perated on goes without saying. The operation of
vasectomy in the case of males is a very simple one, which may be
performed with the aid of a local anaesthetic, and may be said for all
practical purposes to be unattended by any risk to the patient. In the
case of women a similar operation on the Fallopian tubes, which is known
as salpingectomy, is an abdominal operation and cannot be said to be
entirely free from danger, although it is not regarded as very serious.
Except for the prevention of fertility, the operation does not interfere
with the sexual powers of the patient and has little or no effect on
sexual desires. It has been stated that a process of sterilization by
means of X-rays can be applied to either sex. The only evidence
available, however, shows that this method is still in the experimental
stage, and the Committee, for this reason, cannot recommend it,
especially as there is a danger that it might damage the cells producing
the internal secretions which influence the secondary sexual
characteristics and so injuriously affect the general health and
mentality.

Several States in America have passed laws providing for the
sterilization of persons in State institutions who are--(1) Insane, (2)
feeble-minded, (3) criminalistic.

In some of the States an appeal was made to the Supreme Court, and, the
law being pronounced unconstitutional, no attempt was made to enforce
it. In other States the law has been allowed to become a dead-letter. Up
to the 1st January, 1921, the latest date dealt with by the most
recently published work on the subject, there have been 124 State
institutions legally authorized to perform operations for sterilization,
of which thirty-one have made more or less use of their authority, while
ninety-three have not. The total number of operations performed up to
the date mentioned was 3,233, divided into classes as follows:
Feeble-minded, 403; insane, 2,700; criminalistic, 130. Of this total of
3,233 operations the State of California contributed no less than 2,538,
and in this State a single institution (the State Hospital for the
Insane at Patton) is responsible for no fewer than 1,009 cases. A Bill
introduced in 1924 into the Senate to legalize sterilization of mental
defectives, &c., was rejected.

Dr. H. H. Laughlin, of the Psychological Laboratory of the Municipal
Court of Chicago, has devoted several years to the study of this
question, and has recently published the result of hi