aches, and Caesar of
his epilepsy--but then, would not--with correction of the underlying
streams of activity on the part of the other glands of the internal
secretion to compensate--their peculiar superiority and distinction,
and the fruits of their lives as by-products, have been destroyed.
Florence Nightingale, too, might have been a softer and more human
person. But then would she have revolutionized the practice of
nursing? Oscar Wilde possibly might have been made over into a
heterosexual. But then would not the world be the poorer without "De
Profundis," let us ask? To state the problem in the most general
terms: how much abnormality are we to tolerate (I speak, of course, of
malignant abnormality, and disregard benign abnormality altogether)
for the sake of the valuable that is concomitant? How much are we
to stand of that which degrades the germ-plasm while it raises the
mind-plasm of the race? The Flowers of Evil. Destroy or modify the
roots, change the seed, and the buds will bloom, if at all, not
orchids, but dull brown commonplaces.

What means may be licensed for the attainment of a worthy end is
perhaps the broadest aspect of the problem. The instruments of Man's
ascent to divinity may arouse his instinctive repulsions, dislikes,
and destructive passions. The study of the internal secretions is
putting and will put the most powerful apparatus for the control of
the abnormal into our hands. What are we going to do with them?

It does not follow that because we are beginning to understand the
normal that we are to establish one fixed absolute standard of the
normal. In view of all the possible mixtures, permutations and
combinations of the endocrine glands, that may construct an
individual, it is possible to conceive a million types of normals.
For normality means harmony, the harmonious equilibrium between the
hormones, which tends to continue itself, because it does no harm to
itself. So there are all sorts and conditions of men and women who
are classed as normals. We need create no inquiry into the value of
raising the subnormal to the normal level. It is when we come to
consider the possibility of lowering the supernormal (in certain
respects) to the normal, that we pause and hesitate. Traditional
morality assists not, but hinders us here.

Whatever the race may ultimately decide, it is safe to predict that it
is now somewhat possible, and will become more and more possible, to
regulate or even che