276 Biology in America 



with the chief physician of the institution, to examine the 

 mental and physical condition of such inmates as are recom- 

 mended by the institutional physician and board of managers. 

 If, in the judgment of this committee of experts and the 

 board of managers, procreation is inadvisable, and there is 

 no probability of improvement of the mental and physical 

 condition of the inmate, it shall be lawful for the surgeons 

 to perform such operation for the prevention of procreation 

 as shall be decided safest. and most effective. But this opera- 

 tion shall not be performed except in cases that have been 

 pronounced unimprovable: Provided, That in no case shall 

 the consultation fee be more than three (3) dollars to each 

 expert, to be paid out of the funds appropriated for the 

 maintenance of such institution. ' ' 



The question of elimination of defectives, by preventing 

 their procreation, leads to the delicate one of elimination of 

 human misery by taking the life of children, so hopelessly 

 deformed or diseased, that they can never by any possible 

 chance be anything but sources of suffering to themselves, 

 and of unhappiness to their friends. The practise of destroy- 

 ing those infants considered unlikely to develop into vigorous 

 men, and good soldiers is well known as the policy of Sparta 

 in ancient Greece, and among savages infanticide has some- 

 times been practised for a similar reason. In India the kill- 

 ing of girl babies to save them the dishonor of remaining 

 unmarried or of marrying below their caste, as well as to 

 avoid the excessive expense incident to marriage ceremonies, 

 was prevalent among many tribes previous to the middle of 

 the last century, when it was terminated by the British Gov- 

 ernment. Among civilized peoples infanticide is generally 

 regarded as a crime equal to, or but slightly less than murder. 

 Abortion, unless practised to save the life or health of the 

 mother, is criminal, though of a much lower degree than 

 infanticide. The logic of a distinction between a foetus a 

 few days before birth and a baby a few days after, is some- 

 what difficult however to appreciate. 



The reverence for human life has even extended to the dead 

 body, so that in the early days of anatomy, cadavers for dis- 

 section could only be obtained by devious means. 



The sacredness in which we hold life has led us to take 

 every means for its preservation, even to abolition in many 

 states and foreign countries of capital punishment, the forcible 

 restraint of attempted suicides, and the most careful nurture 

 of helpless cripples and hopeless idiots. Because of our 

 reverence for human life we sometimes practise the most 

 refined cruelty to those we love the best, a cruelty we woulcT 

 not tolerate for a moment if practised upon the dumb brute. 



