recent years a desire to know something more
definite about the science of eugenics.

Eugenics, simply defined, means "better babies." It is the art of being
well born. It implies consideration of everything that has to do with the
well-being of the race: motherhood, marriage, heredity, environment,
disease, hygiene, sanitation, vice, education, culture,--in short,
everything upon which the health of the people depends. If we contribute
the maximum of health to those living, it is reasonable to assume that the
future generation will profit thereby, and "better babies" will be a direct
consequence.

We are frequently told that we must take the world as we find it. This has
been aptly termed, "the motto of the impotent and cowardly." "Life is what
we make it," is the more satisfying assertion of the optimist, and most [2]
of us seem to be trying to make existence more tolerable and more happy. It
is encouraging to know that intelligent men and women to-day seek an
opportunity to devote serious consideration to the betterment of the race,
while yet the pursuit of wealth and pleasure are enticing and strenuous
occupations.

It would be superfluous in a book of this character to enter into any
lengthy explanation as to how the science of eugenics proposes to work out
its problems. We hope only to excite the interest of mothers in the
subject, and to instruct them in its rudiments and principles.

It will be of distinct advantage, however, first to briefly consider the
conditions,--which are known to all of us,--which have led up to the
present status of the subject.

INFANT MORTALITY.--No elaborate argument is necessary to prove that the
present infant mortality, in every civilized country, is too high. It is
conceded by every authority interested in the subject, no matter what
explanation he offers, or what system he advances as a solution of the
problem.

MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD.--Every intelligent person knows that most young
girls enter into the marriage relationship without a real understanding of
its true meaning, or even a serious thought regarding its duties or its
responsibilities. We know that their home training in domestic science is
generally not adequate, and that their educational equipment is
inefficient. We also know that economic necessity has deprived them of the
tutelage essential to social progress and physical health, and has endowed
them with temperamental characteristics undesirable in the mothe