been almost a         
commonplace of alienists and            
neurologists1 even up to the present    
day1 to present glibly a formidable list
 of mighty men of genius as victims of  
epilepsy4 ,thus ,i find a well-known    

,american alienist lately making the    
unqualified and positive statement that 
,mahomet1 ,napoleon1 ,molire1 ,handel1  
,paganini1 ,mozart1 ,schiller1          
,richelieu1 ,newton and ,flaubert were  
epileptics1 while still more recently a 
distinguished ,english neurologist1     
declaring that the world's history has  
been made by men who were either        
epileptics1 insane1 or of neuropathic   
stock1 brings forward a similar and     
still larger list to illustrate that    
statement1 with ,alexander the ,great1  
,julius ,caesar1 the ,apostle ,paul1    
,luther1 ,frederick the ,great and many 
others thrown in1 though unfortunately  
he fails to tell us which members of the
 group he desires us to regard as       
epileptic4 ,julius ,caesar was certainly
 one of them1 but the statement of      
,suetonius 7not an unimpeachable        
authority in any case7 that ,caesar had 
epileptic fits towards the close of his 
life is disproof rather than proof of   
true epilepsy4 ,of ,mahomet1 and ,st4   

,paul also1 epilepsy is alleged4 ,as    
regards the first1 the most competent   
authorities regard the convulsive       
seizures attributed to the ,prophet as  
perhaps merely a legendary attempt to   
increase the awe he inspired by         
unmistakable evidence of divine         
authority4 ,the narrative of ,st4       
,paul's experience on the road to       
,damascus is very unsatisfactory        
evidence on which to base a medical     
diagnosis1 and it may be mentioned that1
 in the course of a discussion in the   
columns of the ,british ,medical        
,journal during #aiaj1 as many as six   
different views were put forward as to  
the nature of the ,apostle's thorn in   
the flesh4 ,the evidence on which       
,richelieu1 who was undoubtedly a man of
 very fragile constitution is declared  
to be epileptic1 is of the very         
slenderest character4 ,for the statement
 that ,newton was epileptic there is    
absolutely no reliable evidence at all1 
and ,i am quite ignorant of the grounds 

on which ,mozart1 ,handel and ,schiller 
are declared epileptics4 ,the evidence  
for epilepsy in ,napoleon may seem to   
carry slightly more weight1 for there is
 that in the moral character of         
,napoleon which we might very well      
associate with the epileptic            
temperament4 ,it seems clear that       
,napoleon really had at times convulsive
 seizures which were at least           
epileptoid4 ,thus ,talleyrand describes 
how one day1 just after dinner 7it may  
be recalled that ,napoleon was a copious
 and exceedingly rapid eater71 passing  
for a few minutes into ,josephine's     
room1 the ,emperor came out1 took       
,talleyrand into his own room1 ordered  
the door to be closed1 and then fell    
down in a fit4 ,bourrienne1 however1 who
 was ,napoleon's private secretary for  
eleven years1 knew nothing about any    
fits4 ,it is not usual1 in a true       
epileptic fit1 to be able to control the
 circumstances of the seizure to this   
extent1 and if ,napoleon1 who lived so  

public a life1 furnished so little      
evidence of epilepsy to his environment1
 it may be regarded as very doubtful    
whether any true epilepsy existed1 and  
on other grounds it seems highly        
improbable4#c  ,of all these            
distinguished persons in the list of    
alleged epileptics1 it is naturally most
 profitable to investigate the case of  
the latest1 ,flaubert1 for here it is   
easiest to get at the facts4 ,maxime du 
,camp1 a friend in early life1 though   
later incompatibility of temperament led
 to estrangement1 announced to the world
 in his ,souvenirs that ,flaubert was an
 epileptic1 and ,goncourt mentions in   
his ,journal that he was in the habit of
 taking much bromide4 ,but the fits     
never began until the age of            
twenty-eight1 which alone should suggest
 to a neurologist that they are not     
likely to have been epileptic2 they     
never occurred in public2 he could feel 
the fit coming on and would go and lie  
down2 he never lost consciousness2 his  

intellect and moral character remained  
intact until death4 ,it is quite clear  
that there was no true epilepsy here1   
nor anything like it4#d ,flaubert was of
 fairly sound nervous heredity on both  
sides1 and his father1 a distinguished  
surgeon1 was a man of keen intellect and
 high character4 ,the novelist1 who was 
of robust physical and mental           
constitution1 devoted himself           
strenuously and exclusively to          
intellectual work2 it is not surprising 
that he was somewhat neurasthenic1 if   
not hysterical1 and ,dumesnil1 who      
discusses this question in his book on  
,flaubert1 concludes that the fits may  
be called hysterical attacks of         
epileptoid form4  ,it may well be that  
we have in ,flaubert's case a clue to   
the epilepsy of the other great men who 
in this matter are coupled with him4    
,they were nearly all persons of immense
 intellectual force1 highly charged with
 nervous energy2 they passionately      
concentrated their energy on the        

achievement of life tasks of enormous   
magnitude1 involving the highest tension
 of the organism4 ,under such           
conditions1 even in the absence of all  
bad heredity or of actual disease1      
convulsive discharges may occur4 ,we may
 see even in healthy and sound women    
that occasionally some physiological and
 unrelieved overcharging of the organism
 with nervous energy may result in what 
is closely like a hysterical fit1 while 
even a violent fit of crying is a minor 
manifestation of the same tendency4 ,the
 feminine element in genius has often   
been emphasised1 and it may well be that
 under the conditions of the genius-life
 when working at high pressure we have  
somewhat similar states of nervous      
overcharging1 and that from time to time
 the tension is relieved1 naturally and 
spontaneously1 by a convulsive          
discharge4 ,this1 at all events1 seems a
 possible explanation4  ,it is rather   
strange that in these recklessly        
confident lists of eminent epileptics we

 fail to find the one man of            
distinguished genius whom perhaps we are
 justified in regarding as a true       
epileptic4 ,dostoievsky appears to have 
been an epileptic from an early age2 he 
remained liable to epileptic fits       
throughout life1 and they plunged him   
into mental dejection and confusion4 ,in
 many of his novels we find pictures of 
the epileptic temperament1 evidently    
based on personal experience1 showing   
the most exact knowledge and insight    
into all the phases of the disease4     
,moreover1 ,dostoievsky in his own      
person appears to have displayed the    
perversions and the tendency to mental  
deterioration which we should expect to 
find in a true epileptic4 ,so far as our
 knowledge goes1 he really seems to     
stand alone as a manifestation of       
supreme genius combined with epilepsy4  
,yet1 as ,dr4 ,loygue remarks in his    
medico-psychological study of the great 
,russian novelist1 epilepsy only        
accounts for half of the man1 and leaves

 unexplained his passion for work2 the  
dualism of epilepsy and genius is       
irreducible4  ,there is one other still 
more recent man of true genius1 though  
not of the highest rank1 who may        
possibly be counted as epileptic3       
,vincent van ,gogh1 the painter4#e ,a   
brilliant and highly original artist1 he
 was a definitely abnormal man who      
cannot be said to have escaped mental   
deterioration4 ,simple and humble and   
suffering1 recklessly sacrificing       
himself to help others1 always in       
trouble1 van ,gogh had many points of   
resemblance to ,dostoievsky4 ,he has1   
indeed1 been compared to the ,idiot     
immortalised by ,dostoievsky1 in some   
aspects an imbecile1 in some aspects a  
saint4 ,yet epilepsy no more explains   
the genius of van ,gogh than it explains
 the genius of ,dostoievsky4  ,thus the 
impression we gain when1 laying aside   
prejudice1 we take a fairly wide and    
impartial survey of the facts1 or even  
when we investigate in detail the       

isolated facts to which significance is 
most often attached1 by no means        
supports the notion that genius springs 
entirely1 or even mainly1 from insane   
and degenerate stocks4 ,in some cases1  
undoubtedly1 it is found in such stocks1
 but the ability displayed in these     
cases is rarely1 perhaps never1 of any  
degree near the highest4 ,it is quite   
easy to point to persons of a certain   
significance1 especially in literature  
and art1 who1 though themselves sane1   
possess many near relatives who are     
highly neurotic and sometimes insane4   
,such cases1 however1 are far from      
justifying any confident generalisations
 concerning the intimate dependence of  
genius on insanity4  ,we see1 moreover1 
that to conclude that men of genius are 
rarely or never the offspring of a      
radically insane parentage is not to    
assume that the parents of men of genius
 are usually of average normal          
constitution4 ,that would in any case be
 improbable4 ,apart from the tendency to

 convergent heredity already emphasised1
 there is a wider tendency to slight    
abnormality1 a minor degree of inaptness
 for ordinary life in the parentage of  
genius4 ,i found that in #e per cent4   
cases 7certainly much below the real    
mark7 of the ,british people of genius1 
one parent1 generally the father1 had   
shown abnormality from a social or      
parental point of view4 ,he had been    
idle1 or extravagant1 or restless1 or   
cruel1 or intemperate1 or               
unbusinesslike1 in the great majority of
 these cases unsuccessful4 ,the father  
of ,dickens 7represented by his son in  
,micawber71 who was always vainly       
expecting something to turn up1 is a    
good type of these fathers of genius4   
,shakespeare's father may have been of  
much the same sort4 ,george ,meredith's 
father1 again1 who was too superior a   
person for the outfitting business he   
inherited1 but never succeeded in being 
anything else1 is another example of    
this group of fathers of genius4 ,the   

father in these cases is a link of      
transition between the normal stock and 
its brilliantly abnormal offshoot4 ,in  
this transitional stage we see1 as it   
were1 the stock reculer pour mieux      
sauter1 but it is in the son that the   
great leap is made manifest4  ,this     
peculiarity will serve to indicate that 
in a large proportion of cases the      
parentage of genius is not entirely     
sound and normal4 ,we must dismiss      
absolutely the notion that the parents  
of persons of genius tend to exhibit    
traits of a grossly insane or nervously 
degenerate character4 ,the evidence for 
such a view is confined to a minute     
proportion of cases1 and even then is   
usually doubtful4 ,but it is another    
matter to assume that the parentage of  
genius is absolutely normal1 and still  
less can we assert that genius always   
springs from entirely sound stocks4 ,the
 statement is sometimes made that all   
families contain an insane element4     
,that statement cannot be accepted4     

,there are many people1 including people
 of a high degree of ability1 who can   
trace no gross mental or nervous disease
 in their families1 unless remote       
branches are taken into account4 ,not   
many statistics bearing on this point   
are yet available4 ,but ,jenny ,roller1 
in a very thorough investigation1 found 
at ,zurich in #ahie that healthy people 
had in #bh per cent4 cases directly1 and
 in #ei per cent4 cases indirectly and  
altogether1 a neuropathic heredity1     
while ,otto ,diem in #aije found that   
the corresponding percentages were still
 higher--#cc and #fi4 ,it should not1   
therefore1 be matter for surprise if    
careful investigation revealed a        
traceable neuropathic element at least  
as frequent as this in the families     
which produce a man of genius4  ,it may 
further1 ,i believe1 be argued that the 
presence of a neuropathic element of    
this kind in the ancestry of genius is  
frequently not without a real           
significance4 ,aristotle said in his    

,poetics that poetry demanded a man with
 a touch of madness1 though the         
ancients1 who frequently made a similar 
statement to this1 had not our modern   
ideas of neuropathic heredity in their  
minds1 but merely meant that inspiration
 simulated insanity4 ,yet a touch of    
madness1 a slight morbid strain1 usually
 neurotic or gouty1 in a preponderantly 
robust and energetic stock1 seems to be 
often of some significance in the       
evolution of genius2 it appears to act1 
one is inclined to think1 as a kind of  
ferment1 leading to a process out of all
 relation to its own magnitude4 ,in the 
sphere of literary genius1 ,milton1     
,flaubert1 and ,william ,morris may help
 to illustrate this precious            
fermentative influence of a minor morbid
 element in vitally powerful stocks4    
,without some such ferment as this the  
energy of the stock1 one may well       
suppose1 might have been confined within
 normal limits2 the rare and exquisite  
flower of genius1 we know1 required an  

abnormal stimulation2 only in this sense
 is there any truth at all in           
,lombroso's statement that the pearl of 
genius develops around a germ of        
disease4 ,but this is the utmost length 
to which the facts allow us to go in    
assuming the presence of a morbid       
element as a frequent constituent of    
genius4 ,even then we only have one of  
the factors of genius1 to which1        
moreover1 undue importance cannot be    
attached when we remember how often this
 ferment is present without any         
resultant process of genius4 ,and we are
 in any case far removed from any of    
those gross nervous lesions which all   
careful guardianship of the race must   
tend to eliminate4  ,thus we are brought
 back to the point from which we        
started4 ,would eugenics stamp out      
genius8 ,there is no need to minimise   
the fact that a certain small proportion
 of men of genius have displayed highly 
morbid characters1 nor to deny that in a
 large proportion of cases a slightly   

morbid strain may with care be detected 
in the ancestry of genius4 ,but the     
influence of eugenic considerations can 
properly be brought to bear only in the 
case of grossly degenerate stocks4      
,here1 so far as our knowledge extends1 
the parentage of genius nearly always   
escapes4 ,the destruction of genius and 
its creation alike elude the eugenist4  
,if there is a tendency in modern       
civilisation towards a diminution in the
 manifestations of genius--which may    
admit of question---it can scarcely be  
due to any threatened elimination of    
corrupt stocks4 ,it may perhaps more    
reasonably be sought in the haste and   
superficiality which our present phase  
of urbanisation fosters1 and only the   
most robust genius can adequately       
withstand4   #a ,a ,danish alienist1    
,lange1 has1 however1 made an attempt on
 a statistical basis to show a          
connection between mental ability and   
mental degeneracy4 7,f4 ,lange1         
,degeneration in ,families1 translated  

from the ,danish1 #aijg74 ,he deals with
 #dd families which have provided #dbh  
insane or neuropathic persons within a  
few generations1 and during the same    
period a large number also of highly    
distinguished members1 ,cabinet         
ministers1 bishops1 artists1 poets1 etc4
 ,but ,lange admits that the forms of   
insanity found in these families are of 
a slight and not severe character1 while
 it is clear that the forms of ability  
are also in most cases equally slight2  
they are mostly old families1 such as   
naturally produce highly-trained and    
highly placed individuals4 ,moreover1   
,lange's methods and style of writing   
are not scientifically exact1 and he    
fails to define precisely what he means 
by a family4 ,his investigation         
indicates that there is a frequent      
tendency for men of ability to belong to
 families which are not entirely sound1 
and that is a conclusion which is not   
seriously disputed4  #b ,havelock       
,ellis1 ,a ,study of ,british ,genius1  

#aijd4  #c ,dr4 ,cabans 7,indiscrtions  
de l',histoire1 #crd series7 similarly  
concludes that1 while in temperament    
,napoleon may be said to belong to the  
epileptic class1 he was by no means an  
epileptic in the ordinary sense4        
,kanngiesser 7,prager ,medizinische     
,wochenschrift1 #aiab1 ,no4 #bg7        
suggests that from his slow pulse 7#dj  
to #fj7 ,napoleon's attacks may have    
originated in the heart and vessels4  #d
 ,genuine epilepsy usually comes on     
before the age of twenty-five2 it very  
rarely begins after twenty-five1 and    
never after thirty4 7,l4,w4 ,weber1     
,mnchener ,medizinische ,wochenschrift1 
,july #cjth and ,aug4 #fth1 #aiab47 ,in 
genuine epilepsy1 also1 loss of         
consciousness accompanies the fits2 the 
exceptions to this rule are rare1 though
 ,audenino1 a pupil of ,lombroso1 who   
sought to extend the sphere of epilepsy1
 believes that the exceptions are not so
 rare as is commonly supposed 7,archivio
 di ,psichiatria1 fasc4 ,,vi41 #aijf74  

