candidate for your daughter's hand, why do you not trace his physical pedigree? Are the offspring of your children less to you than the mere accidents of social inheritance, which a day may reverse, a breath of misfortune blow away? Will wealth, will nobility, give strength to your rickety children, or life to your consumptive grandchild? Better, much better, that your daughter should remain a maiden all her life, better that you should deny her the right of marriage, than that she should entail disease upon her child, and cause you to be an accessory to the crime. You should require, if not a physician's certificate, at least some assurance of health, and a great step will then be taken towards providing for your daughter's happiness in life, as well as towards improving the human race.
