from the Standpoint of Science 29 



one hand, a duty towards the community in 

 respect of his breed and nurture, and a claim, 

 on the other hand, of the parents on the 

 State that the latter shall make the condi- 

 tions of life favourable to the rearing of 

 healthy, mentally vigorous men and women. 

 Bear in mind that one quarter only of the 

 married people of this country say, a sixth to 

 an eighth of the adult population produce 

 50 per cent, of the next generation. You 

 will then see how essential it is for the main- 

 tenance of a physically and mentally fit race 

 that this one-sixth to one-eighth of our 

 population should be drawn from the best 

 and not the worst stocks. A nation that 

 begins to tamper with its fertility may un- 

 consciously have changed its national charac- 

 teristics before two generations have passed. 

 France is becoming a land of Bretons 

 because the Bretons alone have large families. 

 And what about England ? The average net 

 size of our families has been falling for per- 

 haps fifty years. Who will venture to assert 

 that this decreased fertility has occurred in 

 the inferior stocks ? On the contrary, is it 

 not the feckless and improvident who have 