,moreover1 true epilepsy is accompanied 
by a progressive mental deterioration   
which terminates in dementia2 in the    
,craig ,colony for ,epileptics of ,new  
,york1 among #c1jjj epileptics this     
progressive deterioration is very rarely
 absent 7,lancet1 ,march #ast1 #aiac72  
but it is not found in the distinguished
 men of genius who are alleged to be    
epileptic4 ,epileptic deterioration has 
been elaborately studied by ,mac,curdy1 
,psychiatric ,bulletin1 ,new ,york1     
,april1 #aiaf4  #e ,see1 e4g41          
,elizabeth du ,quesne van ,gogh1        
,personal ,recollections of ,vincent van
 ,gogh1 p4 #df4 ,these epileptic attacks
 are1 however1 but vaguely mentioned1   
and it would seem that they only        
appeared during the last years of the   
artist's life4     ,,xiv   ,,the        
,,production ,,of ,,ability  ,the       
growing interest in eugenics1 and the   
world-wide decline in the birth-rate1   
have drawn attention to the study of the
 factors which determine the production 

of genius in particular and high ability
 in general4 ,the interest in this      
question1 thus freshly revived and made 
more acute by the results of the ,great 
,war1 is not indeed new4 ,it is nearly  
half a century since ,galton wrote his  
famous book on the heredity of genius1  
or1 as he might better have described   
the object of his investigation1 the    
heredity of ability4 ,at a later date my
 own ,study of ,british ,genius         
collectively summarised all the         
biological data available concerning the
 parentage and birth of the most notable
 persons born in ,england1 while        
numerous other studies might also be    
named4  ,such investigations are to-day 
acquiring a fresh importance1 because1  
while it is becoming realised that we   
are gaining a new control over the      
conditions of birth1 the production of  
children has itself gained in           
importance4 ,the world is no longer     
bombarded by an exuberant stream of     
babies1 good1 bad1 and indifferent in   

quality1 with ,mankind to look on calmly
 at the struggle for existence among    
them4 ,whether we like it or not1 the   
quantity is relatively diminishing1 and 
the question of quality is beginning to 
assume a supreme significance4 ,what are
 the conditions which assure the finest 
quality in our children8  ,a ,german    
scientist1 ,dr4 ,vaerting1 of ,berlin1  
published on the eve of the ,war a      
little book on the most favourable age  
in parents for the production of        
children of ability 7,das gnstigste     
elterliche ,zeugungsalter74#a ,he       
approaches the question entirely in this
 new spirit1 not as a merely academic   
topic of discussion1 but as a practical 
matter of vital importance to the       
welfare of society4 ,he starts with the 
assertion that our century has been     
called the century of the child1#b and  
for the child all manner of rights are  
now being claimed4 ,but the prime right 
of all1 the right of the child to the   
best ability that his parents are able  

to transmit to him1 is never even so    
much as considered4 ,yet this right is  
the root of all children's rights4 ,and 
when the mysteries of procreation have  
been so far revealed as to enable this  
right to be won1 we shall1 at the same  
time1 ,dr4 ,vaerting adds1 renew the    
spiritual aspect of the nations4  ,the  
most easily ascertainable and measurable
 factor in the production of ability1   
and certainly a factor which cannot be  
without significance1 is the age of the 
parents at the child's birth4 ,it is    
this factor with which ,vaerting is     
mainly concerned1 as illustrated by over
 one hundred ,german men of genius      
concerning whom he has been able to     
obtain the required data4 ,later on1 he 
proposes to extend the inquiry to other 
nations4  ,vaerting finds--and this is  
probably the most original1 though1 as  
we shall see1 not the most              
unquestionable of his findings--that the
 fathers who are themselves of no       
notable intellectual distinction have a 

decidedly more prolonged power of       
procreating distinguished children than 
is possessed by distinguished fathers4  
,the former1 that is to say1 may become 
the fathers of eminent children from the
 period of sexual maturity up to the age
 of forty-three or beyond4 ,when1       
however1 the father is himself of high  
intellectual distinction1 ,vaerting     
finds that he was nearly always under   
thirty1 and usually under twenty-five   
years of age at his distinguished son's 
birth1 although the proportion of       
youthful fathers in the general         
population is relatively small4 ,the    
eleven youngest fathers on ,vaerting's  
list1 from twenty-one to twenty-five    
years of age1 were 7with one exception7 
themselves more or less distinguished1  
while the fifteen oldest1 from          
thirty-nine to sixty years of age1 were 
all without exception undistinguished4  
,among these sons are to be found much  
greater names 7,goethe1 ,bach1 ,kant1   
,bismarck1 ,wagner1 etc47 than are to be

 found among the sons of young and more 
distinguished fathers1 for here there is
 only one name 7,frederick the ,great7  
of the same calibre4 ,the elderly       
fathers belonged to large cities and    
were mostly married to wives very much  
younger than themselves4 ,vaerting notes
 that the most eminent geniuses have    
most frequently been the sons of fathers
 who were not engaged in intellectual   
avocations at all1 but earned their     
livings as simple craftsmen4 ,he draws  
the conclusion from these data that     
strenuous intellectual energy is much   
more unfavourable than hard physical    
labour to the production of ability in  
the offspring4 ,intellectual workers1   
therefore1 he argues1 must have their   
children when young1 and we must so     
modify our social ideals and economic   
conditions as to render this possible4  
,that the mother should be equally young
 is not1 he holds1 necessary2 he finds  
some superiority1 indeed1 provided the  
father is young1 in somewhat elderly    

mothers1 and there were no mothers under
 twenty-three4 ,the rarity of genius    
among the offspring of distinguished    
parents is attributed to the unfortunate
 tendency to marry too late1 and        
,vaerting finds that the distinguished  
men who marry late rarely have any      
children at all4 ,speaking generally1   
and apart from the production of genius1
 he holds that women have children too  
early1 before their psychic development 
is completed1 while men have children   
too late1 when they have already in the 
years of their highest psychic          
generative fitness planted their most   
precious seed in the mud of the street4 
,the eldest child was found to have by  
far the best chance of turning out      
distinguished1 and in this fact         
,vaerting finds further proof of his    
argument4 ,the third son has the next   
best chance1 and then the second1 the   
comparatively bad position of the second
 being attributed to the too brief      
interval which often follows the birth  

of the first child4 ,he also notes that 
of all the professions the clergy come  
beyond comparison first as the parents  
of distinguished sons 7who are1 however1
 rarely of the highest degree of        
eminence71 lawyers following1 while     
officers in the army and physicians     
scarcely figure at all4 ,vaerting is    
inclined to see in this order1          
especially in the predominance of the   
clergy1 the favourable influence of an  
unexhausted reserve of energy and a     
habit of chastity on intellectual       
procreativeness4 ,this is one of his    
main conclusions4  ,it so happens that  
in my own ,study of ,british ,genius1   
with which ,dr4 ,vaerting was           
unacquainted when he made his first     
investigation1 ,i dealt on a larger     
scale1 and perhaps with somewhat more   
precise method1 with many of these same 
questions as they are illustrated by    
,english genius4 ,vaerting's results    
have induced me to re-examine and to    
some extent to manipulate afresh the    

,english data4 ,my results1 like ,dr4   
,vaerting's1 showed a special tendency  
for genius to appear in the eldest      
child1 though there was no indication of
 notably early marriage in the          
parents4#c ,i also found a similar      
predominance of the clergy among the    
fathers and a similar deficiency of army
 officers and physicians4 ,the most     
frequent age of the father was          
thirty-two years1 but the average age of
 the father at the distinguished child's
 birth was #cf4f years1 and when the    
fathers were themselves distinguished   
their age was not1 as ,vaerting found in
 ,germany1 notably low at the birth of  
their distinguished sons1 but higher    
than the general average1 being #cg4e   
years4 ,there have been fifteen         
distinguished ,english sons of          
distinguished fathers1 but instead of   
being nearly always under thirty and    
usually under twenty-five1 as ,vaerting 
found in ,germany1 the ,english         
distinguished father has only five times

 been under thirty and among these five 
only twice under twenty-five4 ,moreover1
 precisely the most distinguished of the
 sons 7,francis ,bacon and ,william     
,pitt7 had the oldest fathers and the   
least distinguished sons the youngest   
fathers4  ,i made some attempt to       
ascertain whether different kinds of    
genius tend to be produced by fathers   
who were at different periods of life4  
,i refrained from publishing the results
 as ,i doubted whether the numbers dealt
 with were sufficiently large to carry  
any weight4 ,it may1 however1 be worth  
while to record them1 as possibly they  
are significant4 ,i made four classes of
 men of genius3 7#a7 ,men of ,religion1 
7#b7 ,poets1 7#c7 ,practical ,men1 and  
7#d7 ,scientific ,men and ,sceptics4    
7,it must not1 of course1 be supposed   
that in this last group all the         
scientific men were sceptics1 or all the
 sceptics scientific47 ,the average age 
of the fathers at the distinguished     
son's birth was1 in the first group1 #ce

 years1 in the second and third groups  
#cg years1 and in the last group #dj    
years4 7,it may be noted1 however1 that 
the youngest father of all in the       
history of ,british genius1 aged        
sixteen1 produced ,napier1 who          
introduced logarithms47 ,it is difficult
 not to believe that as regards1 at all 
events1 the two most discrepant groups1 
the first and last1 we here come on a   
significant indication4 ,it is not      
unreasonable to suppose that in the     
production of men of religion1 in whose 
activity emotion is so potent a factor1 
the youthful age of the father should   
prove favourable1 while for the         
production of genius of a more coldly   
intellectual and analytic type more     
elderly fathers are demanded4 ,if that  
should prove to be so1 it would become a
 source of happiness to religious       
parents to have their children early1   
while irreligious persons should be     
advised to delay parentage4 ,it is      
scarcely necessary to remark that the   

age of the mothers is probably quite as 
influential as that of the fathers4     
,concerning the mothers1 however1 we    
always have less precise information4   
,my records1 so far as they go1 agree   
with ,vaerting's for ,german genius1 in 
indicating that an elderly mother is    
more likely to produce a child of genius
 than a very youthful mother4 ,there    
were only fifteen mothers recorded under
 twenty-five years of age1 while        
thirteen were over thirty-nine years2   
the most frequent age of the mothers was
 twenty-seven4 ,on all these points we  
certainly need controlling evidence from
 other countries4 ,thus1 before we      
insist with ,vaerting that an elderly   
mother is a factor in the production of 
genius1 we may recall that even in      
,germany the mothers of ,goethe and     
,nietzsche were both eighteen at their  
distinguished sons' birth4 ,a rule which
 permits of such tremendous exceptions  
scarcely seems to bear the strain of    
emphasis4  ,it must always be remembered

 that while the study of genius is      
highly interesting1 and even1 it is     
probable1 not without significance for  
the general laws of heredity1 we must   
not too hastily draw conclusions from it
 to bear on practical questions of      
eugenics4 ,genius is rare and abnormal2 
laws meant to apply to the general      
population must be based on a study of  
the general population4 ,vaerting1 who  
is alive to the practical character     
which such problems are to-day assuming1
 realises how inadequate it is to       
confine our study to genius4 ,marro1 in 
his valuable book on puberty1 some years
 ago brought forward interesting data   
showing the result of the age of the    
parents on the moral and intellectual   
characters of school-children in ,north 
,italy4 ,he found that children with    
fathers below twenty-six at their birth 
showed the maximum of bad conduct and   
the minimum of good2 they also yielded  
the greatest proportion of children of  
irregular1 troublesome1 or lazy         

character1 but not of really perverse   
children who were equally distributed   
among fathers of all ages4 ,the largest 
number of cheerful children belonged to 
young fathers1 while the children tended
 to become more melancholy with         
ascending age of the fathers4 ,young    
fathers produced the largest proportion 
of intelligent1 as well as of           
troublesome children1 but when the very 
exceptionally intelligent children were 
considered separately they were found to
 be more usually the offspring of       
elderly fathers4 ,as regards the        
mothers1 ,marro found that the children 
of young mothers 7under twenty-one7 are 
superior1 both as regards conduct and   
intelligence1 though the more           
exceptionally intelligent children      
tended to belong to more mature mothers4
 ,when the parents were both in the same
 age-group the immature and the elderly 
groups tended to produce more children  
who were unsatisfactory1 both as regards
 conduct and intelligence1 than the     

intermediate group4#d  ,but we need to  
have such inquiries made on a more      
wholesale and systematic scale4 ,they   
are no longer of a merely speculative   
character4 ,we no longer regard children
 as the gifts of ,god1 flung into our   
helpless hands2 we are beginning to     
realise that the responsibility is ours 
to see that they come into the world    
under the best conditions1 and at the   
moments when their parents are best     
fitted to produce them4 ,vaerting       
proposes that it should be the business 
of all school authorities to register   
the ages of the pupils' parents4 ,this  
is scarcely a provision to which even   
the most susceptible parent could       
reasonably object1 though there is no   
cause to make the declaration compulsory
 where a conscientious objection        
existed1 and in any case the declaration
 would not be public4 ,it would be an   
advantage--though this might be more    
difficult to obtain--to have the date of
 the parents' marriage1 and of the birth

 of previous children1 as well as some  
record of the father's standing in his  
occupation4 ,but even the ages of the   
parents alone would teach us much when  
correlated with the school position of  
the pupil in intelligence and in        
conduct4 ,it is quite true that there   
are unavoidable fallacies4 ,we are not1 
as in the case of genius1 dealing with  
people whose life-work is complete and  
open to the whole world's examination4  
,the good and clever child is not       
necessarily the forerunner of the       
first-class man or woman2 and many      
capable and successful men have been    
careless in attendance at lectures and  
rebellious to discipline4 ,moreover1 the
 prejudice and limitations of the       
teachers have also to be recognised4    
,yet when we are dealing with millions  
most of these fallacies would be        
smoothed out4 ,we should be1 once for   
all1 in a position to determine         
authoritatively the exact bearing of one
 of the simplest and most vital factors 

of the betterment of the race4 ,we      
should be in possession of a new clue to
 guide us in the creation of the man of 
the coming world4 ,why not begin to-day8
   #a ,he has further discussed the     
subject in ,die ,neue ,generation1      
,aug4-,nov41 #aiad1 and in a more recent
 7#aiaf7 pamphlet which ,i have not     
seen4  #b ,the reference is to ,the     
,century of the ,child1 by ,ellen ,key1 
who writes 7,english translation1 p4    
#b73 ,my conviction is that the         
transformation of human nature will take
 place1 not when the whole of humanity  
becomes ,christian1 but when the whole  
of humanity awakens to the consciousness
 of the 'holiness of generation4' ,this 
consciousness will make the central work
 of ,society the new race1 its origin1  
its management1 and its education2 about
 these all morals1 all laws1 all social 
arrangements will be grouped4  #c ,it is
 not only ability1 but idiocy1          
criminality and many other abnormalities
 which specially tend to appear in the  

first-born4 ,the eldest-born represents 
the point of greatest variation in the  
family1 and the variation thus yielded  
may be in either direction1 useful or   
useless1 good or bad4 ,see1 e4g41       
,havelock ,ellis1 ,a ,study of ,british 
,genius1 pp4 #aag-abj4 ,sren ,hansen1   
,the ,inferior ,quality of the          
,first-born ,children1 ,eugenics        
,review1 ,oct41 #aiac4  #d ,marro1 ,la  
,pubert 7,french translation ,la        
,pubert71 ,ch4 ,,xi4     ,,xv           
,,marriage ,,and ,,divorce  ,we         
contemplate our marriage system with    
satisfaction4 ,we remember the many     
unquestionable evidences in favour of   
it1 and we marvel that it so often      
proves a failure4 ,for while we remember
 the evidence in favour of it1 we forget
 the evidence against it1 and we        
overlook the important fact that our    
favourable evidence is largely based on 
the vision of an abstract or idealised  
monogamy which fails to correspond to   
the detailed and ever varying system    

