SEX AND SOCIAL RELATIONS 217 



Where the mismatched partners have a child, or 

 the promise of one, the problem is far more grave, 

 and the grounds for separation should be of a com- 

 pelling character based on the interests of the off- 

 spring. If it is clear that the interests of the child 

 will suffer more through a continuance of the dis- 

 tasteful marriage tie than through its dissolution, 

 the bond should be severed. If, on the contrary, 

 there is even a fair prospect that the education, 

 health, or general welfare of the child will be lowered 

 by the altered conditions of life following the sepa- 

 ration, every means should be used to prevent it. 

 In other words, the biological criterion should here 

 be paramount. In voluntarily bringing a new 

 being into the world a biological responsibility is 

 incurred which is not easily satisfied. A decree of 

 divorce is impotent to alter this responsibility by 

 one jot ; the obligations to the child remain exactly 

 what they were before the separation. The duty 

 which springs from the biological relation between 

 parent and child is simple but widely and deeply 

 comprehensive. It is to provide the best conditions 

 within the power of the parents for the most complete 

 development of the inherent capacities of the child. 

 The reader will recall that, in speaking of the condi- 

 tions which prolong life and render it physically 

 efficient, it was pointed out that there is commonly 

 a great and measurably preventable waste of phys- 

 ical potentiality. Thus on the physical side of 

 development alone the watchful and intelligent 



