32 WHAT IS EUGENICS? 



a considerable chance that the malady will reappear in 

 succeeding generations. But even if the possibility of the 

 disease thus reappearing is left out of consideration, we 

 may yet ask whether these unfortunate individuals ought to 

 have any more children. If aU the trouble in the house- 

 hold due to insanity, including the loss of the capacity to 

 win wages and to look after the children, is held in view, 

 surely it seems that no persons Uable to a second attack 

 should add to the size of their families. And as there are 

 not many cases of insanity which do not make a second 

 attack more probable, all who have once been thus afflicted 

 would do well to make this sacrifice in regard to parenthood. 

 In this way alone can the person who has recovered from 

 insanity lessen the chances of the reappearance amongst 

 his descendants of an ailment which causes the most intense 

 suffering to all concerned. 



Epilepsy is another bad disease which often runs in 

 families. Consequently, no one who has had unmistakable 

 epileptic fits should become a parent. The word " epilepsy," 

 however, probably covers a wide range of diseases. All 

 that can here be said for certain is that a doctor should be 

 consulted before marriage when epilepsy is suspected. 



The tendency to sufier from consumption seems also to 

 run in famihes. In any case those afflicted with definite 

 and pronounced consumption will be unlikely in the future 

 to be able to do their duties as parents in an efficient 

 manner. Consequently those at this stage of the disease 

 should have no more children. This conduct, if widely 

 adopted, would probably make future generations sufier 

 less from this disease ; for the hereditary predisposition to 

 catch it might thus in a measure be weeded out. 



The most difficult decisions in regard to the renunciation 

 of parenthood arise when an individual, though apparently 

 sound in mind and body, has many defective relatives. 

 Here again aU that can be said is, " Consult your doctor." 

 A medical adviser ought to be able to take a more impartial 

 and just view of the whole situation than the patient can 

 possibly do himself. Unfortunately, at present very few 



