September 15, 1923] 



NA TURE 



387 



National Eugenics, 



(i) Eugenical Sterilisation in the United States. By 

 Dr. H. H. Laughlin. Pp. xxiii + 502. (Chicago: 

 Psychopathic Laboratory of the Municipal Court 

 of Chicago, 1922.) n.p. 



(2) Eugeniqiie et selection. Par E. Apert, L. Cuenot, 

 Le Major Darwin, F. Houssay, L. March, G. Papillaut, 

 Ed. Perrier, Ch. Richet, G. Schreiber. (Bibhotheque 

 generale des Sciences sociales.) Pp. iii + 248. (Paris : 

 F. Alcan, 1922.) 15 francs net. 



*' TV "[ATIONAL Eugenics is the study of those agencies 

 1 \i under social control which may improve or 

 impair the racial qualities of future generations." 

 Galton thus linked the word " national " to eugenics. 

 The problem in its fundamental biological aspects 

 is in one sense the same for all nations, but to each 

 nation it may present different sides and provoke 

 different methods of attack, if indeed it is attacked 

 at all. The experiences of one nation are, nevertheless, 

 worthy of observation by all. 



(i) From this point of view, the first part of Dr. 

 Laughlin's book is of interest. This part consists of 

 a detailed analysis, written from a lawyer's point of 

 view, of the sterilisation laws enacted in the United 

 States prior to January i, 1922, with summaries of 

 the extent to which they have been put into practice 

 in different States and a full account of the litigation 

 arising out of them. Fifteen States have had, and 

 nine still have, sterilisation laws, some mandatory 

 and some optional. The scope of these laws varies 

 from State to State, but in no case extends beyond 

 certain inmates of State, county, or municipal institu- 

 tions. The consent of the relatives has in general 

 been easily obtained. There is very great variation 

 in the opinions quoted of the executive boards and 

 superintendents, and consequently in the extent to 

 which the laws have been put into practice. 



From 1907 until January i, 1921, 3233 operations 

 in all were carried out under the laws, and of these 

 2558 occurred in California (1009 being due to a single 



istitution). Nebraska comes next with 155 cases. 

 Wisconsin, Connecticut, and North Dakota the 



iw is still being applied, but to a very limited extent. 



tn Washington, where the object is purely punitive, 



^onlv uiir case has so far occurred. In six of the 



fteen States the law has been repealed or vetoed, 

 ind in three it has become a dead letter. In test 

 •s, xiolalion of the State or Federal constitution 

 been arLiiud i hiefiy on the grounds of class legisla- 

 Kon. crncl or nmisual punishment, or denial of equal 

 )ri)i(" iinii III ilir law's. In five States liic cdiirts have 



;ld the sterilisation laws iiik (ui^t it nt iniial. I)ut the 

 luoted opinion ot \arioiis AincTK an legal experts 



NO. 281 I, VOL. I 12] 



differs more on their expediency than on their con- 

 stitutionality. The history of the working of these 

 laws indicates that, in the country as a whole, public 

 opinion is not at present behind them. 



As an exhaustive historical record and guide to 

 existing practice in the United States this compilation 

 will no doubt prove a useful book of reference for those 

 practically concerned with sterilisation in the legislative, 

 legal, and administrative fields. As a contribution to 

 the scientific discussion of the social and biological 

 aspects of the problem it has less weight. The section 

 on eugenical diagnosis is intended " to serve the 

 legislator in his efforts to weigh the matter in its 

 entirety." It is not easy to see, however, that this 

 purpose can be achieved by the somewhat crude 

 and uncritical summary offered of Mendelian theory 

 and its application. The student will find the book 

 overloaded with detail (incidentally there are dis- 

 crepancies between text and table in the indentification 

 numbers of individuals in the case pedigrees), but it 

 contains a great deal of information, not easily accessible 

 hitherto, of which the eugenist should not be ignorant. 



(2) " Eugenique et selection " is a collection of 

 papers, most of which were delivered as lectures 

 during 1920-21 at the meetings of the " Societe 

 frangaise d'Eugenique," and are devoted mainly to 

 a discussion of the consequences of the War in France 

 from a eugenical point of view. It includes an earlier 

 paper by the late vice-president of the Society, Frederic 

 Houssay, in which, starting from a series of experi- 

 ments on six generations of hens, he argues that there 

 is a degeneracy of those in easy circumstances due 

 to the abuse of food, each generation poisoning the 

 next through toxic excretions into the germ cells. 



Dr. Apert deals with the effect of the War on the 

 health of the French nation. The two chief qualitative 

 results he finds are an increased tendency to tuberculosis 

 and the expectation of a series of infantile generations 

 of lessened resistance to disease. To these he adds 

 alcoholism and syphilis as active menaces to the 

 French race, M. Lucien March treats the question 

 from a quantitative aspect. He estimates the total 

 loss of population to France (including the deficit 

 of births) directly due to the War as 3,000,000 people. 

 He examines the size of family in various classes, 

 and gives as the three fundamental factors on which 

 the birth-rate depends : (i) the cost of the child 

 before he is self-supporting ; (2) the chance the child 

 has of maintaining himself in at least as good circum- 

 stances as his parents ; and (3) the opinion that the 

 parents hold of (i) and (2). He outlines the various 

 steps taken in France to encourage natality, among 

 which may be noted ilie existence of more than 

 70 employers' associations \\ hieli gi\c benefits for each 



