Family Book
- Type:
Book Reviews and Abstracts
- Author:
Gwen St.
jjubyn, with an Introduction by Harold ^icolson. Arthur Barker, Ltd. 8/6 net. 1935.
While the daily papers and women’s maga- ^’Iles print frequent and regular articles on the Puririging of children, and at the/ same time unierous excellent text-books on the subject e published, these are usually mainly con- ^rned with the health of the baby and small ftud. Occasionally, though much more rarely, subject of the diet and care of adolescents Cr?ps up, and it is seldom that we have pre- ^’nted to us expert advice on the suitability of *tterent types of education, having regard to le age, sex, and environment of the child. .All these problems, and many more, dealing ^Uh every possible aspect of family life, are lscussed fully in ” The Family Book,” which c?nsists of a series of contributions by several ^titers, each of whom is an authority in his or ler particular subject. It is an admirable Method of presenting knowledge to the layman, .’hen it is intended to cover such a wide field, ‘Hce by this means no one particular period of 8r?yth, mental or physical, is stressed to the ?triment of others.
. 1 o the modern and thoughtful parent the book }VlU be of immense interest, and, what perhaps ?f more importance, a practical help. While ls thoroughly up-to-date it avoids the extreme Tories which are so often set forth in books ?u child welfare, and arc, therefore, frequently ‘Snored by the average parent who, as Harold ^colson suggests in a thoughtful and sym- pathetic introduction, has no wish to experi- ment on his own child. What strikes one most, a^er reading the book, is the very balanced, c?ttimonsense attitude of the contributors, Xvhich will be particularly appreciated by the l^any ordinary people for whom it is presumably lri tended.
. The first section, ” Preparing for Marriage,” ls> as its title suggests, of an introductory Mature. While it has its place in the scheme thc book, and may be of general interest, did not seem to me to be of great practical ^lue. The succeeding chapter on Birth Con- l?l is well set out. It combines two separate CotUributions by partisans for and against the Practice, an arrangement helpful to the reader is attempting to form an unbiassed opinion. 0 my mind, the result is a balance in, favour of birth-control. Michael Fielding, its advocate, wrote with a conviction lacking in his oppon- ent, who left one with the impression that she was forlornly fostering a lost cause.
The third section, ” On Having a Baby,” is a; comprehensive guide for the woman who is expecting her first baby, written by a doctor. His advice regarding her diet and general health is sensibly and clearly given.
” Feeding from Birth to Adolescence ” follows, and is divided into three parts: feeding during infancy, the diet of the pre-school child, and the diet of the school child. Although the first part is full of valuable information, I attach almost more importance to the second and third. In these days, when clinics and nursing maga- zines abound, it is nearly impossible for the modern mother to remain ignorant of the right feeding of infants, and the result can be seen in the large number of healthy-looking infants there are about. Unfortunately it so often happens that by the time the baby outgrows infancy, and is promoted to a mixed diet, its mother’s zeal diminishes, or her ignorance be- gins, and the healthy infant develops into the peevish and puny toddler. The author of this section deals most effectively with the problem and makes, in my opinion, one of the most valuable contributions to the book.
Other writers pay attention to further aspects of the physical life of the child?its clothing, simple ailments, and diseases and deformities, with home nursing and first aid. This con- cludes the first part of the book, dealing with the health of the child.
Part II discusses its development and educa- tion. There is a chapter on sex-education for young children, written with moderation, and another on ” Problems of Behaviour,” followed by two sections dealing with the development of the child and adolescent. Then come four in- teresting sections on the education of boys and girls at home and at school. All types of edu- cation and their relative merits are discussed in an unbiassed manner.
Part III comprises sections on general aspects of family life?the child and its books, the ethics of family life (dealing with religious and moral teaching), and the financial problems of the family, followed by a very full discussion of the careers open to boys and girls. This is a practical and informative section, likely to prove useful to the parents of older children. The book, which has rightly been described as an Encyclopaedia of Parenthood, concludes with a chapter on the history of child welfare, and describes the valuable work done by the various clinics and welfare centres in existence. The editor is to be congratulated on having achieved a remarkable correlation between the various sections, which are well illustrated with photographs and diagrams. There is also ap- pended a long and comprehensive list of refer- ence books, useful to the reader who wishes to make a further study of any of the subjects.
E. M. W. Constructive Eugenics and Rational Mar- riage. By Dr Morris Siegel. McClelland and Stewart, Ltd., U.S.A. Price Dr Siegel defines his eugenic programme as aiming at the elimination of the unfit and the promotion of the qualities of the fit. With these aims few will be found to disagree, but the reader who comes to his book in the hope that it will illuminate the problems which beset any constructive eugenic policy is likely to be disappointed.
It may be reasonably assumed that the pro- gress of eugenic policy within a free democracy will depend firstly upon an unanswerable de- monstration of the necessity for eugenic legis- lation, and secondly upon an adequate biological justification for the specific proposals suggested, and it is clear that the eugenist’s case will not be strengthened by exaggerated appeals to the alleged pollution of the racial stock. It is therefore unfortunate that the author ascribes to ” most authorities on eugenics ” the belief that the increase of feeble-mindedness and in- sanity is such that within the next seventy-five years about 60 per cent, of the population will be degenerate. It is not surprising that no evidence is given in support of this astonish- ing statement, and it may be as well to remind the reader that the Brock Report, while noting an apparent increase in the incidence of mental defect, concluded that there was no ground for alarmist views of wholesale racial deterioration.
