36 WHAT IS EUGENICS? 



will not here be discussed, it being sufficient to remark that 

 the balance of medical opinion seems to be in favour of the 

 view that some of them are harmless. In any case, we 

 may well hope that better means of preventing parenthood 

 will be discovered before long. 



The objections which can be raised against each of these 

 two methods of keeping down the numbers of a nation will 

 next be considered. Continence may mean either the 

 renunciation of marriage or abstinence from sexual rela- 

 tions after marriage. The objections to these two forms of 

 continence are sufficiently similar to allow them to be 

 considered together. They are as follows. In the first 

 place, these practices are so much against human nature that 

 it would be out of the question to expect that under any 

 circumstances they would be largely adopted by the bulk 

 of the population. No doubt continence has been deliber- 

 ately practised after marriage to a greater extent than is 

 generally admitted in order to prevent the appearance of 

 too big a family. But continence alone could never ward 

 off the evils of over-population. Moreover, continence 

 would be more likely to be practised by persons guided by 

 moral motives than by the thoughtless and the weak-willed ; 

 for the better the couple, the more consideration, at all 

 events, would they give to any advocacy of continence on 

 moral grounds. The result of trusting to continence alone 

 would, therefore, be that the imprudent and those whose 

 passions are controlled with difficulty would have a propor- 

 tionately large number of descendants. The harmful 

 quaUties which distinguished them — namely, carelessness, 

 selfishness, and sexual passions — would consequently thus 

 be made to increase in future generations. Another 

 objection to continence in married life is that it may cause 

 such a strain as to stand in the way of affection between 

 husband and wife; a tie which is essential to the well- 

 being of the family. Lastly, when only one of a couple 

 demands continence, the other may make this an excuse, 

 however inadequate, for adultery. 



Turning to the objections to birth control, it is urged 



