Science would have evolved the superman, but history, as we have seen, has persistently deprived science of the material wherewith to contribute him.
The institution of marriage would have been a fixed and an inviolable guarantee of the happiness of the home, but human wisdom has erred and the solution is as yet apparently undiscovered.
Investigation into every field of human effort shows that the ultimate aim in view, if any, was something other than the welfare of the race, as a race or as individuals.
CHAPTER II
"The public health is the foundation on which reposes the happiness of the people and the power of a country. The care of the public health is the first duty of a statesman."
Lord Beaconsfield.
THE EUGENIC IDEA
The Value of Human Life—The Eugenic Principle—"The Fit Only Shall Live"—Eugenics and Marriage—The Venereal Diseases—The Utility of Marriage Certificates—The Marriage Certificates and Vice—Eugenics and Parenthood—The Principle of Heredity—Eugenics and Motherhood—Eugenics and the Husband.
The eugenist believes the cardinal error of the past has been a failure to recognize the worth or value of human life. In the past human lives have counted for absolutely nothing. As we have seen, each generation has practically deprived posterity of the best of its breed, and we shall see, when we consider the facts which affect the present vitality of the race, that the same preposterous conditions still exist.