HEREDITY AND HUMAN IMPROVEMENT 385 



Speaking of conditions in England Whetham remarks: 

 "The workhouse records frequently note that five, six, 

 or seven children have been born before the mother is 

 twenty-five years of age, and she herself may have com- 

 menced child-bearing at fifteen years of age or even younger. 

 Most of these children inherit the mental condition of 

 their parents, and where both parents are known to 

 be feebleminded, there is no record of their having given 

 birth to a normal child. In one workhouse there were 

 sixteen feebleminded women who had produced between 

 them 116 children with a large proportion of mental 

 defect. Out of one such family of fourteen, only four 

 could be trained to do remunerative work. 



"With regard to the fertility of feebleminded stocks, 

 it has been pointed out that the feebleminded children 

 from the degenerate families who use the special schools 

 in London, come, sometimes two or more at a time, from 

 households averaging about seven offspring, whereas 

 the average number of children in the families who now 

 use the public elementary school is about four." 



Most of the feebleminded are not confined in institu- 

 tions. Of the 1 0,000 known cases in Pennsylvania , accord- 

 ing to Dr. Barr, 6500 are free. In many cases women in 

 almshouses continue to produce children most of whom 

 are below par mentally. In England a few years ago 

 the girls born in workhouses were set adrift at sixteen. 

 They frequently returned repeatedly to give birth to 

 illegitimate children who were raised at the county's 

 expense until old enough to follow the mother's example, 

 an effective system for encouraging the increase of 

 undesirable stock. 



The race can improve its heritable qualities only by 

 breeding from the best and preventing the breeding of its 

 worst. To bring this about so far as it is possible is the 



