ty. We are strongly of the
opinion that the diminished birth-rate does not account for the increase
in the number of criminals and defectives further than that the use of
preventives discloses a species of criminality.

Nevertheless, Dr Chapple proposes, not so much to restore the
equilibrium as to get rid of the defective altogether. He assumes that
defectives are born and not made, and then makes enquiry into the best
possible means for the prevention of their birth. After passing several
methods in review, he accepts an operation known as tubo-ligature as
being the best from all points of view. This operation will render the
female permanently sterile without having any deleterious effect upon
her health. Absolutely no result follows, he assures us, but sterility.
If the wives of all defectives were operated upon in this way, Dr
Chapple assures us that the problem concerning the defective would
speedily be solved and society would be the happier and wealthier in
every way. The proposal might give something of a shock to the moral
conscience but such a shock would only unfit us for our work. The
criminal is upon us, he threatens us, and we must protect ourselves. The
necessities of the case are so pressing and so urgent that we seek for
the most effectual remedy and use it unhesitatingly when we have found
it. Here it is, says Dr Chapple, and its morality is determined by the
relief which it, and it alone, is able to bring.

What are we to do? Why, sterilize the wife of the defective. As the
criminal is most harmful of all defectives he is summoned to come
forward first and to bring his wife with him, when behold, the man
turns up alone. Where is his wife? Why, he hasn't got one. Has Dr
Chapple considered this fact? Did he know, when he made the statement
that it was a matter of common observation that the criminal was among
those who had the largest families, did he know then that the criminal
rarely married? It cannot be said that the criminal's wife is as rare as
the Great Auk's egg, but Havelock Ellis states that "among men criminals
the celibates are in a very large proportion." And Fere further supports
the value of the statement for our present purpose by saying that
"criminals and prostitutes have this common character, that they are
unproductive. This is true also of vagabonds, and of the idle and
vicious generally, to whatever class they belong."

Two years' experience as a prison chaplain may not be of mu