SELECTIVE BIRTH-RATE 175 



Commission, appointed to report on the care and 

 control of the feeble-minded, had previously shown 

 that mental defect was hereditary, and recommended 

 that persons suffering in such ways should be detained 

 compulsorily in labour colonies, as the only way of 

 eliminating mental defects from the people. The Poor 

 Law Commissioners adopt this recommendation : 



" If, as we hope, the recommendations of that Com- 

 mission are carried into effect, a system of control over 

 the feeble-minded will be initiated, which will put an 

 end to one of the most prolific sources of pauperism, 

 and free the Poor Law Administrator from one of his 

 greatest difficulties. Meanwhile, we think that, as a 

 provisional measure, the Poor Law authorities should 

 be given power to detain feeble-minded mothers of 

 illegitimate children who come under their care." 

 Again, dealing with the same subject : 

 " For depraved women we recommend that the 

 Local Authorities should have power to arrange for 

 their detention in suitable institutions. Should these 

 recommendations be carried into effect, we confidently 

 anticipate a great diminution in the numbers of the 

 latter class, and also in the numbers of illegitimate 

 and degenerate children who are born only for an 

 early death, or to become a lasting burden upon the 

 Community." 



Here we have a distinct recognition of the influence 

 of heredity on this section of pauperism. Indeed, the 

 question is too clear to admit of any doubt. But 

 the same train of reasoning might have suggested the 

 same influence at work in other departments of the 

 inquiry. It is surely as undesirable to increase the 



