aw of God urges us on; but the law of society holds us back.
The boldest course is the safest. Let us take an honest and
steady look at the law. It is only in the timidity of ignorance
that the duty seems impracticable." Noyes anticipated Galton in
regarding eugenics as a matter of religion.

Noyes proposed to term the work of modern science in propagation
"Stirpiculture," in which he has sometimes been followed by
others. He considered that it is the business of the
stirpiculturist to keep in view both quantity and quality of
stocks, and he held that, without diminishing quantity, it was
possible to raise the quality by exercising a very stringent
discrimination in selecting males. At this point, Noyes has been
supported in recent years by Karl Pearson and others, who have
shown that only a relatively small portion of a population is
needed to produce the next generation, and that, in fact, twelve
per cent. of one generation in man produces fifty per cent. of
the next generation. What we need to ensure is that this small
reproducing section of the population shall be the best adapted
for the purpose. "The _quantity_ of production will be in direct
proportion to the number of fertile females," as Noyes saw the
question, "and the _value_ produced, so far as it depends on
selection, will be nearly in inverse proportion to the number of
fertilizing males." In this matter, Noyes anticipated Ehrenfels.
The two principles to be held in mind were, "Breed from the
best," and "Breed in-and-in," with a cautious and occasional
introduction of new strains. (It may be noted that Reibmayr, in
his recent _Entwicklungsgeschichte des Genics und Talentes_,
argues that the superior races, and superior individuals, in the
human species, have been produced by an unconscious adherence to
exactly these principles.) "By segregating superior families, and
by breeding these in-and-in, superior varieties of human beings
might be produced, which would be comparable to the thoroughbreds
in all the domestic races." He illustrates this by the early
history of the Jews.

Noyes finally criticises the present method, or lack of method,
in matters of propagation. Our marriage system, he states,
"leaves mating to be determined by a general scramble." By
ignoring, also, the great difference between the sexes