own by feebleness or a diminished power
of resisting disease.

In tuberculosis and other diseases that once were considered hereditary,
this influence is shown probably only in a predisposition to the disease
which under favorable circumstances finds an easy condition of growth.
The child does not actually inherit the disease and if placed in
favorable surroundings will outgrow the tendency, will overcome the
feeble vitality. But such a child if allowed to remain with its parent,
to breathe the germs of disease cast off by the parent, readily
contracts the disease. For the sake of the child it must be separated
from its tubercular parent. It must be given fresh air and nourishing
food.

There is one disease, though, that seems to be truly inherited: the
worst of the black plagues, syphilis. This may be inherited from either
parent, it frequently is inherited from the father even though the
mother does not contract the disease. This inheritance seems to manifest
itself chiefly in a disordered nutrition. Even during the first few
months of development, this may be so effective as to destroy life. You
remember, I mentioned this when I talked about abortions. If life is not
destroyed, the nutritional processes may be so affected that the
pregnancy will result in the birth of a defective child. These children,
perhaps fortunately, usually die during the first few months of their
lives. Seldom do they live to maturity. Many children who seem to have
escaped this inherited trait really have not done so, but their
inheritance is not recognized. Some people with defective generative
organs owe this to a diseased parent. Others suffering from a chronic
skin disorder, and many afflicted with epilepsy or some brain
malformation could trace their inheritance to the same source. This
disease seems truly to be an instance of "visiting the sins of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."

There is no doubt that the general health of the child is affected by
the health of the mother especially during the period when the child is
nourished from the mother's blood. Attention to such matters as diet,
sleep and exercise certainly has a great influence upon the constitution
of the unborn child. The best heritage a mother can give her child is a
strong constitution, and in order to do this she must make motherhood a
science.

CHAPTER XI

CHILDLESS HOMES AND REAL HOMES--CAUSES OF STERILITY

Whatever