FEEBLE-MTNDEDNESS 45 



the feeble-mindedness of their children and of this ailment 

 having then been passed on to their descendants by heredity. 

 The evidence is not enough, however, to make it possible to 

 say for certain that any one of these things either does or 

 does not have this effect. If feeble-mindedness did first 

 come into the world as a direct result of these social evils, 

 in fighting against them we should be helping to prevent the 

 appearance of these sad mental troubles in the future. 

 But, on the other hand, if bad social conditions really have 

 no harmful hereditary effects on posterity, we are never- 

 theless bound to fight against these social evils because of 

 their immediate harmful influences. Our practical pohcy 

 in regard to drunkenness, for example, ought to be the same 

 whether it does or does not give rise to mental troubles 

 amongst the descendants of the drunkard. 



Feeble-mindedness is sometimes described as being 

 hereditary ; though, as a fact, no very clear Hne of demar- 

 cation can be drawn separating off such cases from those 

 described as not being hereditary. 



Dealing first with the cases described as not hereditary, 

 this means that, if a person so afflicted is married, the 

 children resulting from the marriage will be no more Hkely 

 to be defective in mind than will be the children of their 

 neighbours. Here it should be noted that the duties to be 

 performed by a mother in rearing a child are amongst the 

 most important of all human duties, and that a feeble- 

 minded woman is quite unfit to perform them. It foUows, 

 therefore, that children ought to be taken away from 

 feeble-minded mothers. But even if this were done, these 

 children would grow up without a mother's care, which 

 would be an incalculable loss to them. And all this apphes, 

 though in a less degree, to the father. In short, nothing 

 can prevent parenthood being harmful in the case of feeble- 

 minded persons. Moreover, we can never be quite sure 

 that the feeble-mindedness is not hereditary, and that the 

 descendants of the feeble in mind would not be of inferior 

 stock. Consequently, we may conclude that no feeble- 

 minded person should be allowed to become a parent, even 