which in practice we cherish4 ,we point 
to the fact that monogamic marriage has 
probably flourished throughout the      
history of the world1 that it exists    
among savages1 even among animals1 but  
we fail to observe how far that monogamy
 differs from ours1 even assuming that  
our monogamy is a real monogamy and not 
a disguised polygamy1 especially in the 
fact that it is a free union and only   
subject to the inherent penalties that  
follow its infraction1 not to external  
penalties4 ,ours is not free2 our faith 
in its natural virtues is not quite so  
firm as we assert2 we are always        
meddling with it and worrying over its  
health and anxiously trying to bolster  
it up4 ,we are not by any means willing 
to let it rest on the sanction of its   
own natural or divine laws4 ,our feeling
 is1 as ,james ,hinton used ironically  
to express it3 ,poor ,god with no one to
 help ,him6  ,the fact is that when we  
compare our civilised marriage system   
with marriage as it exists in ,nature1  

we fail to realise a fundamental        
distinction4 ,our marriage system is    
made up of two absolutely different     
elements which cannot blend4 ,on the one
 hand1 it is the manifestation of our   
deepest and most volcanic impulses4 ,on 
the other hand1 it is an elaborate web  
of regulations--legal1 ecclesiastical1  
economic--which is to-day quite out of  
relation to our impulses4 ,on the one   
hand1 it is a force which springs from  
within2 on the other hand1 it is a force
 which presses on us from without4#a    
,one says broadly that these two        
elements of marriage1 as we understand  
it1 are out of relation to each other4  
,but there is an important saving       
qualification to be made4 ,the inner    
impulse is not without law1 and the     
external pressure is not without an     
ultimate basis of nature4 ,that is to   
say1 that under free and natural        
conditions the inner impulse tends to   
develop itself1 not licentiously but    
with its own order and restraints1      

while1 on the other hand1 our inherited 
regulations are largely the tradition of
 ancient attempts to fix and register   
that natural order and restraint4 ,the  
disharmony comes in with the fact that  
our regulations are traditional and     
ancient1 not our own attempts to fix and
 register the natural order but         
inextricably mixed up with elements that
 are entirely alien to our civilised    
habits of life4 ,whatever our attitude  
towards mediaeval ,canon ,law may       
be--whether reverence or indifference or
 disgust--it yet holds us and is        
ingrained into our marriage system      
to-day4 ,canon ,law was a good and vital
 thing under the conditions which       
produced it4 ,the survival of ,canon    
,law to-day1 with the antiquated and    
ascetic conception of the subordination 
of women associated with it1 is the     
chief reason why we in the twentieth    
century have not yet progressed so far  
towards a reasonable system of marriage 
as the ,romans had reached on the basis 

of their law1 nearly two thousand years 
ago4#b ,marriage is conditioned both by 
inner impulse and outward pressure4 ,but
 a healthy impulse bears within it an   
order and restraint of its own1 while a 
truly moral outward pressure is based1  
not on the demands of mediaeval days1   
but on the demands of our own day4  ,how
 far this is from being the case yet we 
find well illustrated by our divorce    
methods4 ,all our modern culture favour 
a sense of the sacredness of the sexual 
relations2 we cherish a delicate reserve
 concerning all the intimacies of       
personal relationship4 ,but when the    
magic word ,divorce is uttered we fling 
all our civilisation to the winds1 and  
in the desecrated name of ,law we       
proceed to an inquisition which scarcely
 differs at all from those public tests 
of mediaeval law-courts which now we    
dare not venture even to put into words4
  ,it is true that we are not bound to  
be consistent when it is an advantage to
 be inconsistent4 ,and if there were a  

method in our madness it would be       
justified4 ,but there is no method4     
,from first to last the history of      
divorce 7read it1 for instance1 in      
,howard's ,matrimonial ,institutions7 is
 an ever shifting record of cruel       
blunders and ridiculous absurdities4    
,divorce began in modern times in       
flagrant injustice to one of the two    
partners1 the wife1 and it has ended--if
 we may hope that the end is            
approaching--in imbecilities that to    
future ages will be incredible4 ,for no 
legal jargon has ever been invented that
 will express the sympathies and the    
antipathies of human relationship2 they 
even escape the subtlest expression4    
,law-makers have tortured their brains  
to devise formulas which will cover the 
legitimate grounds for divorce4 ,how    
vain their efforts are is sufficiently  
shown by the fact that by no chance can 
they ever agree on their formulas1 and  
that they are changing them constantly  
with feverish haste1 dimly realising    

that they are but the antiquated        
representatives of mediaevalism1 and    
that soon their occupation will be gone 
for ever4  ,the reasons for the making  
or the breaking of human relationships  
can never be formulated4 ,the only      
result of such legal formulas is that   
they bring law into contempt because    
they have to be ingeniously and         
methodically cheated in order to adapt  
them in any degree to civilised human   
needs4 ,thus such laws not only degrade 
the name of ,law1 but they degrade the  
whole community which tolerates them4   
,there is only one ultimate reason for  
either marriage or divorce1 and that is 
that the two persons concerned consent  
to the marriage or consent to the       
divorce4 ,why they consent is no concern
 of any third party1 and1 maybe1 they   
cannot even put it into words4  ,at the 
same time1 let us not forget1 marriage  
and divorce are a very real concern of  
the ,state1 and law cannot ignore       
either4 ,it is the business of the      

,state to see to it that no interests   
are injured4 ,the contract of marriage  
and the contract of divorce are private 
matters1 but it is necessary to guard   
that no injury is thereby done to either
 of the contracting persons1 or to third
 parties1 or to the community as a      
whole4 ,the ,state may have a right to  
say what persons are unfit for marriage1
 or at all events for procreation2 the  
,state must take care that the weaker   
party is not injured2 the ,state is     
especially bound to watch over the      
interests of children1 and this         
involves1 in the best issue1 that each  
child shall have two effective parents1 
whether or not those parents are living 
together4 ,a large scope--we are        
beginning to recognise--must be left    
alike to freedom of marriage and freedom
 of divorce1 but the ,state must mark   
out the limits within which that freedom
 is exercised4  ,the loosening hold of  
the ,state on marriage is by no means   
connected with any growing sense of the 

value of divorce4 ,at the best1 it is   
probable that divorce is merely a       
necessary evil4 ,one of the chief       
reasons why we should seek to promote   
education in relation to sexual         
relationships and to inculcate the      
responsibilities of such relationships1 
so making the approach to marriage more 
circumspect1 is in order to obviate the 
need for divorce4 ,for divorce is always
 a confession of failure4 ,very often1  
indeed1 it involves not only a          
confession of failure in one particular 
marriage but of failure for marriage    
generally4 ,one notes how often the     
people who fail in a first marriage fail
 even more hopelessly in the second4    
,they have chosen the wrong partners2   
but one suspects that for them all      
partners will prove the wrong partners4 
,one sometimes hears nowadays that a    
succession of marriage relationships is 
desirable in order to develop character4
 ,but that depends on many things4 ,it  
very much depends on what character     

there is to develop4 ,a man may have    
relationships with a hundred women and  
develop much less character out of his  
experience1 and even acquire a much less
 intimate knowledge of women1 than the  
man who has spent his life in an endless
 series of adventures with one woman4   
,it depends a good deal on the man and  
not a little on the woman4  ,thus the   
work of marriage in the world must      
depend entirely on the nature of that   
world4 ,a fine marriage system can only 
be produced by a fine civilisation of   
which it is the exquisite flower4 ,laws 
cannot better marriage2 even education1 
by itself1 is powerless1 necessary as it
 is in conjunction with other           
influences4 ,the love-relationships of  
men and women must develop freely1 and  
with due allowance for the variations   
which the complexities of civilisation  
demand4 ,but these relationships touch  
the whole of life at so infinite a      
number of points that they cannot even  
develop at all save in a society that is

 itself developing graciously and       
harmoniously4 ,do not expect to pluck   
figs from thistles4 ,as a society is1 so
 will its marriages be4   #a ,it is this
 artificial and external pressure which 
often produces a revolt against         
marriage4 ,the author of a remarkable   
paper entitled1 ,our ,incestuous        
,marriage1 in the ,forum 7,dec41 #aiae71
 advocates a reform of social marriage  
customs in conformance with the         
freedom-loving modern nature1 and the   
introduction of a fresh atmosphere for  
married life in which personality can be
 made to appear so sacred and free that 
marriage will be undertaken and borne as
 lightly and gracefully as a secret sin4
  #b ,see ,sir ,james ,donaldson1       
,woman3 ,her ,position and ,influence in
 ,ancient ,greece and ,rome1 #aijg2 also
 ,s4,b4 ,kitchin's excellent ,history of
 ,divorce1 #aiab2 this author believes  
that the tendency in modern civilisation
 is to return to the simple principles  
of ,roman law involving divorce by      

consent4 ,see also ,havelock ,ellis1    
,sex in ,relation to ,society1 ,ch4 ,x4 
,,xvi   ,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,the      
,,birth-,,rate  ,the history of educated
 opinion concerning the birth-rate and  
its interpretation during the past      
seventy years is full of interest4 ,the 
actual operative factors--natural1      
pathological1 economic1 social1 and     
educational--in raising or lowering the 
birth-rate1 are numerous and            
complicated1 and it is difficult to     
determine exactly how large a part each 
factor plays4 ,but without determining  
that at all1 it is still very           
instructive to observe the evolution of 
popular intelligent opinion concerning  
the significance of a high and a low    
birth-rate4  ,popular opinion on this   
matter may be said to have passed       
through three stages4 ,i am referring to
 ,western ,europe and more particularly 
to ,england and ,germany1 for it must be
 remembered that1 in this matter1       
,england and ,germany are running a     

parallel course4 ,england happens to be1
 on the whole1 a little ahead1 having   
reached its period of full expansion at 
a somewhat earlier period than ,germany1
 but each people is pursuing the same   
course4  ,in the first stage--let us say
 about the middle of the last century   
and the succeeding thirty years--the    
popular attitude was one of jubilant    
satisfaction in a high and rising       
birth-rate4 ,there had been an immense  
expansion of industry4 ,the whole world 
seemed nothing but a great field for the
 energetic and industrial nations to    
exploit4 ,workers were needed to keep up
 with the expansion and to keep down    
wages to a rate which would make        
industrial expansion easy2 soldiers and 
armaments were needed to protect the    
movements of expansion4 ,it seemed to   
the more exuberant spirits that a vast  
,british ,empire1 or a mighty           
,pan-,germany1 might be expected to     
cover the whole world4 ,france1 with its
 low and falling birth-rate1 was looked 

down at with contempt as a decadent     
country inhabited by a degenerate       
population4 ,no attempts to analyse the 
birth-rate1 to ascertain what are really
 the biological1 social1 and economic   
accompaniments of a high birth-rate1    
made any impression on the popular mind4
 ,they were drowned in the general shout
 of exultation4  ,that era of optimism  
was followed by a swift reaction4       
,towards #ahhj the upward movement of   
the birth-rate began to be arrested2 it 
soon began steadily to fall1 as it is   
continuing to do to-day4 ,in ,france it 
is falling slowly1 in ,italy more       
rapidly1 in ,england and ,prussia still 
more rapidly4 ,as1 however1 the fall    
began earliest in ,france1 the          
birth-rate is lower there than in the   
other countries named2 for the same     
reason it is lower in ,england than in  
,prussia1 although ,england stands in   
this respect at almost exactly the same 
distance from ,prussia to-day as thirty 
years ago1 the fall having occurred at  

the same rate in both countries4 ,it is 
quite possible that in the future it may
 become more rapid in ,prussia than in  
,england1 for the birth-rate of ,berlin 
is lower than the birth-rate of ,london1
 and urbanisation is proceeding at a    
more rapid rate in ,germany than in     
,england4  ,the realisation of such     
facts as these produced a period of     
pessimism which marks the second stage  
in this evolution4 ,the great movement  
of expansion1 which seemed to promise so
 much to ambitious nations anxious for  
world-power1 was being arrested4        
,moreover1 it began to be realised that 
the rapid growth of a community was     
accompanied by phenomena which had not  
been foreseen by the enthusiasts of the 
first period of optimism4 ,they had     
argued--not indeed verbally but in      
effect--that the higher the birth-rate  
the cheaper labour and lives would      
become1 and the cheaper labour and lives
 were1 the easier it would be for a     
nation with its industrial armies and   

its military armies to get ahead of     
other rival nations4 ,but they had not  
realised that1 with the growth of       
popular education in modern democratic  
states1 cheap labour is no longer       
willing to play without protest this    
humble and suffering part in national   
progress4 ,the workers of the nations   
began to declare1 clearly or obscurely1 
as they were able1 that they no longer  
intended to sell their labour and their 
lives so cheaply4 ,the rising birth-rate
 of the middle of the nineteenth century
 coincided with1 and to a large extent  
doubtless produced1 the organisation of 
labour1 trades unions1 the political    
activity of the working classes1        
,socialism1 as well as the extreme forms
 of ,anarchism and ,syndicalism4 ,it was
 when these movements began to attain a 
high degree of organisation and power   
that the birth-rate began to decline4   
,thus the pessimists of the second      
period were faced by horrors on both    
sides4 ,on the one hand1 they saw that  

the ever-increasing rate of human       
production which seemed to them the     
essential condition of national1 social1
 even moral progress1 had not only      
stopped but was steadily diminishing4   
,on the other hand1 they saw that1 even 
in so far as it was maintained1 it      
involved1 under modern conditions1      
nothing but social commotion and        
economic disturbance4  ,there are still 
many pessimists of this second period   
alive among us1 and actively proclaiming
 their gospel of despair1 alike in      
,england and in ,germany4 ,but a new    
generation is growing up1 and this      
question is now entering a third period4
 ,the new generation rejects alike the  
passive optimism of the first period and
 the passive pessimism of the second    
period4 ,its attitude is hopeful but it 
realises that mere hope is vain unless  
there is clear intellectual vision and  
unless there is individual and social   
action in accordance with that vision4  
,it is to-day beginning to be seen that 

the old notion of progress by means of  
reckless multiplication is vain4 ,it can
 only be effected at a ruinous cost of  
death1 disease1 poverty1 and misery4 ,we
 see this in the past history of        
,western ,europe1 as we still see it in 
the history of ,russia4 ,any progress   
effected along that line--if progress it
 can be called--is now barred1 for it is
 absolutely opposed to those democratic 
conceptions which are ever gaining      
greater influence among us4  ,moreover1 
we are now better able to analyse       
demographic phenomena and we are no     
longer satisfied with any crude         
statements regarding the birth-rate4 ,we
 realise that they need interpretation4 
,they have to be considered in relation 
to the sex-constitution and the         
age-constitution of the population1 and1
 above all1 they must be viewed in      
relation to the infant mortality-rate4  
,the bad aspect of the ,french          
birth-rate is not so much its lowness as
 that it is accompanied by a high       

infantile mortality4 ,the fact that the 
,german birth-rate is higher than the   
,english ceases to be a matter of       
satisfaction when it is realised that   
,german infantile mortality is vastly   
greater than ,english4 ,a high          
birth-rate is no sign of a high         
civilisation4 ,but we are beginning to  
feel that a high infantile death-rate is
 a sign of a very inferior civilisation4
 ,a low birth-rate with a low infant    
death-rate not only produces the same   
increase in the population as a high    
birth-rate with the high death-rate1    
which always accompanies it 7for there  
are no examples of1 a high birth-rate   
with a low death-rate71 but it produces 
it in a way which is far more worthy of 
our admiration in this matter than the  
way of ,russia and ,china where opposite
 conditions prevail4#a  ,it used to be  
thought that small families were        
immoral4 ,we now begin to see that it   
was the large families of old which were
 immoral4 ,the excessive birth-rate of  

