216 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



legitimizing separation are essentially different from 

 those that must count in the absence of family 

 responsibilities. Where there is no child, and no 

 immediate promise of one, there should be con- 

 siderable latitude as to separation. To limit the 

 grounds of divorce to the usual statutory ones 

 implies much too narrow a view of the right to in- 

 dividual freedom. Harshness of temper, unconge- 

 niality, or well-grounded dislike should be sufficient 

 ground for legal separation, for there is a consider- 

 able loss in efficiency as well as happiness from being 

 forced to live with a person for whom one has no 

 affection or respect. The necessity for separation 

 involves the admission of a sad failure in the most 

 important personal relation of life. 



This failure implies unfortunate impulsiveness, or 

 bad judgment, or low motives in entering on so vital 

 a step. But disastrous marriages are seldom of 

 criminal origin, and there is no valid reason why they 

 should be punished by their obligatory maintenance. 

 A sufficient punishment for the divorced and childless 

 individual lies in the consciousness of failure in a re- 

 lation so important, in a certain loss of prestige with 

 decent people, and in the prolonged financial responsi- 

 bility which, in some cases at least, should attend legal 

 separation. In order to guard against a precipitate 

 repetition of the same kind of mistake with a new 

 partner, a new marriage should not be permitted until 

 after the lapse of a reasonable period, to be deter- 

 mined by the judges granting the degree of divorce. 



