Further, marriage certificates, or permits, must be considered in regard to the future conduct of those to whom we refuse permits to marry. A refusal of the permission to marry will not change the desire to marry. Many, of course, to whom a permit is refused, will accept the situation, will be thankful to be possessed of the knowledge of their incompetency in order that they may seek medical aid. These individuals will remain under medical supervision until their ailments are cured and their competency established. In this way the eugenic aim is materially furthered. Others may not abide by the decree which forbids marriage. It would wholly defeat the eugenic idea if the unfit children were to continue to be born illegitimately. These individuals will comprise the few--probably the present unfit members of society--and the final solution of the matter must remain a question of education and evolution. When public opinion is educated to the degree necessary to establish a system of eugenic self-protection, we shall be provided with a race of children whose [15] culture will achieve the ideal of parenthood by a process of education rather than legislation. THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE AND VICE.--If a prenuptial examination were made compulsory there is no doubt of the very prompt and salutory effect it would have on present-day vice. It has often been said that "You cannot legislate virtue or sobriety into a people." We are familiar too with the maxim that "You can lead a horse to the well, but you cannot make him drink." You can lead a horse to the well, however, and lo! he drinks. If you lead him at the right time he will always drink. If we legislate at the psychological moment we can legislate virtue and sobriety into a people. A very large percentage of existing vice is the immediate product of ignorance, and the larger percentage of the remainder is the result of propinquity and the idea that it will never be found out. Very little of it is the outcome of innate degeneracy. It is an acquired degeneracy we must guard against, and that is the special educational motive of eugenics. Young men will be taught the truth about vice, and if they have been victims in the past, they will willingly submit themselves to a _competent_ investigation of their fitness for marriage. If they are still pure, the desire to remain so, in order to be eligible for parenthood, will guard them against the risk of contamination. This will not only result in a distinct improvement of the moral tone, but the potential possibilities to posterity will be incalculable. Legislation might therefore be the vehicle through which eugenic education could enlighten and evolve a fit race. EUGENICS AND PARENTHOOD