the early industrial period was directly
 stimulated by selfishness4 ,there were 
no laws against child-labour2 children  
were produced that they might be sent   
out1 when little more than babies1 to   
the factories and the mines to increase 
their parents' incomes4 ,the diminished 
birth-rate has accompanied higher moral 
transformation4 ,it has introduced a    
finer economy into life1 diminished     
death1 disease1 and misery4 ,it is      
indirectly1 and even directly1 improving
 the quality of the race4 ,the very fact
 that children are born at longer       
intervals is not only beneficial to the 
mother's health1 and therefore to the   
children's general welfare1 but it has  
been proved to have a marked and        
prolonged influence on the physical     
development of children4  ,social       
progress1 and a higher civilisation1 we 
thus see1 involve a reduced birth-rate  
and a reduced death-rate2 the fewer the 
children born1 the fewer the risks of   
death1 disease1 and misery to the       

children that are born4 ,the fact that  
civilisation involves small families is 
clearly shown by the tendency of the    
educated and upper social classes to    
have small families4 ,as the proletariat
 class becomes educated and elevated1   
disciplined to refinement and to        
foresight--as it were aristocratised--it
 also has small families4               
,civilisational progress is here in a   
line with biological progress4 ,the     
lower organisms spawn their progeny in  
thousands1 the higher mammals produce   
but one or two at a time4 ,the higher   
the race the fewer the offspring4  ,thus
 diminution in quantity is throughout   
associated with augmentation in quality4
 ,quality rather than quantity is the   
racial ideal now set before us1 and it  
is an ideal which1 as we are beginning  
to learn1 it is possible to cultivate1  
both individually and socially4 ,the day
 is coming1 as ,engel remarks in his    
useful book on ,the ,elements of ,child 
,protection1 when fatherhood and        

motherhood will only be permitted to the
 strong4 ,that is why the new science of
 eugenics or racial hygiene is acquiring
 so immense an importance4 ,in the past 
racial selection has been carried out   
crudely by the destructive1 wasteful1   
and expensive method of elimination1    
through death4 ,in the future it will be
 carried out far more effectively by    
conscious and deliberate selection1     
exercised not merely before birth1 but  
before conception and even before       
mating4 ,it is idle to suppose that such
 a change can be exerted by mere        
legislation1 for which1 besides1 our    
scientific knowledge is still           
inadequate4 ,we cannot1 indeed1 desire  
any compulsory elimination of the unfit 
or any regulated breeding of the fit4   
,such notions are idle4 ,man can only be
 bred from within1 through the medium of
 his intelligence and will1 working     
together under the control of a high    
sense of responsibility4 ,galton1 who   
recognised the futility of mere         

legislation to elevate the race1        
believed that the hope of the future lay
 in eugenics becoming a part of         
religion4 ,the good of the race lies1   
not in the production of a super-man1   
but of a super-humanity4 ,this can only 
be attained through personal individual 
development1 the increase of knowledge1 
the sense of responsibility towards the 
race1 enabling men to act in accordance 
with responsibility4 ,the leadership in 
civilisation belongs not to the nation  
with the highest birth-rate but to the  
nation which has thus learnt to produce 
the finest men and women4   #a ,for a   
more detailed discussion of these points
 see the author's ,task of ,social      
,hygiene4     ,,xvii   ,,civilisation   
,,and ,,the ,,birth-,,rate  ,it was     
inevitable that the ,great ,war of      
to-day should lead to an outcry1 in all 
the countries engaged1 for more children
 and larger families4 ,in ,germany and  
in ,austria1 in ,france and in ,england1
 panic-stricken fanatics are found who  

preach to the people that the birth-rate
 is falling and the nation is decaying4 
,no scheme is too wild for the supposed 
benefit of the country in a fierce      
coming fight for commercial supremacy1  
as well as with due regard to the       
requirements in cannon fodder of another
 ,great ,war twenty years hence4  ,it   
may be well1 however1 to pause before we
 listen to these ,quixotic plans4#a ,we 
may then find reason to think1 not only 
that any attempt to arrest the falling  
birth-rate is scarcely likely to be     
effective in view of the fact that it   
affects not one country only but all the
 countries that count1 but that even if 
it could be successful it would be      
mischievous4 ,whatever the results of   
the ,war may be1 one result is fairly   
certain and that is that1 under the most
 favourable circumstances1 every country
 will emerge laden with misery and debt2
 whatever prosperity may follow1 living 
will be expensive for a long time to    
come and the incomes of all classes     

heavily burdened4 ,a ,bounty on ,babies 
would hardly make up for these          
difficulties4 ,the happy family1 under  
the conditions that seem to be          
immediately ahead of us1 is likely to be
 the small family4 ,the large family--as
 indeed has been the case in the        
past--is likely to be visited by disease
 and death4  ,but there is more to be   
said than this4 ,we must dismiss        
altogether the statement so often made  
that a falling birth-rate means an old  
and dying community4 ,the ,germans have 
for years been making this remark       
contemptuously regarding the ,french4   
,but to-day they have to recognise a    
vitality in the ,french which they had  
not expected1 while in recent years1    
also1 their own birth-rate has been     
falling more rapidly than that of       
,france4 ,nor is it true that a falling 
birth-rate means a falling population2  
the ,french birth-rate has long been    
steadily falling1 yet the ,french       
population has been steadily increasing 

all the time1 though less rapidly than  
it would had not the death-rate been    
abnormally high4 ,it is not the number  
of babies born that counts1 but the net 
result in surviving children4 ,an       
enormous number of babies are born in   
,china2 but an enormous number die while
 still babies4 ,so that it is better to 
have a few babies of good quality than a
 large number of indifferent quality1   
for the falling birth-rate is more than 
compensated by the falling death-rate4  
,that is what we are attaining in       
,england1 and1 as we know1 our steadily 
falling birth-rate results in a steadily
 growing population4  ,there is still   
more to be said4 ,small families and a  
falling birth-rate are not merely no    
evil1 they are a positive good4 ,they   
are a gain for humanity4 ,they represent
 an evolutionary rise in ,nature and a  
higher stage in civilisation4 ,we are   
here in the presence of great           
fundamental principles of progress which
 have been working through life from the

 beginning4  ,at the beginning of life  
on the earth reproduction ran riot4 ,of 
one minute organism it is estimated     
that1 if its reproduction were not      
checked by death or destruction1 in     
thirty days it would form a mass a      
million times larger than the sun4 ,the 
conger-eel lays fifteen million eggs1   
and if they all grew up1 and reproduced 
themselves on the same scale1 in two    
years the whole sea would become a      
wriggling mass of fish4 ,as we approach 
the higher forms of life reproduction   
gradually dies down4 ,the animals       
nearest to man produce few offspring1   
but they surround them with parental    
care1 until they are able to lead       
independent lives with a fair chance of 
surviving4 ,the whole process may be    
regarded as a mechanism for slowly      
subordinating quantity to quality1 and  
so promoting the evolution of life to   
ever higher stages4  ,this process1     
which is plain to see on the largest    
scale throughout living nature1 may be  

more minutely studied1 as it acts within
 a narrower range1 in the human species4
 ,here we statistically formulate it in 
the terms of birth-rate and death-rate2 
by the mutual relationship of the two   
courses of the birth-rate and the       
death-rate we are able to estimate the  
evolutionary rank of a nation1 and the  
degree in which it has succeeded in     
subordinating the primitive standard of 
quantity to the higher and later        
standard of quality4  ,it is especially 
in ,europe that we can investigate this 
relationship by the help of statistics  
which in some cases extend for nearly a 
century back4 ,we can trace the various 
phases through which each nation passes1
 the effects of prosperity1 the         
influence of education and sanitary     
improvement1 the general complex        
development of civilisation1 in each    
case moving forward1 though not         
regularly and steadily1 to higher stages
 by means of a falling birth-rate1 which
 is to some extent compensated by a     

falling death-rate1 the two rates nearly
 always running parallel1 so that a     
temporary rise in the birth-rate is     
usually accompanied by a rise in the    
death-rate1 by a return1 that is to say1
 towards the conditions which we find at
 the beginning of animal life1 and a    
steady fall in the birth-rate is always 
accompanied by a fall in the death-rate4
  ,the modern phase of this movement1   
soon after which our precise knowledge  
begins1 may be said to date from the    
industrial expansion1 due to the        
introduction of machinery1 which        
,professor ,marshall places in ,england 
about the year #agfj4 ,that represents  
the beginning of an era in which all    
civilised and semi-civilised countries  
are still living4 ,for the earlier      
centuries we lack precise data1 but we  
are able to form certain probable       
conclusions4 ,the population of a       
country in those ages seems to have     
grown very slowly and sometimes even to 
have retrograded4 ,at the end of the    

sixteenth century the population of     
,england and ,wales is estimated at five
 millions and at the end of the         
seventeenth at six millions--only #bj   
per cent4 increase during the           
century--although during the nineteenth 
century the population nearly           
quadrupled4 ,this very gradual increase 
of the population seems to have been by 
no means due to a very low birth-rate1  
but to a very high death-rate4          
,throughout the ,middle ,ages a         
succession of virulent plagues and      
pestilences devastated ,europe4         
,small-pox1 which may be considered the 
latest of these1 used to sweep off large
 masses of the youthful population in   
the eighteenth century4 ,the result was 
a certain stability and a certain       
well-being in the population as a whole1
 these conditions being1 however1       
maintained in a manner that was terribly
 wasteful and distressing4  ,the        
industrial revolution introduced a new  
era which began to show its features    

clearly in the early nineteenth century4
 ,on the one hand1 a new motive had     
arisen to favour a more rapid increase  
of population4 ,small children could    
tend machinery and thereby earn wages to
 increase the family takings4 ,this led 
to an immediate result in increased     
population and increased prosperity4    
,but1 on the other hand1 the rapid      
increase of population always tended to 
outrun the rapid increase of prosperity1
 and the more so since the rise of      
sanitary science began to drive back the
 invasions of the grosser and more      
destructive infectious diseases which   
had hitherto kept the population down4  
,the result was that new forms of       
disease1 distress1 and destitution      
arose2 the old stability was lost1 and  
the new prosperity produced unrest in   
place of well-being4 ,the social        
consciousness was still too immature to 
deal collectively with the difficulties 
and frictions which the industrial era  
introduced1 and the individualism which 

under former conditions had operated    
wholesomely now acted perniciously to   
crush the souls and bodies of the       
workers1 whether men1 women1 or         
children4  ,as we know1 the increase of 
knowledge and the growth of the social  
consciousness have slowly acted         
wholesomely during the past century to  
remedy the first evil results of the    
industrial revolution4 ,the artificial  
and abnormal increase of the population 
has been checked because it is no longer
 permissible in most countries to stunt 
the minds and bodies of small children  
by placing them in factories4 ,an       
elaborate system of factory legislation 
was devised1 and is still ever drawing  
fresh groups of workers within its      
protective meshes4 ,sanitary science    
began to develop and to exert an        
enormous influence on the health of     
nations4 ,at the same time the supreme  
importance of popular education was     
realised4 ,the total result was that the
 nature of prosperity began to be       

transformed2 instead of being1 as it had
 been at the beginning of the industrial
 era1 a direct appeal to the            
gratification of gross appetites and    
reckless lusts1 it became an indirect   
stimulus to higher gratifications and   
more remote aspirations4 ,foresight     
became a dominating motive even in the  
general population1 and a man's anxiety 
for the welfare of his family was no    
longer forgotten in the pleasure of the 
moment4 ,the social state again became  
more stable1 and mere prosperity was    
transformed into civilisation4 ,this is 
the state of things now in progress in  
all industrial countries1 though it has 
reached varying levels of development   
among different peoples4  ,it is thus   
clear that the birth-rate combined with 
the death-rate constitutes a delicate   
instrument for the measurement of       
civilisation1 and that the record of    
their combined curves registers the     
upward or downward course of every      
nation4 ,the curves1 as we know1 tend to

 be parallel1 and when they are not     
parallel we are in the presence of a    
rare and abnormal state of things which 
is usually temporary or transitional4   
,it is instructive from this point of   
view to study the various nations of    
,europe1 for here we find a large number
 of small nations1 each with its own    
statistical system1 confined within a   
small space and living under fairly     
uniform conditions4 ,let us take the    
latest official figures 7which are      
usually for #aiac7 and attempt to       
measure the civilisation of ,european   
countries on this basis4 ,beginning with
 the lowest birth-rate1 and therefore in
 gradually descending rank of           
superiority1 we find that the ,european 
countries stand in the following order3 
,france1 ,belgium1 ,ireland1 ,sweden1   
the ,united ,kingdom1 ,switzerland1     
,norway1 ,scotland1 ,denmark1 ,holland1 
the ,german ,empire1 ,prussia1 ,finland1
 ,spain1 ,austria1 ,italy1 ,hungary1    
,serbia1 ,bulgaria1 ,roumania1 ,russia4 

,if we take the death-rate similarly1   
beginning with the lowest rate and      
gradually proceeding to the highest1 we 
find the following order3 ,holland1     
,denmark1 ,norway1 ,sweden1             
,switzerland1 the ,united ,kingdom1     
,belgium1 ,scotland1 ,prussia1 the      
,german ,empire1 ,finland1 ,ireland1    
,france1 ,italy1 ,austria1 ,serbia1     
,spain1 ,bulgaria1 ,hungary1 ,roumania1 
,russia4  ,now we cannot accept the     
birth-rates and death-rates of the      
various countries exactly at their face 
value4 ,temporary conditions1 as well as
 the special composition of a           
population1 not to mention peculiarities
 of registration1 exert a disturbing    
effect4 ,roughly and on the whole1      
however1 the figures are acceptable4 ,it
 is instructive to find how closely the 
two rates agree4 ,the agreement is1     
indeed1 greater at the bottom than at   
the top2 the eight countries which      
constitute the lowest group as regards  
birth-rate are the identical eight      

countries which furnish the heaviest    
death-rates4 ,that was to be expected2 a
 very high birth-rate seems fatally to  
involve a very high death-rate4 ,but a  
very low birth-rate 7as we see in the   
cases of ,france and ,ireland7 is not   
invariably associated with a very low   
death-rate1 though it is never          
associated with a high death-rate4 ,this
 seems to indicate that those qualities 
in a highly civilised nation which      
restrain the production of offspring do 
not always or at once produce the       
eugenic racial qualities possessed by   
hardier peoples living under simpler    
conditions4 ,but with these reservations
 it is not difficult to combine the two 
lists in a fairly concordant order of   
descending rank4 ,most readers will     
agree1 that taking the ,european        
populations in bulk1 without regard to  
the production of genius 7for men of    
genius are always a very minute fraction
 of a nation71 the ,european populations
 which they are accustomed to regard as 

standing at the head in the general     
diffusion of character1 intelligence1   
education1 and well-being1 are all      
included in the first twelve or thirteen
 nations1 which are the same in both    
lists though they do not follow the same
 order4 ,these peoples1 as peoples--that
 is1 without regard to their size1 their
 political importance1 or their         
production of genius--represent the     
highest level of democratic civilisation
 in ,europe4  ,it is scarcely necessary 
to add that various countries outside   
,europe equal or excel them2 the        
death-rate of the ,united ,states1 so   
far as statistics show1 is the same as  
that of ,sweden2 that of ,ontario1 still
 better1 is the same as ,denmark2 while 
the death-rate of the ,australian       
,commonwealth1 with a medium birth-rate1
 is lower than that of any ,european    
country1 and ,new ,zealand holds the    
world's championship in this field with 
the lowest death-rate of all4 ,on the   
other hand1 some extra-,european        

countries compare less favourably with  
,europe2 ,japan1 with a rather high     
birth-rate1 has the same high death-rate
 as ,spain1 and ,chile1 with a still    
higher birth-rate1 has a higher         
death-rate than ,russia4 ,so it is that 
among human peoples we find the same    
laws prevailing as among animals1 and   
the higher nations of the world differ  
from those which are less highly evolved
 precisely as the elephant differs from 
the herring1 though within a narrower   
range1 that is to say1 by producing     
fewer offspring and taking better care  
of them4  ,the whole of this            
evolutionary process1 we have to        
remember1 is a natural process4 ,it has 
been going on from the beginning of the 
living world4 ,but at a certain stage in
 the higher development of man1 without 
ceasing to be natural1 it becomes       
conscious and deliberate4 ,it is then   
that we have what may properly be termed
 ,birth ,control4 ,that is to say1 that 
a process which had before been working 

slowly through the ages1 attaining every
 new forward step with waste and pain1  
is henceforth carried out voluntarily1  
in the light of the high human qualities
 of reason and foresight and            
self-restraint4 ,the rise of birth      
control may be said to correspond with  
the rise of social and sanitary science 
in the first half of the nineteenth     
century1 and to be indeed an essential  
part of that movement4 ,it is firmly    
established in all the most progressive 
and enlightened countries of ,europe1   
notably in ,france and in ,england2 in  
,germany1 where formerly the birth-rate 
was very high1 birth control has        
developed with extraordinary rapidity   
during the present century4 ,in ,holland
 its principle and practice are freely  
taught by physicians and nurses to the  
mothers of the people1 with the result  
that there is in ,holland no longer any 
necessity for unwanted babies1 and this 
small country possesses the proud       
privilege of the lowest death-rate in   

