MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 293 



culosis held in London in 1901. Professor Brouardel, of Paris, 

 said in his address : " You have diminished the mortality in 

 England from tuberculosis by 40 per cent.," and he attributed 

 this decline to the numerous Acts of Parliament and measures 

 promoted by private individuals to render more salubrious the 

 dwellings of the poor and the conditions under which they live 

 and carry on their occupation in factories, mines, and workshops 

 throughout the kingdom. We can from this realise what a great 

 work Sir Edwin Chadwick did in combating this racial disease 

 by his pioneer work in sanitary science. 



The housing of the poor is now the bed-rock of physical and 

 mental hygiene and still calls for all the efforts which Parliament 

 and private enterprise can exert. By energetic amelioration of 

 the present conditions, especially those of the casual workers in 

 cities, and of the rural population, more can be done than by 

 any other means to " diminish " the death-rate from tuberculosis, 

 the contamination of the morals of the poor and the infant 

 mortality. The social reformer justly recognises that much 

 good raw material may be spoilt by a bad environment; he 

 recognises also the fact that a healthy mind can only exist in a 

 healthy body and that an inborn virtue may by evil surround- 

 ings and imitation be the source of contracted vices. The ardent 

 and enthusiastic social reformer should recognise the fact that 

 you do not gather grapes from thorns nor figs from thistles ; 

 that the children of feeble-minded parents will, in spite of good 

 nutrition and favourable surroundings, tend to be more or less 

 feeble-minded ; that the most dangerous form of feeble-minded- 

 ness, now that Nature is no longer left to itself to select by 

 survival of the fittest, is the higher-grade imbecile, who is fertile 

 and able under the easier conditions of survival brought about 

 by social reform to multiply and infect good stocks. Seeing that 

 we cannot prevent this occurring, the only hope is that the 

 Mental Deficiency Bill which has now passed a second reading 

 may become law; its object being to segregate early mentally 

 defective children in their own interests and in the interests of 

 the community. Inasmuch as feeble-mindedness occurs in all 

 classes, I should advocate notification of all mental defectives ; 

 and where parental responsibility has failed, then in the interests 

 of the child the Government should take up the responsibility of 

 guardianship as a protective measure — due precautions being 

 taken and every opportunity given of restoration to social 



