h first-born children.

[21] _Tatler_, Vol. II, No. 175, 1709.

[22] "Write Man for Primula, and the stage of the world for that of the
greenhouse," says Professor Bateson (_Biological Fact and the Structure
of Society_, 1912, p. 9), "and I believe that with a few generations of
experimental breeding we should acquire the power similarly to determine
how the varieties of men should be represented in the generations that
succeed." But Bateson proceeds to point out that our knowledge is still
very inadequate, and he is opposed to eugenics by Act of Parliament.

[23] E. Solmi, _La Citta del Sole di Campanella_, 1904, p. xxxiv.

[24] Only a year before his death Galton wrote (Preface to _Essays in
Eugenics_): "The power by which Eugenic reform must chiefly be effected
is that of Popular Opinion, which is amply strong enough for that
purpose whenever it shall be roused."

[25] It may perhaps be necessary to remark that by sterilization is here
meant, not castration, but, in the male vasectomy (and a corresponding
operation in the female), a simple and harmless operation which involves
no real mutilation and no loss of power beyond that of procreation. See
on this and related points, Havelock Ellis, _Studies in the Psychology
of Sex_, Vol. VI, "Sex in Relation to Society," chap. XII.

[26] The term "feeble-minded" may be used generally to cover all degrees
of mental weakness. In speaking a little more precisely, however, we
have to recognize three main degrees of congenital mental weakness:
_feeble-mindedness_, in which with care and supervision it is possible
to work and earn a livelihood; _imbecility_, in which the subject is
barely able to look after himself, and sometimes only has enough
intelligence to be mischievous (the moral imbecile); and _idiocy_, the
lowest depth of all, in which the subject has no intelligence and no
ability to look after himself. More elaborate classifications are
sometimes proposed. The method of Binet and Simon renders possible a
fairly exact measurement of feeble-mindedness.

[27] Mott (_Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry_, Vol. V, 1911) accepts
the view that in some cases feeble-mindedness is simply a form of
congenital syphilis, but he points out that feeble-mindedness abounds in
many rural districts where syphilis, as well as alcoholism, is very
rare, and concludes by emphasizing the influence of heredity; the
prevalence of feeble-mindedness in these rural districts is thus due to