,europe4 ,in the free and enlightened   
democratic communities on the other side
 of the globe1 in ,australia and ,new   
,zealand1 the same principles and       
practice are generally accepted1 with   
the same beneficent results4 ,on the    
other hand1 in the more backward and    
ignorant countries of ,europe1 birth    
control is still little known1 and death
 and disease flourish4 ,this is the case
 in those eight countries which come at 
the bottom of both our lists4  ,even in 
the more progressive countries1 however1
 birth control has not been established 
without a struggle1 which has frequently
 ended in a hypocritical compromise1 its
 principles being publicly ignored or   
denied and its practice privately       
accepted4 ,for1 at the great and vitally
 important point in human progress which
 birth control represents1 we really see
 the conflict of two moralities4 ,the   
morality of the ancient world is here   
confronted by the morality of the new   
world4 ,the old morality1 knowing       

nothing of science and the process of   
,nature as worked out in the evolution  
of life1 based itself on the early      
chapters of ,genesis1 in which the      
children of ,noah are represented as    
entering an empty earth which it is     
their business to populate diligently4  
,so it came about that for this         
morality1 still innocent of eugenics1   
recklessness was almost a virtue4       
,children were given by ,god2 if they   
died or were afflicted by congenital    
disease1 it was the dispensation of     
,god1 and1 whatever imprudence the      
parents might commit1 the pathetic faith
 still ruled that ,god will provide4    
,but in the new morality it is realised 
that in these matters ,divine action can
 only be made manifest in human action1 
that is to say through the operation of 
our own enlightened reason and resolved 
will4 ,prudence1 foresight1             
self-restraint--virtues which the old   
morality looked down on with benevolent 
contempt--assume a position of the first

 importance4 ,in the eyes of the new    
morality the ideal woman is no longer   
the meek drudge condemned to endless and
 often ineffectual child-bearing1 but   
the free and instructed woman1 able to  
look before and after1 trained in a     
sense of responsibility alike to herself
 and to the race1 and determined to have
 no children but the best4 ,such were   
the two moralities which came into      
conflict during the nineteenth century4 
,they were irreconcilable and each      
firmly rooted1 one in ancient religion  
and tradition1 the other in progressive 
science and reason4 ,nothing was        
possible in such a clash of opposing    
ideas but a feeble and confused         
compromise such as we still find        
prevailing in various countries of ,old 
,europe4 ,it was not a satisfactory     
solution1 however inevitable1 and       
especially unsatisfactory by the        
consequent obscurantism which placed    
difficulties in the way of spreading a  
knowledge of the methods of birth       

control among the masses of the         
population4 ,for the result has been    
that while the more enlightened and     
educated have exercised a control over  
the size of their families1 the poorer  
and more ignorant--who should have been 
offered every facility and encouragement
 to follow in the same path--have been  
left1 through a conspiracy of secrecy1  
to carry on helplessly the bad customs  
of their forefathers4 ,this social      
neglect has had the result that the     
superior family stocks have been        
hampered by the recklessness of the     
inferior stocks4  ,we may see these two 
moralities in conflict to-day in        
,america4 ,up till recently ,america had
 meekly accepted at ,old ,europe's hands
 the traditional prescription of our    
,mediterranean book of ,genesis1 with   
its fascinating old-world fragrance of  
,mount ,ararat4 ,on the surface1 the    
ancient morality had been complacently1 
almost unquestionably1 accepted in      
,america1 even to the extent of         

permitting a vast extension of          
abortion--a criminal practice which ever
 flourishes where birth-control is      
neglected4 ,but to-day we suddenly see a
 new movement in the ,united ,states4   
,in a flash1 ,america has awakened to   
the true significance of the issue4     
,with that direct vision of hers1 that  
swift practicality of action1 and1 above
 all1 that sense of the democratic      
nature of all social progress1 we see   
her resolutely beginning to face this   
great problem4 ,in her own vigorous     
native tongue we hear her demanding3    
,what in the thunder is all the secrecy 
about1 anyhow8 ,and we cannot doubt that
 ,america's own answer to that demand   
will be of immense significance to the  
whole world4  ,thus it is that as we get
 to the root of the matter the whole    
question becomes clear4 ,we see that    
there is really no standing ground in   
any country for the panic-monger who    
bemoans the fall of the birth-rate and  
storms against small families4 ,the     

falling birth-rate is a world-wide      
phenomenon in all countries that are    
striving toward a higher civilisation   
along lines which ,nature laid down from
 the beginning4 ,we cannot stop it if we
 would1 and if we could we should merely
 be impeding civilisation4 ,it is a     
movement that rights itself and tends to
 reach a just balance4 ,it has not yet  
reached that balance with us in this    
country4 ,that may be seen by anyone who
 has read the letters from mothers      
lately published under the title of     
,maternity by the ,women's ,co-operative
 ,guild2 there is still far more misery 
caused by having too many babies than by
 having too few2 a bonus on babies would
 be a misfortune1 alike for the parents 
and the ,state--whether bestowed at     
birth as proposed in ,new ,zealand1 or  
at the age of twelve months as proposed 
in ,france1 or fourteen years as        
proposed in ,england--unless it were    
confined to children who were not merely
 alive at the appointed age1 but able to

 pass examination as having reached a   
definitely high standard4 ,the falling  
birth-rate1 which1 it must be           
remembered1 is affecting all civilised  
countries1 should be a matter for joy   
rather than for grief4  ,but we need not
 therefore fold our hands and do        
nothing4 ,there is still much to be     
effected for the protection of          
,motherhood and the better care of      
children4 ,we cannot1 and should not1   
attempt to increase the number of       
children4 ,but we may well attempt to   
work for their better quality4 ,there we
 shall be on very safe ground4 ,more    
knowledge is necessary so that all      
would-be parents may know how they may  
best become parents and how they may1 if
 necessary1 best avoid it4 ,procreation 
by the unfit should be1 if not          
prohibited by law1 at all events so     
discouraged by public opinion that to   
attempt it would be counted disgraceful4
 ,much greater public provision is      
necessary for the care of mothers during

 the months before1 as well as during   
the period after1 the child's birth4    
,the system of ,schools for ,mothers    
needs to be universalised and           
systematically carried out4 ,along such 
lines as these we may hope to increase  
the happiness of the people and the     
strength of the ,state4 ,we need not    
worry over the falling birth-rate4   #a 
,those who wish to study the latest     
restatements of opinions in ,england may
 be recommended to read the ,report of  
the ,commission of ,inquiry into ,great 
,britain's falling birth-rate1 appointed
 in #aiac by the ,national ,council of  
,public ,morals1 under the title of ,the
 ,declining ,birth-rate3 ,its ,causes   
and ,effects1 #aiaf4     ,,xviii        
,,birth ,,control  ,i4  ,,reproduction  
,,and ,,the ,,birth-,,rate  ,the study  
of the questions relating to sex1 so    
actively carried on during recent years1
 has become more and more concentrated  
on to the practical problems of marriage
 and the family4 ,that was inevitable4  

,it is only reasonable that1 with our   
growing scientific knowledge of the     
mysteries of sex1 we should seek to     
apply that knowledge to those questions 
of life which we must ever regard as    
central4 ,how can we add to the         
stability or to the flexibility of      
marriage8 ,how can we most judiciously  
regulate the size of our families8  ,at 
the outset1 however1 we cannot too      
deeply impress upon our minds the fact  
that these questions are not new in the 
world4 ,if we try to find an answer to  
them by confining our attention to the  
phenomena presented by our own species1 
at our own particular moment of         
civilisation1 it is very likely indeed  
that we may fall into crude1            
superficial1 even mischievous           
conclusions4  ,the fact is that these   
questions1 which are agitating us       
to-day1 have agitated the world ever    
since it has been a world of life at    
all4 ,the difference is that whereas we 
seek to deal with them consciously1     

voluntarily1 and deliberately1          
throughout by far the greater part of   
the world's life they have been dealt   
with unconsciously1 by methods of trial 
and error1 of perpetual experiment1     
which has often proved costly1 but has  
all the more clearly brought out the    
real course of natural progress4 ,we    
cannot solve problems so ancient and    
deeply rooted as those of sex by merely 
rational methods which are only of      
yesterday4 ,to be of value our rational 
methods must be the revelation in       
deliberate consciousness of unconscious 
methods which go far back into the      
remote past4 ,our conscious1 deliberate1
 and purposive methods1 carried out on  
the plane of reason1 will not be sound  
unless they are a continuation of those 
methods which have already1 in the slow 
evolution of life1 been found sound and 
progressive on the plane of instinct4   
,this must be borne in mind by those    
people--always to be found among us1    
though not always on the side of social 

advance--who desire their own line of   
conduct in matters of sex to be so      
closely in accord with natural and      
,divine law that to question it would be
 impious4  ,a medical friend of my own1 
when once in the dentist's chair under  
the influence of nitrous oxide          
anaesthesia 7a condition1 as ,william   
,james showed1 which frequently leads us
 to believe we are solving the problems 
of the universe71 imagined himself      
facing the ,almighty and insistently    
demanding the real object of the        
existence of the world4 ,and the        
,almighty's answer came in one word3    
,reproduction4 ,my friend is a man of   
philosophic mind1 and the solution of   
the mystery of the world's purpose thus 
presented to him in vision may perhaps  
serve as a simple and ultimate statement
 of the object of life4 ,from the very  
outset the great object of ,nature to   
our human eyes seems to be primarily    
reproduction1 in the long run1 indeed1  
an effort after economy of method in the

 attainment of an ever greater          
perfection1 but primarily reproduction4 
,this tendency to reproduction is indeed
 so fundamental1 it is impressed on     
vital organisation with so great a      
violence of emphasis1 that we may regard
 the course of evolution as much more an
 effort to slow down reproduction than  
to furnish it with any new facilities4  
,we must remember that reproduction     
appears in the history of life before   
sex appears4 ,the lower forms of animal 
and plant life often reproduce          
themselves without the aid of sex1 and  
it has even been argued that            
reproduction and sex are directly       
antagonistic1 that active propagation is
 always checked when sexual             
differentiation is established4 ,the    
impression one gains of sexuality1      
remarks ,professor ,coulter1 foremost of
 ,american botanists1 is that it        
represents reproduction under peculiar  
difficulties4#a ,bacteria among         
primitive plants and protozoa among     

primitive animals are patterns of rapid 
and prolific reproduction1 though sex   
begins to appear in a rudimentary form  
in very lowly forms of life1 even among 
the protozoa1 and is at first compatible
 with a high degree of reproduction4 ,a 
single infusorian becomes in a week the 
ancestor of millions1 that is to say1 of
 far more individuals than could proceed
 under the most favourable conditions   
from a pair of elephants in five        
centuries1 while ,huxley calculated that
 the progeny of a single parthenogenetic
 aphis1 under favouring circumstances1  
would in a few months outweigh the whole
 population of ,china4#b ,that          
proviso--under favouring conditions--is 
of great importance1 for it reveals the 
weak point in this early method of      
,nature's for conducting evolution by   
enormously rapid multiplication4        
,creatures so easily produced could be1 
and were1 easily destroyed2 no time had 
been spent on imparting to them the     
qualities that would enable them to     

lead1 what we should call in our own    
case1 long and useful lives4  ,yet the  
method of rapid multiplication was not  
readily or speedily abandoned by        
,nature4 ,still speaking in our human   
way1 we may say that she tried to give  
it every chance4 ,among insects that    
have advanced so far as the white ants1 
we find that the queen lays eggs at an  
enormous rate during the whole of her   
active life1 according to some estimates
 at the rate of #hj1jjj a day4 ,even in 
the more primitive members of the great 
vertebrate group1 to which we ourselves 
belong1 reproduction is sometimes still 
on almost as vast a scale as among lower
 organisms4 ,thus1 among herrings1      
nearly #gj1jjj eggs have been found in a
 single female2 but the herring1        
nevertheless1 does not tend to increase 
in the seas1 for it is everywhere preyed
 upon by whales and seals and sharks and
 birds1 and1 not least1 by man4 ,thus   
early we see the connection between a   
high death-rate and a high birth-rate4  

,the evidence against reckless          
reproduction at last1 however1 proved   
overwhelming4 ,with whatever hesitation1
 ,nature finally decided1 once and for  
all1 that it was better1 from every     
point of view1 to produce a few superior
 beings than a vast number of inferior  
beings4 ,for while the primary end of   
,nature may be said to be reproduction1 
there is a secondary end of scarcely    
less equal urgency1 and that is         
evolution4 ,in other words1 while       
,nature seems to our human eyes to be   
seeking after quantity1 she is also     
seeking1 and with ever greater          
eagerness1 after quality4 ,now the      
method of rapid and easy reproduction1  
it had become clear1 not only failed of 
its own end1 for the inferior creatures 
thus produced were unable to maintain   
their position in life1 but it was      
distinctly unfavourable to any advance  
in quality4 ,the method of sexual       
reproduction1 which had existed in a    
germinal form more or less from the     

beginning1 asserted itself ever more    
emphatically1 and a method like that of 
parthenogenesis1 or reproduction by the 
female unaided by the male 7illustrated 
by the aphis71 which had lingered on    
even beside sexual reproduction1        
absolutely died out in higher evolution4
 ,now the fertilisation involved by the 
existence of two sexes is1 as ,weismann 
insisted1 simply an arrangement which   
renders possible the intermingling of   
two different hereditary tendencies4    
,the object of sex1 that is to say1 is  
by no means to aid reproduction1 but    
rather to subordinate and check         
reproduction in order to evolve higher  
and more complex beings4 ,here we come  
to the great principle1 which ,herbert  
,spencer developed at length in his     
,principles of ,biology1 that1 as he put
 it1 ,individuation and ,genesis vary   
inversely1 whence it followed that      
advancing evolution must be accompanied 
by declining fertility4 ,individuation1 
which means complexity of structure1 has

 advanced1 as ,genesis1 the unrestricted
 tendency to mere multiplication1 has   
receded4 ,this involves a diminished    
number of offspring1 but an increased   
amount of time and care in the creation 
and breeding of each2 it involves also  
that the reproductive life of the       
organism is shortened and more or less  
confined to special periods2 it begins  
much later1 it usually ends earlier1 and
 even in its period of activity it tends
 to fall into cycles4 ,nature1 we see1  
who1 at the outset1 had endowed her     
children so lavishly with the aptitude  
for multiplication1 grown wiser now1    
expends her fertile imagination in      
devising preventive checks on           
reproduction for her children's use4    
,the result is that1 though reproduction
 is greatly slackened1 evolution is     
greatly accelerated4 ,the significance  
of sex1 as ,coulter puts it1 lies in the
 fact that it makes organic evolution   
more rapid and far more varied4 ,it is  
scarcely necessary to emphasise that a  

