A recollection of the facts of heredity, and of the fact
that the offspring of any individual tend to increase in geometric
ratio, will supply adequate grounds for holding this conviction:--that
from a biological point of view, every child of congenitally inferior
character is a racial misfortune. The Spartans and other peoples of
antiquity fully realized this fact, and acted on it by exposing deformed
infants. Christianity properly revolted as such an action; but in
repudiating the action, it lost sight of the principle back of the
action. The principle should have been regarded, and civilized races are
now coming back to a realization of that fact--are, indeed, realizing
its weight far more fully than any other people has ever done, because
of the growing realization of the importance of heredity. No one is
likely seriously to argue again that deformed infants (whether their
deformity be physical or mental) should be exposed to perish; but the
argument that in the interests of the future of the race _they would
better not be born_, is one that admits of no refutation.
From a biological point of view, then, it is to the interest of the race
that the number of children who will be either defective themselves, or
transmit anti-social defects to their offspring, should be as small as
possible.
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