TABOO AND GENETICS 203 



service of reproduction would see her most 

 cherished illusions rudely dispelled. The effect 

 of this long continued emotional state with its 

 feeling of injury upon the metabolism of the 

 female organism would be apt to have a detri- 

 mental effect upon the embryo through the 

 blood supply, or upon the nursing infant through 

 the mother's milk. There can be no doubt that 

 anxiety, terror, etc., affect the milk supply, 

 and therefore the life of the child. 



The sixth dysgenic effect of the control by 

 taboos is the rebellion of economically independ- 

 ent women who refuse motherhood under the 

 only conditions society leaves open to them. 

 The statistics in existence, though open to 

 criticism, indicate that the most highly trained 

 women in America are not perpetuating them- 

 selves. (3). Of the situation in England, 

 Bertrand Russell said in 1917 : " If an average 

 sample were taken out of the population of 

 England, and their parents were examined, it 

 would be found that prudence, energy, intellect 

 and enlightenment were less common among 

 the parents than in the population in general ; 

 while shiftlessness, feeble-mindedness, stupidity 

 and superstition were more common than in 

 the population in general . . Mutual liberty is 

 making the old form of marriage impossible, 

 while a new form is not yet developed." (4). 



It must be admitted that to-day marriage and 



