PROBLEM 6. How Mankind Cmi Be Improved 



might be made to include a mental as 

 well as a physical examination. Other 

 states keep feeble-minded men and 

 women from having children by practic- 

 ing sterilization. This is done bv a simple 

 operation which apparently affects the 

 person in no other way. But even with 

 these measures some scientists believe 

 there can be but little improvement in 

 germ plasm. Between 1906 and 1927 the 

 recorded number of feeble-minded in 

 Great Britain increased 100 per cent 

 while the population as a whole increased 

 14 per cent. It is true that during those 

 years many more mental tests were given 

 and therefore many more feeble-minded 

 children were discovered. But this factor 

 accounts for only part of the increase, 

 by no means all of it. It is believed that 

 for certain kinds of feeble-mindedness 

 there are recessive genes that are found 

 in a large portion of the population. For 

 this reason it would take many centuries 

 at best to wipe out feeble-mindedness. 

 Others think that occasional mutations 

 keep adding such undesirable genes to 

 human germ plasm. Although we must 

 provide for these people in institutions 

 we cannot expect to get rid of feeble- 

 mindedness in the human race. 



It is sometimes suggested, too, that 

 germ plasm could be improved by giving 

 a cash bonus to desirable parents who 

 raise lar^e families. But which are the 

 desirable, which the undesirable parents? 

 Those with money and power often 

 charge the less successful with lack of 

 ability and ambition. Those less success- 

 ful in accumulating wealth accuse the 

 others of greed and selfishness. It would 

 be difficult, indeed, to know which quali- 

 ties should be bred for, even if it were 



513 



Fig. 462 Different envirofnuents. List all the 

 ways if! which a child brought up in the home 

 below has a better environment . (above, Ameri- 

 can MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. BELOW, 

 HOWE AND ARTHUR) 



possible to suggest practical measures. 

 This problem lends itself to a fruitful dis- 

 cussion. See Exercise 5. 



While there is little we can do about 

 improving germ plasm let us see to what 

 extent we can improve man through his 

 environment. 



Man's complex environment. The en- 

 vironment of a human being includes 

 many more factors than that of other ani- 

 mals and for that reason it is of very great 

 importance in determining the charac- 

 teristics of man. You could prepare a 

 long list of factors — including churches, 

 places of amusement, books, newspapers, 

 advertisements, shops, automobiles, radio, 



