EUGENICS AND EUTIIENICS ^55 



impart. Another comprehends slowly, advances only by 

 constant drill and hammering, and seems as little plastic 

 as a piece of wood. Another may be slow in most work but 

 rapid in mathematics, and still another may be first in English 

 composition and incapable of acquiring algebra. The expert 

 teacher can do much with good material; but his work is 

 closely limited by the protoplasmic makeup — the inherent 

 traits — of his pupils. 



Religious teachers do a grand work and the value to the 

 state of properly developed and controlled emotions is in- 

 calculable. Yet how dependent, after all, arc religious or 

 moral teachings upon the nature of those who receive them. 

 I have heard ministers express regret that they preached only 

 to those who least needed their ministrations, but they for- 

 got that to others their ministrations would be of little avail. 

 Religion would be a more effective thing if everybody had a 

 healthy emotional nature: and it can do nothing at all with 

 natm-es that have not the elements of love, loyalty and de- 

 votion. 



Of the importance of fresh air, good food, and rest in curing 

 tuberculosis I have no doubt, yet how often have I seen per- 

 sons brought up in the best of hygienic conditions, with every 

 need supplied, forced to live in a camp in the Adirondacks or 

 in Southern Arizona and, despite the best of trained nursing, 

 gradually fade away. That cleaner milk, more air and sun- 

 light will still further reduce the death rate of infants in New 

 York city cannot be denied; yet there are infants who do not 

 succumb to infantile diarrhea even in the slums. The per- 

 sonal side must not be overlooked in properly estimating the 

 value of prophylaxis. 



3. The Elimination of Undesirable Traits 



The practical question in eugenics is this: What can be 

 doiie to reduce the frequency of the undesirable mental and 



