22O THE METHOD OF DARWIN. 



"As the parents are frequently exposed to 

 want themselves, the difficulty of supporting 

 their children becomes at times so great that 

 they are reduced to the necessity of abandon- 

 ing or destroying them. Deformed children 

 are very generally exposed ; and among some 

 of the tribes in South America, the children of 

 mothers who do not bear their labors well ex- 

 perience a similar fate from a fear that the off- 

 spring may inherit the weakness of its parent. 



"To causes of this nature we must ascribe 

 the remarkable exemption of the Americans 

 from deformities of make. Even when a mother 

 endeavors to rear all her children without dis- 

 tinction, such a proportion of the whole number 

 perishes under the rigorous treatment which 

 must be their lot in the savage state, that prob- 

 ably none of those who labor under any original 

 weakness or infirmity can attain the age of 

 manhood. If they be not cut off as soon as 

 they are born, they cannot long protract their 

 lives under the severe discipline that awaits 

 them. In the Spanish provinces, where the 

 Indians do not lead so laborious a life, and 

 are prevented from destroying their children, 

 great numbers of them are deformed, dwarfish, 

 mutilated, blind, and deaf." 1 



1 Principle of Population, Chap. IV. pp. 20, 21. 



