Inheritance of Human Characters 133 



of normal mentality. The number of feeble- 

 minded is apparently increasing much more 

 rapidly than the general population. How 

 rapidly, it is impossible to determine, for we 

 have no exact data on the number of feeble- 

 minded; we are not yet awake to the enormity 

 of the problem involved. From these feeble- 

 minded come some 40 per cent of our prosti- 

 tutes, a fourth of our criminals, and at least a 

 half of the inmates of our almshouses. 



A generation ago the valley of Aosta, in 

 Northern Italy, was overrun with feeble-minded 

 and idiotic individuals of the type known as 

 cretins. It was estimated that fully 60 per 

 cent of the population were affected with this 

 abnormality. A law was passed and enforced 

 segregating the really irresponsible cases and 

 prohibiting the marriage of cretin with cretin. 

 Now the condition has almost disappeared, 

 and it is estimated that only a very small 

 percentage of the population are cretins, these 

 nearly all old, so that this particular form of 

 idiocy will there very soon be a thing of the past. 

 It seems only a rational procedure to accomplish 



