An interesting discussion of the question of "Heredity and Social
Responsibility" took place on Wednesday morning. Dr. G. E. Shuttlewortb, who read a paper on the duty of the State towards its feeble-minded children, expressed the -view that the only effectual method of diminishing the production of feeble-minded children was that of segregation in industrial colonies. The Bishop of Ripon dealt with the decline of the birth-rate in the English-speaking portion of the Empire during the last twenty years. He pointed out that if present tendencies continued, the proportion of the fit to the unfit would steadily decline ; also that while the increase of longevity tended to increase the proportion of the old, the decline in the birth-rate tended to diminish the supply of the young. Mr. Whetham, F.R.S., who followed, laid stress on the warning furnished by Rome. As long as the Roman religion maintained the sanctity of the home and the power of the family Rome withstood even the tremendous drain of men absorbed by the conquests and government of her mighty Empire. But when her religion failed to keep its hold on the best classes of society, family life decayed, the birth-rate of the abler sections of the people diminished, and in a few generations Rome fell.
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