Eugenics / by Edgar Schuster.

  • Schuster, Edgar.
Date:
[1912]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Eugenics / by Edgar Schuster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    EUGENICS 245 125 operations were compulsorily performed, but in January, 1909, a new governor was elected opposed to such measures, and since then nothing of the kind has been done. In CaHfomia the persons subject are inmates of State hospitals for the Insane and homes for the Feeble-minded, inmates of State prisons committed for life or showing sexual or moral perversion, also those who have been twice committed for sexual offences or three times for other crimes. The selection is made on the recommendation of the superin¬ tendent or resident physician to a board consisting of himself, three general superin¬ tendents, and the secretary of the State Board of Health. Whereas in Indiana the motive of the State in passing the law is purely Eugenic, in California the principal object is the physical, mental, and moral improvement of the persons operated on. Although armed with compulsory powers, the board referred to has, as far as possible, avoided using them. In the majority of cases where the operation was indicated, the written consent of the patient's relatives was obtained. In some the decision was made by the patient himself, if he was mentally in a' condition sound enough to render a reasoned œnsideration of the question possible. In all two hundred and twenty persons, ninety-four of them women, have been