NURTURE AND NATURE 2g 



(c) Physical condition of the parents. The 

 Report states if the parents are broken down in 

 health or suffer from tuberculosis, &c., persistent 

 alcoholism was included in bad physique. 



(d) Moral condition of the parents. The chief 

 difficulty was to decide how far alcoholism is to be 

 treated as a moral complaint. 



Generally speaking we placed the heavy drinker 

 in the category of moral failure when the drinking 

 was accompanied by ''conviction for brutal assault 

 on wife," '* house a regular brothel," frequent con- 

 victions for being drunk and disorderly. Drinking 

 is so prevalent that it is impossible to take it as 

 determining in itself bad moral conditions. " Man 

 a good workman, but goes on spree from time to 

 time, is in two thrift clubs and attends church," or 

 *' old soldier and widower who takes a nip now and 

 then, but is good to his girls — very nice, tidy, clean 

 people," can hardly suffice for placing the described 

 in the category of moral failure. On the other hand 

 "Very dirty, untidy home... Man teetotal, keeps well 

 at his work... China and clothes lying piled about 

 room, thick with dust ; air very bad. Children 

 sickly (eldest imbecile) ; wife a slattern," seems to 

 be a case where there is a moral deficiency likely to 

 affect the condition of the children. 



In each case we have had to trust to personal 

 judgment, and though I think we should put the 

 bulk of the cases in the same classes if we went 

 through the book a second time, it is possible that 

 in some doubtful cases our judgment would not be 

 the same. The negative sign when it occurs means 



