42 WHAT IS EUGENICS? 



certainly be worth a long-sustained effort. Statistical con- 

 siderations, however, indicate that the effects on the race 

 of preventing parenthood would at first be fairly rapid, and 

 would become very slow only when the harmful natural 

 quahties in question had been to a large extent successfully 

 banished. 



In reply to all that has been said in favour of steriliza- 

 tion, it may be urged that, in such a serious matter, mere 

 theoretical considerations are an insufficient guide, and that 

 reform can only be safely based on actual experiences gained 

 in the past. But how are such experiences to be gained if 

 no one will make a move ? Luckily, there is one place in 

 the world, though only one place, to which we can look 

 when seeking for practical information in regard to steriUza- 

 tion; and that is the State of California in the United 

 States. 



Over 5000 operations for sterihzation were performed in 

 California in the eighteen years ending in 1926. To give an 

 idea of what this means, if these operations had been carried 

 on here on the same scale there would have been well over 

 3000 persons sterihzed in England alone every year. About 

 one insane person in twelve of those admitted to the Cali- 

 fornian State Asylum was sterilized, these being those most 

 likely to transmit this disease to posterity. It is true that 

 in some cases the operation was performed in the behef 

 that it would be beneficial to the health of the patient; 

 this being very likely a mistaken behef. On the other 

 hand, there is no reason to suppose that the operation was 

 in any way injurious to health. Indeed, certain married 

 women with a tendency to insanity, and with an excessive 

 fear of pregnancy, were able to live comfortably at home 

 after sterihzation. 



Turning to the treatment of the feeble in mind in Cali- 

 fornia, all allowed to leave the State Asylum have been 

 sterihzed in recent years. A considerable number of girls 

 have been sent by their parents to this institution in order 

 to be sterilized, and have then been allowed to return home. 

 Many patients are allowed out on parole, as it is there called. 



