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LUTHER BURBANK
race, notwithstanding the obvious advantages that
have resulted from the scientific breeding of races
of plants and animals.
Of late, however, it has gradually dawned on
the intelligent people of the world that the laws of
heredity which confessedly apply to man might
rationally be given consideration in the breeding
of races of men. The new science of eugenics,
named and in large part originated by the late Sir
Francis Galton, has received an amount of atten-
tion in very recent years that it could not possibly
have hoped to receive had it been brought to the
attention of the public even twenty years ago. And
it cannot well be doubted that the demonstrations
as to the possibility of improving the races of
valued plants by selective breeding made at Santa
Rosa and Sebastopol have had their share in call-
ing public attention to the possible benefits that
may accrue from the systematic and intelligent
application of the principles of heredity.
A general appreciation of the unity of life-
forces as well as of life substances, due primarily
to the spread of the Darwinian doctrine, has pre-
pared the public to look with unbiased eyes for
the first time on the human race itself as an evolu-
tion product that owes its pre-eminence to the
conscious utilization of natural forces and that
may obtain still greater heights by the still more
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