highly important1 and1 indeed1 essential
 aspect of this greater individuation is
 a higher survival value4 ,the more     
complex and better equipped creature can
 meet and subdue difficulties and       
dangers to which the more lowly         
organised creature that came            
before--produced wholesale in a way     
which ,nature seems now to look back on 
as cheap and nasty--succumbed helplessly
 without an effort4 ,the idea of economy
 begins to assert itself in the world4  
,it became clear in the course of       
evolution that it is better to produce  
really good and highly efficient        
organisms1 at whatever cost1 than to be 
content with cheap production on a      
wholesale scale4 ,they allowed greater  
developmental progress to be made1 and  
they lasted better4 ,even before man    
began it was proved in the animal world 
that the death-rate falls as the        
birth-rate falls4  ,if we wish to       
realise the vast progress in method     
which has been made1 even within the    

limits of the vertebrates to which we   
ourselves belong1 we have but to compare
 with the lowly herring1 already cited1 
the highly evolved elephant4 ,the       
herring multiplies with enormous        
rapidity and on a vast scale1 and it    
possesses a very small brain1 and is    
almost totally unequipped to grapple    
with the special difficulties of its    
life1 to which it succumbs on a         
wholesale scale4 ,a single elephant is  
carried for about two years in his      
mother's womb1 and is carefully guarded 
by her for many years after birth2 he   
possesses a large brain2 his muscular   
system is as remarkable for its delicacy
 as for its power and is guided by the  
most sensitive perceptions4 ,he is fully
 equipped for all the dangers of his    
life1 save for those which have been    
introduced by the subtle devilry of     
modern man1 and though a single pair of 
elephants produces so few offspring1 yet
 their high cost is justified1 for each 
of them has a reasonable chance of      

surviving to old age4 ,the contrast from
 the point of view of reproduction of   
the herring and the elephant1 the low   
vertebrate and the high vertebrate1 well
 illustrates the tendency of evolution4 
,it clearly brings before us the        
difference between ,nature's earlier and
 later methods1 the ever growing        
preference for quality of offspring over
 quantity4  ,it has been necessary to   
touch on the wider aspects of           
reproduction in ,nature1 even when our  
main concern is with particular aspects 
of reproduction in man1 for unless we   
understand the progressive tendency of  
reproduction in ,nature1 we shall       
probably fail to understand it in man4  
,with these preliminary observations1 we
 may now take up the question as it     
affects man4  ,it is not easy to        
ascertain the exact tendencies of       
reproduction in our own historical past 
or among the lower races of to-day4 ,on 
the whole1 it seems fairly clear that1  
under ordinary savage and barbarous     

conditions1 rather more children are    
produced and rather more children die   
than among ourselves2 there is1 in other
 words1 a higher birth-rate and a higher
 infantile death-rate4#c ,a high        
birth-rate with a low death-rate seems  
to have been even more exceptional than 
among ourselves1 for under inelastic    
social conditions the community cannot  
adjust itself to the rapid expansion    
that would thus be rendered necessary4  
,the community contracts1 as it were1 on
 this expanding portion and largely     
crushes it out of life by the forces of 
neglect1 poverty1 and disease4#d ,the   
only part of ,europe in which we can    
to-day see how this works out on a large
 scale is ,russia1 for here we find in  
an exaggerated form conditions1 which   
once tended to rule all over ,europe1   
side by side with the beginnings of     
better things1 with scientific progress 
and statistical observation4 ,yet in    
,russia1 up till recently1 if not even  
still1 there has only been about one    

doctor to every twelve thousand         
inhabitants1 and the witch-doctor has   
flourished4 ,small-pox1 scarlet fever1  
diphtheria1 typhoid1 and syphilis also  
flourish1 and not only flourish1 but    
show an enormously higher mortality than
 in other ,european countries4 ,more    
significant still1 famine and typhus1   
the special disease of filth and        
overcrowding and misery--both of them   
banished1 save in the most abnormal     
times1 from the rest of ,europe--have in
 modern times ravaged ,russia on a vast 
scale4 ,ignorance1 superstition1        
insanitation1 filth1 bad food1 impure   
water1 lead to a vast mortality among   
children which has sometimes destroyed  
more than half of them before they reach
 the age of five2 so that1 enormously   
high as the ,russian birth-rate is1 the 
death-rate has sometimes exceeded it4#e 
,nor is it found1 as some would-be      
sagacious persons confidently assert1   
that the high birth-rate is justified by
 the better quality of the survivors4   

,on the contrary1 there is a very large 
proportion of chronic and incurable     
diseases among the survivors2 blindness 
and other defects abound2 and though    
there are many very large and fine      
people in ,russia1 the average stature  
of the ,russians is lower than that of  
most ,european peoples4#f  ,russia is in
 the era of expanding industrialism--a  
fateful period for any people1 as we    
shall see directly--and the results     
resemble those which followed1 and to   
some extent exist still1 further west4  
,the workers1 whose hours often extended
 to twelve or fourteen1 frequently had  
no homes but slept in the factory       
itself1 in the midst of the machinery1  
or in a sort of dormitory above it1 with
 a minimum of space and fresh air1 men  
and women promiscuously1 on wooden      
shelves1 one above the other1 under the 
eye of ,government inspectors whose     
protests were powerless to effect any   
change4 ,this is1 always and everywhere1
 even among so humane a people as the   

,russians1 the natural and inevitable   
result of a high birth-rate in an era of
 expanding industrialism4 ,here is the  
goal of unrestricted reproduction1 the  
same among men as among herrings4 ,this 
is the ideal of those persons1 whether  
they know it or not1 who in their       
criminal rashness would dare to arrest  
that fall in the birth-rate which is now
 beginning to spread its beneficent     
influence in every civilised land4  ,we 
have no means of ascertaining precisely 
the birth-rate in ,western ,europe      
before the nineteenth century1 but the  
estimates of the population which have  
been made by the help of various data   
indicate that the increase during a     
century was very moderate4 ,in ,england1
 for instance1 families scarcely seem to
 have been very large1 and1 even apart  
from wars1 many plagues and pestilences1
 during the eighteenth century more     
especially small-pox1 constantly        
devastated the population1 so that1 with
 these checks on the results of         

reproduction1 the population was able to
 adjust itself to its very gradual      
expansion4 ,the mortality fell heavily  
on young children1 as we observe in old 
family records1 where we frequently find
 two or even three children of the same 
,christian name1 the first child having 
died and its name been given to a       
successor4  ,during the last quarter of 
the eighteenth century1 a new phase of  
social life1 profoundly affecting the   
reproductive habits of the community1   
made its appearance in ,western ,europe1
 at first in ,england4 ,this was the new
 industrial era1 due to the introduction
 of machinery4 ,all the social methods  
of gradual though awkward adaptation to 
a slow expansion were dislocated4 ,easy 
expansion of population became a        
possibility1 for factories were         
constantly springing up1 and hands were 
always in demand4 ,moreover1 these hands
 could be children for it was possible  
to tend machinery at a very early age4  
,the richest family was the family with 

most children4 ,the population began to 
expand rapidly4  ,it was an era of      
prosperity4 ,but when it began to be    
realised what this meant it was seen    
that such prosperity was far from an    
enviable condition4 ,a community cannot 
suddenly adjust itself to a sudden      
expansion1 still less can it adjust     
itself to a continuous rapid expansion4 
,disease1 misery1 and poverty flourished
 in this prosperous new industrial era4 
,filth and insanitation1 immorality and 
crime1 were fostered by overcrowding in 
ill-built urban areas4 ,ignorance and   
stupidity abounded1 for the child1      
placed in the monotonous routine of the 
factory when little more than an infant1
 was deprived alike of the education of 
the school and of the world4 ,higher    
wages brought no higher refinement and  
were squandered on food and drink1 on   
the lowest vulgar tastes4 ,such         
prosperity was merely a brutalising     
influence2 it meant nothing for the     
growth of civilisation and humanity4    

,then a wholesome movement of reaction  
set in4 ,the betterment of the          
environment--that was the great task    
that social pioneers and reformers saw  
before them4 ,they courageously set     
about the herculean task of cleansing   
this ,augean stable of ,prosperity4 ,the
 era of sanitation began4 ,the endless  
and highly beneficent course of factory 
legislature was inaugurated4#g  ,that is
 the era which1 in every progressive    
country of the world1 we are living in  
still4 ,the final tendency of it1       
however1 was not foreseen by its great  
pioneers1 or even its humble            
day-labourers of the present time4 ,for 
they were not attacking reproduction2   
they were fighting against bad          
conditions1 and may even have thought   
that they were enabling reproduction to 
expand more freely4 ,they had not       
realised that to improve the environment
 is to check reproduction1 being indeed 
the one and only way in which undue     
reproduction can be checked4 ,that may  

be said to be an aspect of the          
opposition between ,genesis and         
,individuation1 on which ,herbert       
,spencer insisted1 for by improving the 
environment we necessarily improve the  
individual who is rooted in that        
environment4 ,it is not1 we must        
remember1 a matter of conscious and     
voluntary action4 ,that is clearly      
manifest by the fact that it occurs even
 among the most primitive               
micro-organisms2 when placed under      
unfavourable conditions as to food and  
environment they tend to pass into a    
reproductive phase and by sporulation or
 otherwise begin to produce new         
individuals rapidly4 ,it is the same in 
,man4 ,improve the environment and      
reproduction is checked4#h ,that is1 as 
,professor ,benjamin ,moore has said1   
the simple biological reply to good     
economic conditions4 ,it is only among  
the poor1 the ignorant1 and the wretched
 that reproduction flourishes4 ,the     
tendency of civilisation1 as            

,leroy-,beaulieu concludes1 is to reduce
 the birth-rate4 ,those who desire a    
high birth-rate are desiring1 whether   
they know it or not1 the increase of    
poverty1 ignorance1 and wretchedness4   
,so far we have been dealing with       
fundamental laws and tendencies1 which  
were established long before ,man       
appeared on the earth1 although ,man has
 often illustrated1 and still           
illustrates1 their inevitable character4
 ,we have not been brought in contact   
with the influence of conscious design  
and deliberate intention4 ,at this point
 we reach a totally new aspect of       
reproduction4   ,,ii4  ,,the ,,origin   
,,and ,,results ,,of ,,birth ,,control  
,in tracing the course of reproduction  
we have so far been concerned with what 
are commonly considered the blind       
operations of ,nature in the absence of 
conscious and deliberate volition4 ,we  
have seen that while at the outset      
,nature seems to have impressed an      
immense reproductive impetus on her     

creatures1 all her energy since has been
 directed to the imposition of          
preventive checks on that reproductive  
impetus4 ,the end attained by these     
checks has been an extreme diminution in
 the number of offspring1 a prolongation
 of the time devoted to the breeding and
 care of each new member of the family1 
in harmony with its greatly prolonged   
life1 a spacing out of the intervals    
between the offspring1 and1 as a result1
 a vastly greater development of each   
individual and an ever better equipment 
for the task of living4 ,all this was   
slowly attained automatically1 without  
any conscious volition on the part of   
the individuals1 even when they were    
human beings1 who were the agents4 ,now 
occurred a change which we may regard   
as1 in some respects1 the most momentous
 sudden advance in the whole history of 
reproduction3 the process of            
reproductive progress became conscious  
and deliberately volitional4  ,we often 
fancy that when natural progress becomes

 manifested in the mind and will of man 
it is somehow unnatural4 ,it is one of  
the wisest of ,shakespeare's utterances 
in one of the most mature of his plays  
that      ,nature is made better by no  
mean     ,but ,nature makes that mean   
444               ,this is an art       
,which does mend ,nature1 change it     
rather1 but     ,the art itself is      
,nature4  ,birth control1 when it ceases
 to be automatic and becomes conscious1 
is an art4 ,but it is an art directed   
precisely to the attainment of ends     
which ,nature has been struggling after 
for millions of years1 and1 being       
consciously and deliberately an art1 it 
is enabled to avoid many of the pitfalls
 which the unconscious method falls     
into4 ,it is an art1 but      ,the art  
itself is ,nature4  ,it is always       
possible for the narrow-eyed fanatic to 
object to the employment of birth       
control1 precisely as he might object to
 the use of clothes1 as unnatural4 ,but1
 if we look more deeply into the matter1

 we see that even clothes are not truly 
unnatural4 ,a vast number of creatures  
may be said to be born in clothes1      
clothes so naturally such that1 when    
stripped from the animals they belong   
to1 we are proud to wear them ourselves4
 ,even our own ancestors were born in   
clothes1 which they lost by the combined
 or separate action of natural          
selection1 sexual selection1 and the    
environment1 which action1 however1 has 
not sufficed to abolish the desirability
 of clothes4#i ,so that the impulse by  
which we make for ourselves clothes is  
merely a conscious and volitional form  
of an impulse which1 in the absence of  
consciousness and will1 had acted       
automatically4 ,it is just the same with
 the control and limitation of          
reproductive activity4 ,it is an attempt
 by open-eyed intelligence and foresight
 to attain those ends which ,nature     
through untold generations has been     
painfully yet tirelessly struggling for4
 ,the deliberate co-operation of ,man in

 the natural task of birth-control      
represents an identification of the     
human will with what we may1 if we      
choose1 regard as the divinely appointed
 law of the world4 ,we can well believe 
that the great pioneers who1 a century  
ago1 acted in the spirit of this faith  
may have echoed the thought of ,kepler  
when1 on discovering his great planetary
 law1 he exclaimed in rapture3 ,o ,god6 
,i think ,thy thoughts after ,thee4  ,as
 a matter of fact1 however1 it was in no
 such spirit of ecstasy that the        
pioneers of the movement for birth      
control acted4 ,the ,divine command is  
less likely to be heard in the whirlwind
 than in the still small voice4 ,these  
great pioneers were thoughtful1         
cautious1 hard-headed men1 who spoke    
scarcely above a whisper1 and were far  
too modest to realise that a great      
forward movement in natural evolution   
had in them begun to be manifested4     
,early man could not have taken this    
step because it is even doubtful whether

 he knew that the conjunction of the    
sexes had anything to do with the       
production of offspring1 which he was   
inclined to attribute to magical causes4
 ,later1 although intelligence grew1 the
 uncontrolled rule of the sexual impulse
 obtained so firm a grip on men that    
they laughed at the idea that it was    
possible to exercise forethought and    
prudence in this sphere2 at the same    
time religion and superstition came into
 action to preserve the established     
tradition and to persuade people that it
 would be wicked to do anything         
different from what they had always     
done4 ,but a saner feeling was awakening
 here and there1 in various parts of the
 world4 ,at last1 under the stress of   
the devastation and misery caused by the
 reproductive relapse of the industrial 
era1 this feeling1 voiced by a few      
distinguished men1 began to take shape  
in action4  ,the pioneers were ,english4
 ,among them ,malthus occupies the first
 place4 ,that distinguished man1 in his 

great and influential work1 ,the        
,principle of ,population1 in #agih1    
emphasised the immense importance of    
foresight and self-control in           
procreation1 and the profound           
significance of birth limitation for    
human welfare4 ,malthus relied1 however1
 on ascetic self-restraint1 a method    
which could only appeal to the few2 he  
had nothing to say for the prevention of
 conception in intercourse4 ,that was   
suggested1 twenty years later1 very     
cautiously by ,james ,mill1 the father  
of ,john ,stuart ,mill1 in the          
,encyclopedia ,britannica4 ,four years  
afterwards1 ,mill's friend1 the ,radical
 reformer1 ,francis ,place1 advocated   
this method more clearly4 ,finally1 in  
#ahca1 ,robert ,dale ,owen1 the son of  
the great ,robert ,owen1 published his  
,moral ,physiology1 in which he set     
forth the ways of preventing conception2
 while a little later the ,drysdale     
brothers1 ardent and unwearying         
philanthropists1 devoted their energies 

