26 The Journal of Heredity forms of insanity, imbecility, &c., on complying with the very careful provisions by which the act protects the patients from possible abuse. The superintendent first presents a petition to the special board of directors of his hospital or colony stating the facts and the grounds for his opinion, verified by affadavit. Notice of the petition and of the time and place of the hearing in the institution is to be served upon the inmate, and also upon his guardian, and if there is no guardian the superintendent is to apply to the Circuit Court of the County to appoint one. If the inmate is a minor, notice is also given to his parents if any with a copy of the petition. The board is to see to it that the inmate may attend the hearings if desired by him or his guardian. The evidence is all to be reduced to writing, and after the board has made its order for or against the operation, the superintendent, or the inmate, or his guardian, may appeal to the Circuit Court of the County. The Circuit Court may consider the record of the board and the evidence before it and such other admissible evidence as may be offered, and may affirm, revise, or reverse the order of the board and enter such order as it deems just. Finally any party may apply to the Supreme Court of Appeals, which, if it grants the appeal, is to hear the case upon the record of the trial in the Circuit Court and may enter such order as it thinks the Circuit Court should have entered. There can be no doubt that so far as procedure is concerned the rights of the patient are most carefully considered, and as every step in this case was taken in scrupulous compliance with the statute and after months of observation, there is no doubt that in that respect the plaintiff in error has had due process of law. The attack is not upon the procedure but upon the substantive law. It seems to be contended that in no circumstances could such an order be justified upon the existing grounds. The judgment finds the facts that have been recited that Carrie Buck "is the probably potential parent of socially inadequate offspring, likewise afflicted, that she may be sexually sterilized without detriment to her general health and that her welfare and that of society will be promoted by her sterilization" and thereupon makes the order. In view of the general declaration of the legislature and the specific findings of the Court obviously we cannot say as a matter of law that the grounds do not exist, and if the exist they justify the result. We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if we could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the state for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. [italics]Jacobson b. Massachusetts, [end italics] 197 U. S. 11. Three generations of imbeciles are enough. Syllabus But it is said, however, it might be if this reasoning were applied generally, it fails when confined to the small number who are in the institutions named and is not applied to the multitudes who are outside. It is the usual last resort of constitutional arguments to point out shortcomings of this sort. But the answer is that the law does all that is needed when it does all that it can, indicates a policy, applies it to all within the lines, and seeks to bring within the lines all similarly situated so far and so fast as the operations enable those who otherwise must be kept confined to be returned to the world, and thus open the asylum to others, the equality aimed at will be more nearly reached. Judgment affirmed. Mr. Justice Butler dissents. [graphic] The Inheritance of Tuberculosis Zwillingstuberkulose, by Karl Diehl and O. F. v. Verschuer. VIII + 500 pp., 100 figs., 50 tables. Jena, Verlag von Gustav Fischer. 1933. No method of research in human heredity has been more productive of interesting results than the study of twins. This volume, the joint product of a physician and a geneticist, records the application of the method to the problem of the inheritance of tuberculosis. The authors believe that tuberculosis can not be genetically analyzed with sufficient clarity by the family history method, because of its dependence on the coincidence of man [end]