chooses not to, it
ought not to be blindfolded.

In short, the mating of strength with strength is certainly the ideal
which society should have and which every individual should have. But
human heredity is so mixed that this ideal is not always practicable;
and if any two persons wish to abandon it, society is hardly justified
in interfering, unless the case be so gross as those which we were
discussing in the first part of this chapter. Progress in this direction
is to be expected mainly from the enlightened action of the individual.
Much more progress in the study of heredity must be made before advice
on marriage matings can be given in any except fairly obvious cases. The
most that can now be done is to urge that a full knowledge of the family
history of an intended life partner be sought, to encourage the discreet
inquiries and subtle guidance of parents, and to appeal to the eugenic
conscience of a young man or woman. In case of doubt the advice of a
competent biologist should be taken. There is a real danger that
high-minded people may allow some minor physical defect to outweigh a
greater mental excellence.

There remains one other non-coercive method of influencing the
distribution of marriage, which deserves consideration in this
connection.

We have said that society can not well put many restrictions on marriage
at the present time. We urge by every means at our command that marriage
be looked upon more seriously, that it be undertaken with more
deliberation and consideration. We consider it a crime for people to
marry, without knowing each other's family histories. But in spite of
all this, ill-assorted, dysgenic marriages will still be made. When such
a marriage is later demonstrated to have been a mistake, not only from
an individual, but also from a eugenic point of view, society should be
ready to dissolve the union. Divorce is far preferable to mere
separation, since the unoffending party should not be denied the
privilege of remarriage, as the race in most cases needs his or her
contribution to the next generation. In extreme cases, it would be
proper for society to take adequate steps to insure that the dysgenic
party could neither remarry nor have offspring outside marriage. The
time-honored justifiable grounds for divorce,--adultery, sterility,
impotence, venereal infection, desertion, non-support, habitual
cruelty,--appear to us to be no more worthy of legal recognition
than the more purely d