National Deterioration 79 



Crichton- Browne is referring. I am almost 

 inclined to think that, if we could give a 

 measure to stupidity, we should find less of 

 it now than a hundred years ago. Certainly, 

 if stupidity is cured by education, there is 

 less of it. If, on the other hand, Sir James 

 refers to inherited stupidity, I think there 

 may be danger of more of it, because the 

 stupid and foolish are now very carefully 

 looked after, have a high relative fertility, 

 and their offspring are allowed to survive 

 and marry in the modern struggle for exist- 

 ence. This point has been recently em- 

 phasized by those who have had to deal with 

 the problem of mentally defective children. 



4 2. " To the incessant draining from the 

 country, which is the fit and proper breeding- 

 place and rearing-ground of intellect, into 

 our big towns of the best elements of our 

 people, to be swallowed up and exterminated 

 or deteriorated there." 



* Now it is quite possible that every word 

 of this statement is truth ; the fact that I 

 personally can "live" in the country, only 

 " survive " in the Metropolis, draws me sym- 

 pathetically towards this view. But as a 

 statistician I must say sorrowfully that I 

 think every sentence in it is mere opinion. 

 The investigations that would be needed to 

 establish the statement are very complex 

 and extended, and it certainly cannot be 

 established by a simple quotation from Dr. 

 Ogle. It is usually said that no family can 



