94 MARRIAGE AND DISEASE. 



them in the right path. They attend upon the calls 

 of their instincts and passions as does the unreasoning 

 beast, and not even an angel from heaven could hope 

 by moral suasion to induce them to curb a single 

 appetite or in any way mortify the flesh. 



Of course the old cry of "interference with the 

 freedom of the subject " will rise like a spectre to bar 

 the path of legislation; but this ghost has been laid 

 before and will be again. These wretched creatures, 

 far down in the scale of degeneration, with just suf- 

 ficient intelligence to keep them from outraging the 

 usages of society ; who continue their kind so long as 

 nature permits, to the detriment of the race; who 

 create nothing, add nothing to the commonwealth, 

 but are, instead, a charge upon the community; these 

 have no more right to claim freedom of action as to 

 procreation, than has the leper to mingle with the 

 populace. 



All men and women who have been insane once and 

 have a bad family history, those who have been twice 

 insane, even if the family history be good, and all who 

 are confirmed epileptics or drunkards, should be pre- 

 vented by the state from becoming parents, for they 

 have no greater right to carry suffering and contami- 

 nation amongst the people, and throw expense upon 

 the state, than has the person suffering from small- 

 pox to do so by travelling in a public conveyance. 

 As with the victim of the small-pox, it is their mis- 

 fortune more than their fault, but of this society can 

 take no notice. The unfortunate few must always 



