he same time, the nature of the
witness may be made to correct the wrong notions prevailing as to the
worthiness of acts, and to sanctify certain of them that have been
foolishly degraded. Thus there may be left several leaves blank before
the pages of forms for filling in anthropometric and physiological data,
and the headings may be made to suggest a worthier way of viewing these
things. For instance, there may be the indication 'Place and time of
conception,' and a specimen entry may be of service to lead commonplace
minds into a more reverent and poetical view than is now usual--such as
the one I culled from the life-history of an American child: 'Our
second child M---- was conceived on Midsummer Day, under the shade of a
friendly sycamore, beneath the cloudless blue of Southern California.'
Or, instead of restricting the reference to the particular episode, it
may refer to the whole chapter of Love which that episode adorned, more
especially in the case of a first child, when a poetical history of the
mating of the parents may precede. The presence of the idea that the
book would some day be read by others than the intimate circle, would
restrain the tendency of some persons to inordinate self-revelation and
'gush.' Such books as these would form the dearest heirlooms of a
family, helping to knit its bonds firmer, and giving an insight into
individual character which would supplement the more tangible data for
the pedigree in a most valuable way. The photographs taken every three
months or so ought to be as largely as possible nude. The gradual
transition from childhood would help to prevent an abrupt feeling
arising, and the practice would be a valuable aid to the rehabilitation
of the nude, and of genuineness in our daily life, no matter in what
respect. This leads to the difficult question of how far moral aspects
should be entertained. 'To-day Johnnie told his first fib; we pretended
to disbelieve everything else he said, and he began to see that lying
was bad policy.' 'Chastised Johnnie for the first time for pulling the
wings off a fly; he wanted to know why we might kill flies outright, but
not mutilate them,' and so on. For in this way parents would train
themselves in the psychology of education and character-building, though
books by specially gifted parents would soon appear for their guidance.

"Of course, whatever relevant circumstances were available about the
ante-natal period or the mother's conditio