is opportunities by the
assumption of the responsibilities that accompany family life. He must
be free to stake all his resources on some favourable speculation
without the thought that he cannot take chances on impoverishing his
wife and children. Or if he has professional aspirations, he must be
able to take the long difficult pathway of scientific research with no
anxiety about the meagre salary that is insufficient for the support of
a home. Thus the most vital and aggressive male stocks as well as the
most highly intelligent tend to avoid the hampering effects of family
life, and their qualities are often lost to the next generation, since
even if they marry they will feel that they cannot afford offspring.

As women enter more and more into the competition for economic and
social rewards, this becomes equally applicable in their case. Indeed,
it would be strange were there not an even greater tendency to shun the
ties of family life on the part of ambitious women than of men, since
it involves greater sacrifices in their case on account of their
biological specialization for motherhood. It appears, therefore, that we
are losing the best parental material for the coming generations on both
the paternal and maternal sides. Thus the conflict between the egoistic
desires and the social institution of the family is segregating just
those energetic, successful individuals from whom the race of the future
should spring if we hope to reproduce a social organism capable of
survival in the inter-group struggle.

If it be true that the best stock, both male and female, for various
reasons refuses to assume the duty of reproduction, the group will
necessarily be replaced from individuals of average and inferior (but
not superior) eugenic value. Even within these limits there is at
present no conscious eugenic selection, and the irrational and
unconscious motives which govern sexual selection at the present time
may induce the choice of a mate from among the weaker individuals. Once
again it becomes a matter of chance whether or not the matings prove to
be for the welfare of the group and of the race.

It might be contended that the very fact that certain individuals
withdraw from reproductive activities is sufficient proof of their lack
of normal emotional reactions adapting them to the performance of those
functions. But a clearer insight shows that the group standards permit
the exercise of the reproductive activities onl