We may, indeed, soon have to ask whether, in a population which has become so much less subject to diminution by death than was formerly the case, there is not too great an increase by birth—too great, that is to say, for the existing means of employment and food-production. A most serious, indeed, an alarming fact, has recently come to light in the study of this question, namely, that the increase of the population is due (as pointed out on p. 279) to the proportionately larger number of births amongst the poorer, and even destitute, sections of the community who have not the means of training and rearing their children satisfactorily, and are themselves likely to transmit incapacity of one kind and another to their offspring; whilst those who have valuable hereditary qualities and are prosperous have—it is clearly established—relatively few children—and, in fact, do not increase the population. Whether this condition of things constitutes a real danger, how it will ultimately work out if left alone, and how the difficulty is to be met, are problems for statesmen which cannot be solved off-hand, but require knowledge not only of the crude facts of statistics, but also of the causes at work. Scientific knowledge—that is to say, thorough and unassailable knowledge—of the laws of heredity, of psychology, and of the natural history of human populations, are among the essential qualifications for those who have to face and deal with this difficult matter. And who is there who has this knowledge or is even trying to obtain it? Not the State in this country or its officials: for in every department of government (however capable some of the subordinates may be) there is a determined opposition to and fear of Science on the part of the political and highly paid chiefs—the jealous fear due to complete and deadly ignorance. XXXI GOSSAMER