LUTHER BURBANK 



Logically, then, there would seem to be no 

 reason why such tainting of a stock should be 

 knowingly permitted. There would seem to be 

 no reason why a recessive individual of this type 

 should be permitted to vitiate the germ-plasm of 

 the race. So long as the recessive quality is 

 latent, we can do nothing directly to eliminate it ; 

 but when it becomes patent in an individual case, 

 opportunity is afforded to dam back permanently 

 that particular stream of recessive germ-plasm. 



And the way in which this can be effected, 

 obviously, is by sterilization of the individual who 

 manifests the defect. 



Still holding to the biological point of view, 

 there would seem to be no question that a proper 

 regard for the welfare of future generations de- 

 mands that all mentally and morally defective in- 

 dividuals of unequivocal type should be sterilized. 

 The rule should apply, it would seem, to all sub- 

 normal children ; to the insane of every type ; and 

 to all persons whose lack of moral control is such 

 as to have led them to commit infractions of the 

 social order that rank as felonies. 



So comprehensive a programme for the elimi- 

 nation of recessive germinal factors for mental 

 and moral traits will doubtless seem little less 

 than appalling to many readers. But there seems 



to the presence of an elemental egoism and excessive energy that 

 are primordial traits. Stable genius probably tends to be dominant 

 in heredity. The offspring of men of large and stable mental en- 

 dowment are usually able. The sons of Charles Darwin may be 

 cited in illustration. 



[318] 



