THE PROBLEM OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED.
LTO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—There is not a lino in " Z.'s " admirable letter of last week on this important subject which does not command my assent. The successful result of the Society's work, which is narrated in detail is beyond question, and I, like many others, can vouch for the truth of the narrative by personal investi- gation. It is obvious, however, that for the achievement of results sufficiently widespread to affect appreciably the national life, the segregation of both sexes of the feeble- minded must be compulsory. It is here that the difficulty arises, and it is one whioh must be faced and dealt with in any legislative scheme. How are we to reconcile the love of freedom, the natural attachment of parents to their feeble- minded sons and daughters, their laudable unwillingness to separate them from the family and to commit them to the care of a public institution, with the necessity for sexual segregation, which can scarcely be effected without compulsory isolation How are we to induce the electorate to accept and support such a serious though necessary interference with liberty ? The more wealthy and refined the family, the more respectable and selfL respecting, the greater will be the aversion to compulsory separation, and yet the necessity for it will be equally great in every ()lass. The almost infinite gradations of unfitness for healthy procreation among the feeble-minded will add to the difficulty of selection. A feeble-minded adolescent boy or girl may be a pleasing and beloved inmate of a family yet wholly unfitted for healthy propagation. Will medical certification solve the difficulty as it does with reasonable acceptance in cases of lunacy, and can it be made acceptable to affectionate parents ? I write not despondently, but hope- fully, of a fitting solution.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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