If what we familiarly term nature and natural sexual
instinct are mere animal propensities, to be escaped from by
the mentally-cultivated, and left to be indulged in by the
more or less idiotic, then by degrees the race, becoming
gradually more and more intellectual, will become extinct,
and Terra will become similar to her satellite Luna. Is in-
creased brain-power and intellectual activity arranged so as to
bring procreative energy to an end? A very long period,
however, must elapse before the animal type of mankind will
be impelled by educational impulse to bring itself to self-
extinction. "Furthermore, the effect of education, for
instance, in reducing sexuality will tell most where it is
least wanted, namely, among the best types." {Evolution of
Sex.)

At the dawn of history we find that the race which then
dwelt in the valley of the Nile was the most developed in
mental power of all other races then on the earth. At
that period the men who lived in the north of Europe were
mere savages, but great in animal power. In course of time,
through developing mental power to the utmost, the Nile race
became extinct, and the savage one took its place. That one
has now in its turn developed equal mental superiority. Is
the same process to be repeated? Is some future develop-
ment of the present Central African savage destined to stand
on London Bridge and gaze on a decayed civilization, as
we gaze now on that of the Nile valley ? Many most thought-
ful observers of the increased demand for the lugher education
of women at the present day attribute it to economic
influences, and say that if these had not been adverse to the
natural custom of marrying and giving in marriage the
question of the higher education of women would not have
arisen ; that in an ideal society women would have been
too much occupied with their proper cares — their children —
to have either wished for or attempted anything outside the
sphere of maternity. One thing is certain. It is only
within the last twenty-five years that the demand for women's



1 84 NEO-MALTHUSIANISM

education has arisen, and that coincides with the advent of an
increased population and its inevitable accompaniment
pressure of competition. 