to a propaganda which has been spreading
 ever since and has now conquered the   
whole civilised world4  ,it was not1    
however1 in ,england but in ,france1 so 
often at the head of an advance in      
civilisation1 that birth control first  
became firmly established1 and that the 
extravagantly high birth-rate of earlier
 times began to fall2 this happened in  
the first half of the nineteenth        
century1 whether or not it was mainly   
due to voluntary control4#aj ,in        
,england the movement came later1 and   
the steady decline in the ,english      
birth-rate1 which is still proceeding1  
began in #ahgg4 ,in the previous year   
there had been a famous prosecution of  
,bradlaugh and ,mrs4 ,besant for        
disseminating pamphlets describing the  
methods of preventing conception2 the   
charge was described by the ,lord ,chief
 ,justice1 who tried the case1 as one of
 the most ill-advised and injudicious   
ever made in a court of justice4 ,but it
 served an undesigned end by giving     

enormous publicity to the subject and   
advertising the methods it sought to    
suppress4 ,there can be no doubt1       
however1 that even apart from this trial
 the movement would have proceeded on   
the same lines4 ,the times were ripe1   
the great industrial expansion had      
passed its first feverish phase1 social 
conditions were improving1 education was
 spreading4 ,the inevitable character of
 the movement is indicated by the fact  
that at the very same time it began to  
be manifested all over ,europe1 indeed  
in every civilised country of the world4
 ,at the present time the birth-rate 7as
 well as usually the death-rate7 is     
falling in every country of the world   
sufficiently civilised to possess       
statistics of its own vital movement4   
,the fall varies in rapidity4 ,it has   
been considerable in the more           
progressive countries2 it has lingered  
in the more backward countries4 ,if we  
examine the latest statistics for       
,europe 7usually those for #aiac7 we    

find that every country1 without        
exception1 with a progressive and       
educated population1 and a fairly high  
state of social well-being1 presents a  
birth-rate below #cj per #a1jjj4 ,we    
also find that every country in ,europe 
in which the mass of the people are     
primitive1 ignorant1 or in a socially   
unsatisfactory condition 7even although 
the governing classes may be progressive
 or ambitious7 shows a birth-rate above 
#cj per #a1jjj4 ,france1 ,great         
,britain1 ,belgium1 ,holland1 the       
,scandinavian countries and ,switzerland
 are in the first group4 ,russia1       
,austro-,hungary1 ,italy1 ,spain and the
 ,balkan countries are in the second    
group4 ,the ,german ,empire was formerly
 in this second group but now comes     
within the first group1 and has carried 
on the movement so energetically that   
the birth-rate of ,berlin is already    
below that of ,london1 and that at the  
present rate of decline the birth-rate  
of the ,german ,empire will before long 

sink to that of ,france4 ,outside       
,europe1 in the ,united ,states just as 
much as in ,australia and ,new ,zealand1
 the same great progressive movement is 
proceeding with equal activity4  ,the   
wide survey of the question of birth    
limitation here taken may seem to some  
readers unnecessary4 ,why not get at    
once to matters of practical detail8    
,but1 if we think of it1 our wide survey
 has been of the greatest practical help
 to us4 ,it has1 for instance1 settled  
the question of the desirability of the 
adoption of methods of preventing       
conception and finally silenced those   
who would waste our time with their     
fears lest it is not right to control   
conception4 ,we know now on whose side  
are the laws of ,god and ,nature4 ,we   
realise that in exercising control over 
the entrance gate of life we are not    
only performing1 consciously and        
deliberately1 a great human duty1 but   
carrying on rationally a beneficial     
process which has1 more blindly and     

wastefully1 been carried on since the   
beginning of the world4 ,there are still
 a few persons ignorant enough or       
foolish enough to fight against the     
advance of civilisation in this matter2 
we can well afford to leave them        
severely alone1 knowing that in a few   
years all of them will have passed away4
 ,it is not our business to defend the  
control of birth1 but simply to discuss 
how we may most wisely exercise that    
control4  ,many ways of preventing      
conception have been devised since the  
method which is still the commonest was 
first introduced1 so far as our         
certainly imperfect knowledge extends1  
by a clever ,jew1 ,onan 7,genesis1      
,chap4 ,,xxxviii71 whose name has since 
been wrongly attached to another        
practice with which the ,mosaic record  
in no way associates him4 ,there are now
 many contraceptive methods1 some       
dependent on precautions adopted by the 
man1 others dependent on the woman1     
others again which take the form of an  

operation permanently preventing        
conception1 and1 therefore1 not to be   
adopted save by couples who already have
 as many children as they desire1 or    
else who ought never to have children at
 all and thus wisely adopt a method of  
sterilisation4 ,it is unnecessary here1 
even if it were otherwise desirable1 to 
discuss these various methods in detail4
 ,it is even useless to do so1 for we   
must bear in mind that no method can be 
absolutely approved or absolutely       
condemned4 ,each may be suitable under  
certain conditions and for certain      
couples1 and it is not easy to recommend
 any method indiscriminately4 ,we need  
to know the intimate circumstances of   
individual cases4 ,for the most part1   
experience is the final test4 ,forel    
compared the use of contraceptive       
devices to the use of eyeglasses1 and it
 is obvious that1 without expert advice1
 the results in either case may         
sometimes be mischievous or at all      
events ineffective4 ,personal advice and

 instruction are always desirable4 ,in  
,holland nurses are medically trained in
 a practical knowledge of contraceptive 
methods1 and are thus enabled to        
enlighten the women of the community4   
,this is an admirable plan4 ,considering
 that the use of contraceptive measures 
is now almost universal1 it is          
astonishing that there are yet so many  
so-called civilised countries in which  
this method of enlightenment is not     
everywhere adopted4 ,until it is        
adopted1 and a necessary knowledge of   
the most fundamental facts of the sexual
 life brought into every home1 the      
physician must be regarded as the proper
 adviser4 ,it is true that until        
recently he was generally in these      
matters a blind leader of the blind4    
,nowadays it is beginning to be         
recognised that the physician has no    
more serious and responsible duty than  
that of giving help in the difficult    
path of the sexual life4 ,very          
frequently1 indeed1 even yet1 he has not

 risen to a sense of his                
responsibilities in this matter4 ,it is 
as well to remember1 however1 that a    
physician who is unable or unwilling to 
give frank and sound advice in this most
 important department of life1 is       
unlikely to be reliable in any other    
department4 ,if he is not up to date    
here he is probably not up to date      
anywhere4  ,whatever the method adopted1
 there are certain conditions which it  
must fulfil1 even apart from its        
effectiveness as a contraceptive1 in    
order to be satisfactory4 ,most of these
 conditions may be summed up in one3 the
 most satisfactory method is that which 
least interferes with the normal process
 of the act of intercourse4 ,every      
sexual act is1 or should be1 a miniature
 courtship1 however long marriage may   
have lasted4#aa ,no outside mental      
tension or nervous apprehension must be 
allowed to intrude4 ,any contraceptive  
proceeding which hastily enters the     
atmosphere of love immediately before or

 immediately after the moment of union  
is unsatisfactory and may be injurious4 
,it even risks the total loss of the    
contraceptive result1 for at such       
moments the intended method may be      
ineffectively carried out1 or neglected 
altogether4 ,no method can be regarded  
as desirable which interferes with the  
sense of satisfaction and relief which  
should follow the supreme act of loving 
union4 ,no method which produces a      
nervous jar in one of the parties1 even 
though it may be satisfactory to the    
other1 should be tolerated4 ,such       
considerations must for some couples    
rule out certain methods4 ,we cannot1   
however1 lay down absolute rules1       
because methods which some couples may  
find satisfactory prove unsatisfactory  
in other cases4 ,experience1 aided by   
expert advice1 is the only final        
criterion4  ,when a contraceptive method
 is adopted under satisfactory          
conditions1 with a due regard to the    
requirements of the individual couple1  

there is little room to fear that any   
injurious results will be occasioned4   
,it is quite true that many physicians  
speak emphatically concerning the       
injurious results to husband or to wife 
of contraceptive devices4 ,although     
there has been exaggeration1 and        
prejudice has often been imported into  
this question1 and although most of the 
injurious results could have been       
avoided had trained medical help been at
 hand to advise better methods1 there   
can be no doubt that much that has been 
said under this head is true4           
,considering how widespread is the use  
of these methods1 and how ignorantly    
they have often been carried out1 it    
would be surprising indeed if it were   
not true4 ,but even supposing that the  
nervously injurious effects which have  
been traced to contraceptive practices  
were a thousandfold greater than they   
have been reported to be--instead of1 as
 we are justified in believing1         
considerably less than they are         

reported--shall we therefore condemn    
contraceptive methods8 ,to do so would  
be to ignore all the vastly greater     
evils which have followed in the past   
from unchecked reproduction4 ,it would  
be a condemnation which1 if we exercised
 it consistently1 would destroy the     
whole of civilisation and place us back 
in savagery4 ,for what device of man1   
since man had any history at all1 has   
not proved sometimes injurious8  ,every 
one of even the most useful and         
beneficent of human inventions has      
either exercised subtle injuries or     
produced appalling catastrophes4 ,this  
is not only true of man's devices1 it is
 true of ,nature's in general4 ,let us  
take1 for instance1 the elevation of    
man's ancestors from the quadrupedal to 
the bipedal position4 ,the experiment of
 making a series of four-footed animals 
walk on their hind-legs was very        
revolutionary and risky2 it was far1 far
 more beset by dangers than is the      
introduction of contraceptives2 we are  

still suffering all sorts of serious    
evils in consequence of ,nature's action
 in placing our remote ancestors in the 
erect position4 ,yet we feel that it was
 worth while2 even those physicians who 
most emphasise the evil results of the  
erect position do not advise that we    
should go on all-fours4 ,it is just the 
same with a great human device1 the     
introduction of clothes4 ,they have led 
to all sorts of new susceptibilities to 
disease and even tendencies to direct   
injury of many kinds4 ,yet no one       
advocates the complete disuse of all    
clothing on the ground that corsets have
 sometimes proved harmful4 ,it would be 
just as absurd to advocate the complete 
abandonment of contraceptives on the    
ground that some of them have sometimes 
been misused4 ,if it were not1 indeed1  
that we are familiar with the lengths to
 which ignorance and prejudice may go we
 should question the sanity of anyone   
who put forward so foolish a            
proposition4 ,every great step which    

,nature and man have taken in the path  
of progress has been beset by dangers   
which are gladly risked because of the  
advantages involved4 ,we have still to  
enumerate some of the immense advantages
 which ,man has gained in acquiring a   
conscious and deliberate control of     
reproduction4   ,,iii4  ,,birth         
,,control ,,in ,,relation ,,to          
,,morality ,,and ,,eugenics  ,anyone who
 has followed this discussion so far    
will not easily believe that a tendency 
so deeply rooted in ,nature as ,birth   
,control can ever be in opposition to   
,morality4 ,it can only seem to be so   
when we confuse the eternal principles  
of ,morality1 whatever they may be1 with
 their temporary applications1 which are
 always becoming modified in adaptation 
to changing circumstances4  ,we are     
often in danger of doing injustice to   
the morality of the past1 and it is     
important1 even in order to understand  
the morality of the present1 that we    
should be able to put ourselves in the  

place of those for whom birth control   
was immoral4 ,to speak of birth control 
as having been immoral in the past is1  
indeed1 to underestimate the case2 it   
was not only immoral1 it was unnatural1 
it was even irreligious1 it was almost  
criminal4 ,we must remember that        
throughout the ,christian world the     
,divine ,command1 ,increase and         
,multiply1 has seemed to echo down the  
ages from the beginning of the world4   
,it was the authoritative command of a  
tribal ,god who was1 according to the   
scriptural narrative1 addressing a world
 inhabited by eight people4 ,from such a
 point of view a world's population of  
several thousand persons would have     
seemed inconceivably vast1 though to-day
 by even the most austere advocate of   
birth limitation it would be allowed    
with a smile4 ,but the old religious    
command has become a tradition which has
 survived amid conditions totally unlike
 those under which it arose4 ,in        
comparatively modern times it has been  

reinforced from unexpected quarters1 on 
the one hand by all the forces that are 
opposed to democracy and on the other by
 all the forces of would-be patriotic   
militarism1 both alike clamouring for   
plentiful and cheap men4  ,even science1
 under primitive conditions1 was opposed
 to ,birth ,control4 ,creation was      
regarded as a direct process in which   
man's will had no part1 and knowledge of
 nature was still too imperfect for the 
recognition of the fact that the whole  
course of the world's natural history   
has been an erection of barriers against
 wholesale and indiscriminate           
reproduction4 ,thus it came about that  
under the old dispensation1 which is now
 for ever passing away1 to have as many 
children as possible and to have them as
 often as possible--provided certain    
ritual prescriptions were               
fulfilled--seemed to be a religious1    
moral1 natural1 scientific1 and         
patriotic duty4  ,to-day the conditions 
have altogether altered1 and even our   

own feelings have altered4 ,we no longer
 feel with the ancient ,hebrew who has  
bequeathed his ideals though not his    
practices to ,christendom1 that to have 
as many wives and concubines and as     
large a family as possible is both      
natural and virtuous1 as well as        
profitable4 ,we realise1 moreover1 that 
the ,divine ,commands1 so far as we     
recognise any such commands1 are not    
external to us1 but are manifested in   
our own deliberate reason and will4 ,we 
know that to primitive men1 who lacked  
foresight and lived mainly in the       
present1 only that ,divine ,command     
could be recognisable which sanctified  
the impulse of the moment1 while to us1 
who live largely in the future1 and have
 learnt foresight1 the ,divine ,command 
involves restraint on the impulse of the
 moment4 ,we no longer believe that we  
are divinely ordered to be reckless or  
that ,god commands us to have children  
who1 as we ourselves know1 are fatally  
condemned to disease or premature death4

