4 per thousand in the
other. This would suggest a total for the entire United States of
something like one million.
In addition to these well-recognized classes of hopelessly defective,
there is a class of defectives embracing very diverse characteristics,
which demands careful consideration. In it are those who are germinally
physical weaklings or deformed, those born with a hereditary diathesis
or predisposition toward some serious disease (e.g., Huntington's
Chorea), and those with some gross defect of the organs of special
sense. The germinally blind and deaf will particularly occur to mind in
the latter connection. Cases falling in this category demand careful
scrutiny by biological and psychological experts, before any action can
be taken in the interest of eugenics; in many cases the affected
individual himself will be glad to cooeperate with society by remaining
celibate or by the practice of birth control, to the end of leaving no
offspring to bear what he has borne.
Finally, we come to the great class of delinquents who have hitherto
been made the particular object of solicitude, on the part of those who
have looked with favor upon sterilization legislation. The chronic
inebriate, the confirmed criminal, the prostitute, the pauper, all
deserve careful study by the eugenist.
Pages:
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304