Social environment and moral progress / by Alfred Russel Wallace.
- Alfred Russel Wallace
- Date:
- 1913
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Credit: Social environment and moral progress / by Alfred Russel Wallace. Source: Wellcome Collection.
141/180 page 129
![XVI] Progress Through Selection an honour for the comparatively few, and no child will be born who is not only sound in body and mind, but also above the average as to natural ability and moral force. And he concludes : The most important matter in society, the inherent quality of the members of which it is composed, should be regulated by trained specialists. Of course, our modern eugenists will disclaim any wish to adopt such measures as are here hinted at, which are in every way dangerous and detestable. But I protest strenuously against any direct in¬ terference with the freedom of marriage, which, as I shall show, is not only to¬ tally unnecessary, but would be a much greater source of danger to morals and to the well-being of humanity than the mere temporary evils it seeks to cure. I trust that all my readers will oppose any legislation on this subject by a chance body of elected persons who are totally unfitted to deal with far less complex problems than this one, and as to which they are sure to bungle disastrously. It is in the highest degree presump¬ tuous and irrational to attempt to deal by compulsory enactments with the most vital J 129](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18022121_0142.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