 ,providence1 which was once regarded as
 the attribute of ,god1 we regard as the
 attribute of men2 providence1 prudence1
 self-restraint--these are to us the    
characteristics of moral men1 and those 
persons who lack these characteristics  
are condemned by our social order to be 
reckoned among the dregs of mankind4 ,it
 is a social order which in the sphere  
of procreation could not be reached or  
maintained except by the systematic     
control of offspring4  ,we may realise  
the difference between the morality of  
to-day and the morality of the past when
 we come to details4 ,we may consider1  
for instance1 the question of the       
chastity of women4 ,according to the    
ideas of the old morality1 which placed 
the whole question of procreation under 
the authority 7after ,god7 of men1 women
 were in subjection to men1 and had no  
right to freedom1 no right to           
responsibility1 no right to knowledge1  
for1 it was believed1 if entrusted with 
any of these they would abuse them at   

once4 ,that view prevails even to-day in
 some civilised countries1 and          
middle-class ,italian parents1 for      
instance1 will not allow their daughter 
to be conducted by a man even to ,mass1 
for they believe that as soon as she is 
out of their sight she will be unchaste4
 ,that is their morality4 ,our morality 
to-day1 however1 is inspired by         
different ideas1 and aims at a different
 practice4 ,we are by no means disposed 
to rate highly the morality of a girl   
who is only chaste so long as she is    
under her parents' eyes2 for us1 indeed1
 that is much more like immorality than 
morality4 ,we are to-day vigorously     
pursuing a totally different line of    
action4 ,we wish women to be reasonably 
free1 we wish them to be trained in the 
sense of responsibility for their own   
actions1 we wish them to possess        
knowledge1 more especially in that      
sphere of sex1 once theoretically closed
 to them1 which we now recognise as     
peculiarly their own domain4 ,nowadays1 

moreover1 we are sufficiently well      
acquainted with human nature to know1   
not only that at best the chastity      
merely due to compulsion or to ignorance
 is a poor thing1 but that at worst it  
is really the most degraded and         
injurious form of unchastity4 ,for there
 are many ways of avoiding pregnancy    
besides the use of contraceptives1 and  
such ways can often only be called      
vicious1 destructive to purity1 and     
harmful to health4 ,our ideal woman     
to-day is not she who is deprived of    
freedom and knowledge in the cloister1  
even though only the cloister of her    
home1 but the woman who1 being          
instructed from early life in the facts 
of sexual physiology and sexual hygiene1
 is also trained in the exercise of     
freedom and self-responsibility1 and    
able to be trusted to choose and to     
follow the path which seems to her      
right4 ,that is the only kind of        
morality which seems to us real and     
worth while4 ,and1 in any case1 we have 

now grown wise enough to know that no   
degree of compulsion and no depth of    
ignorance will suffice to make a girl   
good if she doesn't want to be good4 ,so
 that1 even as a matter of policy1 it is
 better to put her in a position to know
 what is good and to act in accordance  
with that knowledge4  ,the relation of  
birth control to morality is1 however1  
by no means a question which concerns   
women alone4 ,it equally concerns men4  
,here we have to recognise1 not only    
that the exercise of control over       
procreation enables a man to form a     
union of faithful devotion with the     
woman of his choice at an earlier age   
than would otherwise be possible1 but it
 further enables him1 throughout the    
whole of married life1 to continue such 
relationship under circumstances which  
might otherwise render them injurious or
 else undesirable to his wife4 ,that the
 influence thus exerted by preventive   
methods would suffice to abolish        
prostitution it would be foolish to     

maintain1 for prostitution has other    
grounds of support4 ,but even within the
 sphere of merely prostitutional        
relationships the use of contraceptives1
 and the precautions and cleanliness    
they involve1 have an influence of their
 own in diminishing the risks of        
venereal disease1 and while the         
interests of those who engage in        
prostitution are by some persons        
regarded as negligible1 we must always  
remember that venereal disease spreads  
far beyond the patrons of prostitution  
and is a perpetual menace to others who 
may become altogether innocent victims4 
,so that any influence which tends to   
diminish venereal disease increases the 
well-being of the whole community4      
,apart from the relationship to         
morality1 although the two are          
intimately combined1 we are thus led to 
the relationship of birth control to    
eugenics1 or to the sound breeding of   
the race4 ,here we touch the highest    
ground1 and are concerned with our best 

hopes for the future of the world4 ,for 
there can be no doubt that birth control
 is not only a precious but an          
indispensable instrument in moulding the
 coming man to the measure of our       
developing ideals4 ,without it we are   
powerless in the face of the awful evils
 which flow from random and reckless    
reproduction4 ,with it we possess a     
power so great that some persons have   
professed to see in it a menace to the  
propagation of the race1 amusing        
themselves with the idea that if people 
possess the means to prevent the        
conception of children they will never  
have children at all4 ,it is not        
necessary to discuss such a grotesque   
notion seriously4 ,the desire for       
children is far too deeply implanted in 
mankind and womankind alike ever to be  
rooted out4 ,if there are to-day many   
parents whose lives are rendered        
wretched by large families and the      
miseries of excessive child-bearing1    
there are an equal number whose lives   

are wretched because they have no       
children at all1 and who snatch eagerly 
at any straw which offers the smallest  
promise of relief to this craving4      
,certainly there are people who desire  
marriage1 but--some for very sound and  
estimable reasons and others for reasons
 which may less well bear               
examination--do not desire any children 
at all4 ,so far as these are concerned1 
contraceptive methods1 far from being a 
social evil1 are a social blessing4 ,for
 nothing is so certain as that it is an 
unmixed evil for a community to possess 
unwilling1 undesirable1 or incompetent  
parents4 ,birth control would be an     
unmixed blessing if it merely enabled us
 to exclude such persons from the ranks 
of parenthood4 ,we desire no parents who
 are not both competent and willing     
parents4 ,only such parents are fit to  
father and to mother a future race      
worthy to rule the world4  ,it is       
sometimes said that the control of      
conception1 since it is frequently      

carried out immediately on marriage1    
will tend to delay parenthood until an  
unduly late age4 ,birth control has1    
however1 no necessary result of this    
kind1 and might even act in the reverse 
direction4 ,a chief cause of delay in   
marriage is the prospect of the burden  
and expense of an unrestricted flow of  
children into the family1 and in ,great 
,britain1 since #aiaa1 with the         
extension of the use of contraceptives1 
there has been a slight but regular     
increase not only in the general        
marriage rate but in the proportion of  
early marriages1 although the general   
mean age at marriage has increased4 ,the
 ability to control the number of       
children not only enables marriage to   
take place at an early age but also     
makes it possible for the couple to have
 at least one child soon after marriage4
 ,the total number of children are thus 
spaced out1 instead of following in     
rapid succession4  ,it is only of recent
 years that the eugenic importance of a 

considerable interval between births has
 been fully recognised1 as regards not  
only the mother--this has long been     
realised--but also the children4 ,the   
very high mortality of large families   
has long been known1 and their          
association with degenerate conditions  
and with criminality4 ,the children of  
small families in ,toronto1 ,canada1 are
 taller than those of larger families1  
as is also the case in ,oakland1        
,california1 where the average size of  
the family is smaller than in           
,toronto4#ab ,of recent years1 moreover1
 evidence has been obtained that        
families in which the children are      
separated from each other by intervals  
of more than two years are both mentally
 and physically superior to those in    
which the interval is shorter4 ,thus    
,ewart found in a northern ,english     
manufacturing town that children born at
 an interval of less than two years     
after the birth of the previous child   
remain notably defective1 even at the   

age of six1 both as regards intelligence
 and physical development4 ,when        
compared with children born at a longer 
interval and with first-born children1  
they are1 on the average1 three inches  
shorter and three pounds lighter than   
first-born children4#ac ,such           
observations need to be repeated in     
various countries1 but if confirmed it  
is obvious that they represent a fact of
 the most vital significance4  ,thus    
when we calmly survey1 in however       
summary a manner1 the great field of    
life affected by the establishment of   
voluntary human control over the        
production of the race1 we can see no   
cause for anything but hope4 ,it is     
satisfactory that it should be so1 for  
there can be no doubt that we are here  
facing a great and permanent fact in    
civilised life4 ,with every rise in     
civilisation1 indeed with all           
evolutionary progress whatever1 there is
 what seems to be an automatic fall in  
the birth-rate4 ,that fall is always    

normally accompanied by a fall in the   
death-rate1 so that a low birth-rate    
frequently means a high rate of natural 
increase1 since most of the children    
born survive4#ad ,thus in the civilised 
world of to-day1 notwithstanding the low
 birth-rate which prevails as compared  
with earlier times1 the rate of increase
 in the population is still1 as         
,leroy-,beaulieu points out1 appalling1 
nearly half a million a year in ,great  
,britain1 over half a million in        
,austro-,hungary1 and three-quarters of 
a million in ,germany4 ,when we examine 
this excess of births in detail we find 
among them a large proportion of        
undesired and undesirable children4     
,there are two opposed alternative      
methods working to diminish this        
proportion3 the method of preventing    
conception1 with which we have here been
 concerned1 and the method of preventing
 live birth by producing abortion4      
,there can be no doubt about the        
enormous extension of this latter       

practice in all civilised countries1    
even although some of the estimates of  
its frequency in the ,united ,states1   
where it seems especially to flourish1  
may be extravagant4 ,the burden of      
excessive children on the overworked    
underfed mothers of the working classes 
becomes at last so intolerable that     
anything seems better than another      
child4 ,i'd rather swallow the          
druggist's shop and the man in it than  
have another kid1 as1 ,miss ,elderton   
reports1 a woman in ,yorkshire said4#ae 
,now there has of late years arisen a   
movement1 especially among ,german      
women1 for bringing abortion into honour
 and repute1 so that it may be carried  
out openly and with the aid of the best 
physicians4 ,this movement has been     
supported by lawyers and social         
reformers of high position4 ,it may be  
admitted that women have an abstract    
right to abortion and that in           
exceptional cases that right should be  
exerted4 ,yet there can be very little  

doubt to most people that abortion is a 
wasteful1 injurious1 and almost         
degrading method of dealing with the    
birth-rate1 a feeble apology for        
recklessness and improvidence4 ,a       
society in which abortion flourishes    
cannot be regarded as a healthy society4
 ,therefore1 a community which takes    
upon itself to encourage abortion is    
incurring a heavy responsibility4 ,i am 
referring more especially to the ,united
 ,states1 where this condition of things
 is most marked4 ,for1 there cannot be  
any doubt about it1 just as all those   
who work for birth control are          
diminishing the frequency of abortion1  
so every attempt to discourage birth    
control promotes abortion4 ,we have to  
approach this problem calmly1 in the    
light of ,nature and reason4 ,we have   
each of us to decide on which side we   
shall range ourselves4 ,for it is a     
vital social problem concerning which we
 cannot afford to be indifferent4       
,there is here no desire to exaggerate  

the importance of birth control4 ,it is 
not a royal road to the millennium1 and1
 as ,i have already pointed out1 like   
all other measures which the course of  
progress forces us to adopt1 it has its 
disadvantages4 ,yet at the present      
moment its real and vital significance  
is acutely brought home to us4          
,flinders ,petrie1 discussing those     
great migrations due to the unrestricted
 expansion of barbarous races which have
 devastated ,europe from the dawn of    
history1 remarks3 ,we deal lightly and  
coldly with the abstract facts1 but they
 represent the most terrible tragedies  
of all humanity--the wreck of the whole 
system of civilisation1 protracted      
starvation1 wholesale massacre4 ,can it 
be avoided8 ,that is the question1      
before all others1 to the statesman who 
looks beyond the present time4#af ,since
 ,petrie wrote1 only ten years ago1 we  
have had occasion to realise that the   
vast expansions which he described are  
not confined to the remote past1 but are

 at work and producing the same awful   
results1 even at the very present hour4 
,the great and only legitimate apology  
which has been put forward for the      
aggressive attitude of ,germany in the  
present war has been that it was the    
inevitable expansive outcome of the     
abnormally high birth-rate of ,germany  
in recent times2 as ,dr4 ,dernburg1 not 
long ago1 put it3 ,the expansion of the 
,german nation has been so extraordinary
 during the last twenty-five years that 
the conditions existing before the war  
had become insupportable4 ,in other     
words1 there was no outlet but a        
devastating war4 ,so we are called upon 
to repeat1 with fresh emphasis1         
,petrie's question3 ,can it be avoided8 
,all humanity1 all civilisation1 call   
upon us to take up our stand on this    
vital question of birth control4 ,in so 
doing we shall each of us be            
contributing1 however humbly1 to        
one far-off divine event1     ,to which 
the whole creation moves4   #a ,j4,m4   

,coulter1 ,the ,evolution of ,sex in    
,plants1 #aiae2 ,geoffrey ,smith1 ,the  
,biology of ,sex1 ,eugenics ,review1    
,april1 #aiad4  #b ,see1 e4g41 ,geddes  
and ,thomson1 ,the ,evolution of ,sex1  
,ch4 ,,xx42 and ,t4,h4 ,morgan1         
,heredity and ,sex1 ,ch4 ,i4  #c ,to    
quote one of the most careful           
investigators of this point1 ,northcote 
,thomas1 among the ,edo-speaking people 
of ,nigeria1 found that the average     
number of living children per husband   
was #b4g2 including all children1 alive 
and dead1 the average number was per    
husband #d4e1 and per wife #b4g4 ,infant
 mortality is heavy 7,northcote ,thomas1
 ,anthropological ,report of            
,edo-speaking ,people of ,nigeria1      
#aiaj1 ,part ,i41 pp4 #ae1 #fc74  #d    
,the same end has been rather more      
mercifully achieved in earlier periods  
by infanticide 7see ,westermarck1       
,origin and ,development of the ,moral  
,ideas1 ,vol4 ,i41 ,ch4 #ag74 ,it must  
not be supposed that infanticide was    

opposed to tenderness to children4 ,thus
 the ,australian ,dieyerie1 who         
practised infanticide1 were kind to     
children1 and a mother found beating her
 child was herself beaten by her        
husband4  #e ,see ,havelock ,ellis1 ,the
 ,nationalisation of ,health4  #f       
,similar results appear to follow in    
,china where also the birth-rate is very
 high and the mortality very great4 ,it 
is stated that physical development is  
much inferior and pathological defects  
more numerous among ,chinese as compared
 with ,american students4 7,new ,york   
,medical ,journal1 ,nov4 #adth1 #aiad1  
p4 #igh47 ,the bad conditions which     
produce death in the weakest produce    
deterioration in the survivors4  #g ,the
 law is thus laid down by ,p4           
,leroy-,beaulieu 7,la ,question de la   
,population1 #aiac1 p4 #bcc73 ,the first
 degree of prosperity in a rude         
population with few needs develops      
prolificness2 a later degree of         
prosperity1 accompanied by all the      

feelings and ideas stimulated by the    
development of education and a          
democratic environment1 leads to a      
gradual reduction of prolificness4  #h  
,this is too often forgotten4 ,birth    
control is a natural process1 and though
 in civilised men1 endowed with high    
intelligence1 it necessarily works in   
some measure voluntarily and            
deliberately1 it is probable that it    
still also works1 as in the evolution of
 the lower animals1 to some extent      
automatically4 ,sir ,shirley ,murphy    
7,lancet1 ,aug4 #ajth1 #aiab71 while    
admitting that intentional restriction  
has been operative1 remarks3 ,it does   
not appear to me that there is any more 
reason for ignoring the likelihood that 
,nature has been largely concerned in   
the reduction of births than for        
ignoring the effects of ,nature in      
reducing the death-rate4 ,the decline in
 both has points of resemblance4 ,both  
have been widely manifest over ,europe1 
both have in the main declined in the   

period of #ahga-ahhj1 and indeed both   
appear to be behaving in like manner4   
#i ,i do not overlook the fact that the 
artificial clothing of primitive man is 
in its origin mainly ornament1 having   
myself insisted on that fact in         
discussing this point in ,the ,evolution
 of ,modesty 7,studies in the           
,psychology of ,sex1 ,vol4 ,i474 ,it is 
to be remembered that1 in animals--and  
very conspicuously1 for instance1 in    
birds--natural clothing is also largely 
ornament of secondary sexual            
significance4  #aj ,at the end of the   
eighteenth century there were in ,france
 four children on the average to a      
family2 a movement of rapid increase in 
the population reached its climax in    
#ahdf2 by #ahfj the average number of   
children to a family had slowly fallen  
to but little over three4 ,broca1       
writing in #ahfg 7,sur la ,prtendue     
,dgnrescence de la ,population          
,francaise71 mentioned that the slow    
fall in the birth-rate was only slightly

 due to prudent calculation and mainly  
to more general causes such as delay in 
marriage4  #aa ,havelock ,ellis1        
,studies in the ,psychology of ,sex1    
,vol4 ,,vi41 ,sex in ,relation to       
,society1 ,ch4 ,,xi41 ,the ,art of      
,love4  #ab ,the exact results are      
presented by ,f4 ,boas 7abstract of     
,report on ,changes in ,bodily ,form of 
,descendants of ,immigrants1            
,washington1 #aiaa1 p4 #eg71 who        
concludes that the physical development 
of children1 as measured by stature1 is 
the better the smaller the family4  #ac 
,r4,j4 ,ewart1 ,the ,influence of       
,parental ,age on ,offspring1 ,eugenics 
,review1 ,oct41 #aiaa4  #ad ,in ,new    
,zealand the birth-rate is very low2 but
 the death-rate of children in the first
 year is only #eh per thousand as       
against #acj in ,england4  #ae ,e4,m4   
,elderton1 ,report on the ,english      
,birth-rate1 ,part ,i41 #aiad4 ,see also
 the collection of narratives of their  
experiences by working-class mothers1   

published under the title of ,maternity 
7,women's ,co-operative ,guild1 #aiae74 
#af ,flinders ,petrie1 ,journal of the  
,anthropological ,institute1 #aijf1 p4  
#bbj4