Eugenics 25 of rickets, malformation, idiocy, and general malnutrition of the child - unless both parents should happen to be superlatively healthy, in which event even very close relatives may have intercourse, and bring forth properly normal children. Bloch, in speaking of this subject, says: "Upon a certain degree of in-breeding, or, rather, upon an approximation to in-breeding, depends the formation of every race. The 'racial problem' in this sense is a kind of exaltation of the in-breeding principle, for the very idea of race implies a more or less close relation, between all the members of a definite stock. Thus the entire absence of fresh blood does not necessarily give rise to any degeneration; but it is certain that long-continued, close, in-and-in breeding on the part of near blood-relations in the same family results in a progressive tendency to degeneration, because, among those who unite in marriage, the same morbid tendencies are present, and accumulate in consequence of the in-breeding. Marriage between uncle and niece, or between aunt and nephew, and the unfortunately far too frequent marriages between first cousins are, therefore, to be condemned." Those who are unfit for parenthood - the feeble-minded, insane, the epileptic, the syphilitic - should be prevented from producing children, if we are to raise the physical and mental standard of the race. There are two methods by which this result may be readily accomplished, if only the principle could be adopted in a general way. State Laws Forbidding Marriage of the Unfit The first of these is the requirement of a clean bill of health before the issuance of a marriage license. The second is the sterilization of the unfit. Certain of our states have already passed laws prohibiting marriage in cases where it is obvious that the fruits of this union are foredoomed to deterioration. These states require a certificate from a regularly licensed physician from those contemplating marriage, attesting to their physical fitness for