ome a parent.

* * * * *

[47]
CHAPTER V

"The real undermining of health is not seen. It is done in an insidious
way. It has to be carefully ferreted out."

DR. HARVEY W. WILEY.

WHAT EVERY MOTHER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT EUGENICS

In the preceding pages we have written about eugenics as a science; it is
our intention now to point out briefly in just what way eugenics directly
concerns the mothers of to-day. In the first place let us try to appreciate
what it will mean to the race if "the fit only are born." "Fit" children,
it will be recalled, means children born healthy of healthy, selected
parents, parents with a good ancestral history, conveying to their
offspring a reasonably adequate legacy. If the "fit only are born" we start
with a healthy stock. What a significant and tremendous advantage this is.
At once we rid the world of the potential inefficients--the feeble-minded,
the insane, the criminal, the deaf-mute, the drunkard. If we are correct in
assuming that the reason why all former civilizations have failed and
passed away, was because they bred a race of people physically and mentally
unfit to survive, the demand of the eugenist that only "fit children shall
be born" will strike at the very root of this evil. If we uproot the cause
of racial degeneration we begin the building of a race that should not
degenerate. If we establish a race that will not degenerate, it must gain
strength and virility with each generation.

This assumption is logically correct, but we must do more than breed "fit"
children. We must take care of them after they are born. We must furnish
them with a good environment (see page 3). Heredity without favorable
environment counts for very little,--we must never forget that. Heredity
and environment are the two important determining factors in the life of
every child born. If eugenics furnishes the heredity by ensuring the [48]
birth of the "fit" only, it depends upon the mothers of the race to provide
the environment. Every mother must know how to take the best care of
herself and of her child. This book is devoted to instructing her in the
details of this duty.

We cannot hope, however, to reach this high altruistic plane by simply
taking the first step in the right direction. We who are alive to-day must
begin the work, and leave it to posterity to carry forward. We