RURAL HEALTH MENTAL 223 



portance to himself, to his family and to his descendants. The 

 great majority of these young people will later marry and become 

 parents. The dangers of marriage with persons of diseased stock 

 should be presented plainly. The most important point is that 

 feeble-mindedness is highly hereditary, and that each feeble- 

 minded person is a potential source of an endless progeny of 

 defect. No feeble-minded person should be allowed to marry or 

 to become a parent. 



Even the normal members of a definitely tainted family may 

 transmit defect to their own children, especially if they mate 

 with one with similar hereditary tendencies. If the hereditary 

 tendency is marked and persistent, the normal members of the 

 family should not marry. Certain families should become ex- 

 tinct. Parenthood is not for all. Persons of good heredity run 

 a risk of entailing defect upon their descendants when they 

 marry into a family with this hereditary taint. Intelligent peo- 

 ple are usually willing to forego a proposed marriage if the possi- 

 bilities of defective heredity in that mating are fully under- 

 stood. The immediate sacrifice is less painful than the future 

 devoted to the hopeless care of feeble-minded children. The 

 class of people who are not amenable to reason in respect to this 

 question must be dealt with through the general educational in- 

 fluences which have been outlined in this report. 



When the natural leaders of thought in the community the 

 teachers, physicians, lawyers and clergymen are fully informed 

 on this subject they will help to create the strong public senti- 

 ment which will demand the passage of necessary laws, and will 

 secure sufficient appropriations to eventually ensure the intelli- 

 gent protection and control of the feeble-minded persons in that 

 community. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



HEALTH PHYSICAL 



Allen, W. H. Civics and Health, Ginn, N. Y., 1 <><)<>. 



Annual Report American Red Cross Town and Country Nursing 



Service, Washington, !!)!(>. 

 Bashore, H. D. Overcrowding and Defective Housing in the Rural 



Districts, Wiley, N. Y., 1015. 



Brewer, I. W. Rural Hygiene. Lippinoott, Phila., 1000. 

 Clement, F. F. District Nurses in Rural Work. Conference Charities 



