ental worry or strain. Children
begotten in deprivation or the fear that they are going to lower the
whole family's standard of living to a painful pinch are not going to
have much chance, even while in the womb, to turn out fit and strong.
Judicious limitation of birth for reasons of health, the _whole_ health
of the parents, in behalf of the best possible grade of offspring has
therefore become a routine part of the physician's service to his
patients. Every married couple should put themselves in the hands of a
physician whom they respect and admire, making him an indispensable
third partner to their family planning. This crucial role of the doctor
in eugenics is one of the few really deeply encouraging signs of our
times.

_The Woman Asks the Doctor_, by Dr. Emil Novak of Johns Hopkins, gives
some idea of the role the modern physician may play in helping parents
plan the vigorous citizenry of the future. When the married lovers are
ready to have their children, it is naturally with the woman that the
doctor is most concerned, correcting structural or functional deviations
or mild organic disease before the pregnancy has advanced too far,
seeing to it that the glandular mechanisms do their important work, that
nutritional intake is sufficient, that digestion is kept successfully
functioning, that metabolic processes are raised to more than ordinary
efficiency, and that the body is kept free from all toxins and
infections. After the birth of the child the doctor will not only look
after the child but also see to it that the mother suffers no adverse
after-effects and is restored to her maximal health and efficiency as
soon as possible, ready to bear her next healthy baby when the time
shall come.

Should a baby be conceived unexpectedly, the doctor is often the best
person to help the parents handle the untoward situation. He can give
the mother's physical condition that special attention which it will
probably need if she has borne another child quite recently. If the
objection to the child arises from economic or psychologic
unpreparedness, there is no one better fitted, possibly, than the modern
physician for changing negative fear to positive desire. By the force of
his own enthusiasm for new life, by his vision of the modern family, by
a skillful combination of his common sense and psychiatric training, and
by his ability to arrange fees within the range of his worried clients,
he can usually turn the unplanned