NURTURE VERSUS NATURE 



eluding in particular the all-essential milk supply; 

 how preventive medicine has learned to guard 

 our ports against the invasion of plagues and to 

 minimize the spread of the contagious maladies 

 by warring upon the mosquitoes and flies and rats 

 that serve as germ-carriers. 



It is familiar knowledge, also, that medical 

 science has found means to treat individuals suf- 

 fering from contagious maladies, and in particu- 

 lar to give immunity to others through serum 

 and vaccine treatments, the discovery of which 

 has resulted from the new knowledge of bac- 

 teriology. 



All in all, the work of preventive medicine has 

 been so effectively carried forward that the death 

 rate in our cities has decreased, particularly as it 

 concerns the infant population, to a fraction of 

 what it was. The average age of mankind has 

 been practically doubled since the time of our 

 grandparents. 



All this is matter for just pride and enthusiasm 

 to the humanitarian. Yet from the standpoint of 

 the eugenist, it appears that these triumphs of 

 preventive medicine do not represent an alto- 

 gether unmixed blessing. Looked at with a coldly 

 analytical eye, it appears that the preservation 

 of weakly infants through what may be likened 

 to a hothouse cultivation must enhance the num- 

 ber of adult members of the population of the 

 coming decades who are peculiarly unfit to propa- 

 gate the species. 



In other words, it would appear that the first 

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