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The wisest thing in the world is to cry out before you are hurt. It is no good to cry outafter you are hurt; especially after you are mortally hurt. People talk about the impatienceof the populace; but sound historians know that most tyrannies have been possible becausemen moved too late. It is often essential to resist a tyranny before it exists. It is no answerto say, with a distant optimism, that the scheme is only in the air. A blow from a hatchet canonly be parried while it is in the air.There exists to-day a scheme of action, a school of thought, as collective andunmistakable as any of those by whose grouping alone we can make any outline of history.It is as firm a fact as the Oxford Movement, or the Puritans of the Long Parliament; or theJansenists; or the Jesuits. It is a thing that can be pointed out; it is a thing that can bediscussed; and it is a thing that can still be destroyed. It is called for convenience Eugenics ; and that it ought to be destroyed I propose to prove in the pages that follow. Iknow that it means very different things to different people; but that is only because evilalways takes advantage of ambiguity. I know it is praised with high professions of idealismand benevolence; with silver-tongued rhetoric about purer motherhood and a happierposterity. But that is only because evil is always flattered, as the Furies were called TheGracious Ones. I know that it numbers many disciples whose intentions are entirelyinnocent and humane; and who would be sincerely astonished at my describing it as I do.But that is only because evil always wins through the strength of its splendid dupes; andthere has in all ages been a disastrous alliance between abnormal innocence and abnormalsin. Of these who are deceived I shall speak of course as we all do of such instruments;judging them by the good they think they are doing, and not by the evil which they reallydo. But Eugenics itself does exist for those who have sense enough to see that ideas exist;and Eugenics itself, in large quantities or small, coming quickly or coming slowly, urgedfrom good motives or bad, applied to a thousand people or applied to three, Eugenics itselfis a thing no more to be bargained about than poisoning.It is not really difficult to sum up the essence of Eugenics: though some of the Eugenistsseem to be rather vague about it. The movement consists of two parts: a moral basis, whichis common to all, and a scheme of social application which varies a good deal. For the moralbasis, it is obvious that man's ethical responsibility varies with his knowledge ofconsequences. If I were in charge of a baby (like Dr. Johnson in that tower of vision), and ifthe baby was ill through having eaten the soap, I might possibly send for a doctor.

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