Searchlights on Health: The Science of EugenicsJefferis, B. G. (Benjamin Grant)
Philosophy
Searchlights on Health: The Science of Eugenics
Jefferis, B. G. (Benjamin Grant)
Eugenics; Hygiene; Marriage; Medicine, Popular; Sexual ethics
6. BOYS AND YOUNG MEN.--It is not women alone who require the shelter
of organizations and instruction, but boys and young men. There is
no double standard of morality, though the methods of advocating it
depend upon the sex which is to be instructed. Men are more concerned
with the practical basis of morality than with its sentiment, and
with the pecuniary aspects of domestic life than with its physical
and mental suffering. We all may need medicine for moral ills, yet the
very intangibleness of purity makes us slow to formulate rules for its
growth. Under the guidance of the wise in spirit and knowledge, much
can be done to create a higher standard of marriage and to proportion
the number of births according to the health and income of parents.
7. FOR THE SAKE OF THE STATE.--If the home exists primarily for the
sake of the individual, it exists secondarily for the sake of the
state. Therefore, any home into which are continually born the
inefficient children of inefficient parents, not only is a discomfort
in itself, but it also furnishes members for the armies of the
unemployed, which are tinkering and hindering legislation and
demanding by the brute force of numbers that the state shall support
them.
8. OPINIONS FROM HIGH AUTHORITIES.--In the statements and arguments
made in the above we have not relied upon our own opinions and
convictions, but have consulted the best authorities, and we hereby
quote some of the highest authorities upon this subject.
9. REV. LEONARD DAWSON.--"How rapidly conjugal prudence might lift a
nation out of pauperism was seen in France.--Let them therefore
hold the maxim that the production of offspring with forethought and
providence is rational nature. It was immoral to bring children into
the world whom they could not reasonably hope to feed, clothe and
educate."
10. MRS. FAWCETT.--"Nothing will permanently offset pauperism while
the present reckless increase of population continues."
11. DR. GEORGE NAPHEYS.--"Having too many children unquestionably has
its disastrous effects on both mother and children as known to every
intelligent physician. Two-thirds of all cases of womb disease, says
Dr. Tilt, are traceable to child-bearing in feeble women. There are
also women to whom pregnancy is a nine months' torture, and others to
whom it is nearly certain to prove fatal. Such a condition cannot
be discovered before marriage--The detestable crime of abortion is
appallingly rife in our day. It is abroad in our land to an extent
which would have shocked the dissolute women of pagan RomeS--This
wholesale, fashionable murder, how are we to stop it? Hundreds of vile
men and women in our large cities subsist by this slaughter of the
innocent."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account