However, it is probable that the bare facts as they are revealed in current social writings may be regarded as sufficient to convince the majority that; there is an appreciable proportion of the race which should be discouraged from repro- ducing. The real difficulty lies in the fact that our increased knowledge of heredity has actu- ally made it more difficult to frame any policy directed towards this end. For example, a condition due to a dominant gene should t>e manifested by every individual possessing that gene, and it should therefore be possible to eliminate it in one generation by sterilising all affected individuals. The difficulty here li^ in the existence of ” imperfect dominants which may sometimes be carried by normal in- dividuals; polydactly, about which (according t? Dr Siegel) some doubt exists as to whether it is a dominant or recessive, is probably such a condition. In the case of recessive genes the problem is more difficult, for here the elimina- tion of the condition would always require the sterilisation of carriers as well as of affected individuals, and as in most cases we have no method of differentiating normal individuals into carriers and non-carriers, we are faced with the necessity of sterilising all unaffected close relatives of an affected individual, a drastic policy which could hardly hope to become acceptable. Dr Siegel’s book, though sincerely written, is seriously reduced in value by the elimination of such difficulties. Thus he states that ” reliable statistics prove beyond doubt that over 90 per cent, of all people now living do not suffer from any hereditary diseases ?r taints, nor are they carriers of the same.” But it has recently been shown that 0.5 per cent, ox the Swedish population carry a recessive gene for juvenile amaurotic idiocy, and it seeinS probable that we are all carriers of deleterious genes which are, however, unlikely to manifest themselves, except sometimes through a cousin marriage (a point in eugenic policy which is overlooked by the author).
Dr Siegel places much faith in the spreading of eugenic propaganda through schools, univer’ sities, the film and the drama, and he visualises also the establishment of a government bureau for the registering of family pedigrees. ” Let us establish specialists in eugenics and we may rest assured that our young people will take advantage of the services that they will offer. It is, of course, of first importance that members of families in which defects have occurred should be aware of the danger of transmitting the defect to their offspring, and should be able to obtain such authoritative information on the matter as may be available, but the treatment of marriage as an aspect of stud-farming is not only genetically impracticable, but is too naive to be taken seriously at the present time.
In the reviewer’s opinion the author does not stress sufficiently the importance of the envir- clearCn*’ ^though he recognises its effect. It is ?f w f?r instance, that the well-known cases ax Jukes and Martin Kalikak, which are tj0 clll?ted yet again, are as much an illustra- ari the effect of environment as of inherit- Ho4 ^ccording to recent work by Professor k en and others, the effect of the environ- (]u 1 !n determining differences between indivi- and ^ 1S- ^east as important as that of heredity, ? is now becoming apparent that the con- ij^ rah?n of activity upon an all-round js Pr?vement and levelling of the environment arp ? ?n^ justified by the soundest biological prg lments, but provides the most immediately Pro} euSenic P0^cy’ and one which will ^ a% eliminate more of the unfit than will -7 such negative policy as sterilisation. E.J.W.B.
^Enty-First Annual Report of the eneral Board of Control for Scotland ?r the year 1934. H.M. Stationeiy Office. 1Ce 1/6 net. 1935.
of^p twenty-first annual report of the Board Pa’i?n^ro^ ^or Scotland, special attention is u to the question of the boarding-out of r !ents from Institutions for Defectives and ^ Asylums.
he majority of cases boarded out in Scotland bfe ^ectives, and of recent years there has f0 n a tendency to use this form of care mainly a r the high grade cases. The Medical Officers Uni Assistance Officers of the areas di ^ke the task of selecting suitable guar- ^atls and of supervising, guiding and advising in the best interests of the patients, off; s Pa^ t? the ungrudging work of these ^,npers who do so much more than carry out eir statutory duties; a plea is made for some P^’cial form of training for certifying officers, ahi ? guar(^ian has changed consider- in the last 20 years, and there is little i r!Cuhy now in obtaining guardians who are lng on their duties, not only for the value r Nv?rk performed by the patient but with a ^ a sense of responsibility and keen interest in Welfare and happiness of their charges. any are cared for in out-lying farms or crofts, , ^ in some families guardianship has become ^?st a matter of heredity.
0j ?t much account is taken of the objection y fixing normal children with an adult defec- Ve in the same household; in fact it has been found that this often gives the children a sense of responsibility and tolerance.
A number of defectives boarded out in their own homes attend After Schools for instruction in handicrafts. Stress is laid on the necessity for providing such schools or suitable occu- pation.
Licence has proved very useful, particularly in trying out a patient who has been living for several years under institutional regime and needs a few months’ trial before finally settling down with a guardian.
Ascertainment is far from complete, and there are many high grade defectives (who are not sufficiently marked out from the normal child at school) who only come under notice of the Authorities when either destitute or brought before the Courts.
So far the boarding-out of cases of chronic mental illness of a harmless kind has not been much explored, though it is generally agreed that this form of care could be expanded.
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