WASTED LIFE REFLECTED IN CHILD 237 



unnecessary. One further step, perhaps, is 

 necessary to guard the life and health of 

 the wife, as well as the unborn child. The 

 penalty for a husband knowingly to carry 

 the social disease into his home should be 

 more severe than for the crime of cold- 

 blooded murder. 



Such examinations as I am advocating 

 would prevent a condition to pregnant 

 women which often is seen in the incubation 

 of eggs. The life germ of the egg, due to 

 a union of a germ cell from the male and 

 female, will show various degrees of vigor. 

 Some die before development starts ; some 

 germs live 3, 5, 10, 15 or 18 days. Anyone 

 who has operated an incubator has seen the 

 little black spots in the egg appear and 

 knows the germ is dead. Others are too 

 weak to break away from the shell, while a 

 certain per cent, have only vitality enough 

 to carry them for a few days after hatch- 

 ing. If you examine such chicks, you will 

 discover that many are defective ; club feet, 

 twisted necks or backs, or are otherwise 

 physically and mentally irregular; and if 

 you examine the dead chicks in the shells, 



