But, apart from the fact that the assumption of this mode of inheritance must now be regarded not only as unproved, but as contradicted by reliable data, panmixia, in conjunction with the ceaseless fluctuations within the germ-plasm--germinal selection--affords a better explanation than the other theory was ever in a position to offer. At that time I pointed out that the survival of the individual among civilized races had not for a very long time depended on the perfection of his eyesight, as it does for instance in the case of a hunting or warlike Indian, or of a beast of prey, or of a herbivore persecuted by the beast of prey. And this is by no means due solely to the invention of spectacles, but in a much greater degree to the fact that every man no longer has to do everything, so that numerous possibilities of gaining a livelihood remain open to the less sharp-sighted; that is, the division of labour in human society has made the survival of the short-sighted quite feasible. As soon as this division of labour reached such a degree that the founding of a family offered no greater difficulty to the short-sighted individual than to one with normal sight, short-sightedness could no longer be eliminated; and partly because of the mingling with normal sight, but partly also because of the never-failing minus-fluctuations of the germ-plasm determinants concerned, a variation in a downward direction was bound to set in, and will continue until a limit is set to it by personal selection. Meantime, we are obviously still in the midst of the process of eye-deterioration; and the resistance to it is somewhat inhibited in its operation, because although individuals with extremely bad sight are for the most part hindered from gaining an independent livelihood and having a family, this is certainly, thanks to our mistaken humanity, not always the case. There are even instances of marriage between two blind persons! As yet, however, the deterioration of eyes has not advanced very far; not nearly all families are affected by it, and even in Germany, the land of the 'longest school form' and of the greatest number of spectacle-wearers, short-sight is still usually acquired by individuals, although there must frequently be a more or less marked predisposition to it. It is a common objection to this view that in England, France, and Italy the percentage of short-sighted individuals is much lower, and, in point of fact, one sees far fewer people wearing spectacles in those countries. This, however, does not prove that a similar deterioration of eyes has not begun there also, for how could the small inherited beginnings be detected if they were not accentuated by the spoiling of the eyesight in the lifetime of the individual by much reading of bad print, and by writing with bent head, as is still too often the case in many German schools.