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PREFACE

AN author should have in his mind the class of reader for whom he desires to cater; for by so doing, time and trouble are saved to all parties. Here I have not attempted to write for those who have received a thorough training in biology; though such a training is certainly no guarantee that eugenic problems will not be misunderstood. Neither have I written for those who might be persuaded to take an interest in Eugenics by an appeal to sentiment rather than to reason; though such an appeal should be made. The reader whose attention I should like to attract is the well-educated man or woman, without special scientific training, who is prepared not only to take racial problems seriously, but also to devote some considerable time and energy to the consideration of the eugenic method of attempting to benefit the human race. For success in the eugenic campaign will finally depend on such as these. A few years ago it was suggested to me that I should republish some of my eugenic addresses in book form; but when I tried to put them into this new setting I found they were apt, as it were, to fall to pieces. My former writings have, however, formed the basis on which much of this volume has been built, a fact I mention as an excuse for any repetition which may not have been eliminated. I have not thought it necessary to indicate by inverted commas where I have been quoting from my own writings. The sections in which I have extracted passages from the Eugenics Review with least alteration are those dealing with Mate Selection, Marriage, Sterilization, and State Aid to Education.

The subject here dealt with is full of difficulties, and the only way in which such a work could have been made easy reading would have been by ignoring altogether

certain questions; thus giving to the reader the false impression, not only that he had completely mastered the subject, but also that no perplexities remained in the author's mind. This fault I believe I have avoided, but at a price. In other respects I am probably better aware than any of my readers of the shortcomings of this work; my only consolation being a belief that the principle of evolution applies to books as well as to everything else. If what I have written helps someone in future to write a better book, it will have served its turn.

Though I have had the honour of having been President of the Eugenics Education Society for over thirteen years, I must make it clear that I alone am responsible for all that is here written. It is true that I have borrowed from every source known to me, an obligation which I have often found it difficult to acknowledge. My thanks are due to many, but more especially to Mr. R. A. Fisher, on whom I have relied for statistical advice, and to Mr. C. B. S. Hodson, both of whom have undertaken the laborious task of reading the proofs. I can never thank them sufficiently.

L. D.

CONTENTS

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Inventions have increased welfare and population. Checks on an increase
in the population. How equilibrium is established. The operation

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CONTENTS

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Co-operation with philanthropists. Feeble-minded criminals. Criminals
not a class apart. Stupidity and physical inferiority as causes of

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