e at random. An increase of this tendency
would be eugenically desirable.[104] So much for the physique.

Though eugenics is popularly supposed to be concerned almost wholly with
the physical, properly it gives most attention to mental traits,
recognizing that these are the ones which most frequently make races
stand or fall, and that attention to the physique is worth while mainly
to furnish a sound body in which the sound mind may function. Now men
and women may excel mentally in very many different ways, and eugenics,
which seeks not to produce a uniform good type, but excellence in all
desirable types, is not concerned to pick out any particular sort of
mental superiority and exalt it as a standard for sexual selection. But
the tendency, shown in Miss Gilmore's study, for men to prefer the more
intelligent girls in secondary schools, is gratifying to the eugenist,
since high mental endowment is principally a matter of heredity. From a
eugenic point of view it would be well could such intellectual
accomplishments weigh even more heavily with the average young man, and
less weight be put on such superficial characteristics as "flashiness,"
ability to use the latest slang freely, and other "smart" traits which
are usually considered attractive in a girl, but which have no real
value and soon become tiresome. They are not wholly bad in themselves,
but certainly should not influence a young man very seriously in his
choice of a wife, nor a young woman in her choice of a husband. It is to
be feared that such standards are largely promoted by the stage, the
popular song, and popular fiction.

In a sense, the education which a young woman has received is no
concern of the eugenist, since it can not be transmitted to her
children. Yet when, as often happens, children die because their mother
was not properly trained to bring them up, this feature of education
does become a concern of eugenics. Young men are more and more coming to
demand that their wives know something about woman's work, and this
demand must not only increase, but must be adequately met. Woman's
education is treated in more detail in another chapter.

It is proper to point out here, however, that in many cases woman's
education gives no great opportunity to judge of her real intellectual
ability. Her natural endowment in this respect should be judged also by
that of her sisters, brothers, parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents.
If a girl comes of an inte