ily with a good hereditary record of physical, mental, and moral
qualities than it ever has been considered to be allied to one with
sixteen quarterings." "Families in which good and noble qualities of
mind and body have become hereditary form a natural aristocracy, and,
if such families take pride in recording their pedigrees, marry among
themselves, and establish a predominant fertility, they can assure
success and position to the majority of their descendants in any
political future. They can become the guardians and trustees of a
sound inborn heritage, which, incorruptible and undefiled, they can
preserve in purity and vigour throughout whatever period of ignorance
and decay may be in store for the nation at large. Neglect to hand on
undimmed the priceless germinal qualities which such families possess,
can be regarded only as the betrayal of a sacred trust....

"We look, then, for a day in the near future, when, in some circles at
any rate, a comparison of scientific pedigrees will replace, or at all
events precede, the discussion of settlements in the preliminaries to
a marriage; when birth and good-breeding (in its wide sense),
character and ability will be the qualities most prized in the choice
of mates; when a bad ancestral strain likely to reappear in
succeeding generations will suppress an incipient passion as
effectually as it is now cured by a deficiency of education or a
superfluity of accent." (Whetham.)

As matters are at present it is all too often the case that marriage
is _followed_ by the disclosure or discovery of a family history of
sterility, or criminality, or insanity. In a truly enlightened society
the failure to make known such conditions in the antecedents to a
marriage will be regarded as evidence of the greatest moral obliquity,
if not of criminal misdemeanor.

The wise and honored founder of Eugenics looks forward to the
inclusion of eugenic ideals as a factor in religion. "Eugenics,"
Galton writes, "strengthens the sense of social duty in so many
important particulars that the conclusions derived from its study
ought to find a welcome home in every tolerant religion." "Eugenic
belief extends the function of philanthropy to future generations; it
renders its action more pervading than hitherto, by dealing with
families and societies in their entirety; and it enforces the
importance of the marriage covenant, by directing serious attention to
the probable quality of the future offspring.