WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 117 



Feeble-mindedness is hereditary and transmitted as 

 surely as any other character. We cannot successfully 

 cope with these conditions until we recognize feeble- 

 mindedness and its hereditary nature, recognize it early, 

 and take care of it. 



In considering the question of care, segregation 

 through colonization seems in the present state of our 

 knowledge to be the ideal and perfectly satisfactory 

 method. Sterilization may be accepted as a makeshift, 

 as a help to solve this problem because the conditions 

 have become so intolerable. But this must at present 

 be regarded only as a makeshift and temporary, for 

 before it can be extensively practiced, a great deal 

 must be learned about the effects of the operation and 

 about the laws of human inheritance. 



