Library Collections: Document: Full Text

While modern study has done much therefore, to instruct the physician and the student of sociology as to the essentially unimprovable character of these unfortunates, and the hopeless future which hangs darkly over their lives, the community at large, the average citizen is not sufficiently informed of the teachings of science regarding them and stands sadly in need of instruction as to the essential nature of the malady which characterizes the defective classes. The complexity of the problems involved is appalling. Allusion has thus far been made only to the obviously defective but, between these and the obviously normal individual exists a broad fringe, the fimbriated border of which extends downward into the dank mire of degen-eracy, penetrating more deeply its mass with each succeeding generation, and constantly furnishing recruits to the submerged strata. How shall these serious considerations be planted in the public mind in such a manner as to secure adequate comprehension of their serious importance, for ex-ample, in assuming the important and serious relations and responsibilities of the marriage contract. It is obvious that the factors in the problem before us are numerous but principally two.

In the first place, viewed from the standpoint of the already submerged individual whether criminal or imbecile, society should assert its right to prevent the propagation of his kind. It should come to understand that the law of heredity is well nigh immutable in its operation; that the child of the feeble-minded parent is more firmly fixed under the law of degeneracy than were his parents; that the child of the feeble-minded parents or of the crim-inal and the inebriate begins his vicious life not only earlier but pursues it with a momentum not equaled by the parent. The community at large has yet to learn that the child who 'comes into the world gin begotten,' as Gilbert Parker has written, "has the instinct for liquor in his brain, like the scent of the fox in the nostrils of the hound." A fact equally true of imbecile begotten offspring. We cannot hope "to gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles." The downward momentum of the law of degeneration is upon these unfortunate classes of our population. Observation seems to demon-strate that no admixture of pure blood is efficient in removing the stain of degeneracy.

It should be understood therefore, in the second place, that these classes are recruited from the fimbriated social border, composed of the children of the unrecognized high-grade imbecile and epileptic, of the silly half-witted consumer of nervines and stimulants; of the opium habitué and the drunkard, and from the offspring of the feeble, and diseased parent. That therefore, even if McKim's drastic remedy should be adopted, or if asexualization should be legalized by the state for the disposal of the de-generates now under custodial care in asylums, reformatories and prisons, it is obvious that it would result in failure to free these institutions permanently so long as the bed left vacant by execution or at least by the physiological ending of the sexual life of those rendered innocuous by surgical means, is immediately occupied by a recruit from the social fringe already alluded to.

It is plain that the ultimate remedy must be the control of the sources of degeneracy. This control lies primarily in a broader education of the community regarding the hereditary transmission of family traits and peculiar-ities. It should be taught without hesitation that marriage contracted by individuals who are the victims of alcoholism, of the opium or cocaine habit, of epilepsy or of any form of mental alienation or disease; by individuals the tendency of whose lives is peculiar and erratic does not safeguard the social interests of the coming generation. That certain forms of inebriacy are, in a large percentage of the cases, but one manifestation of degeneracy and should be grouped with certain phases of epilepsy, with prostitution, pauperism, and crime has been abundantly proved. The hunger of the ner-vous system for nervines, stimulants, opiates, etc., manifested by large groups of persons moving to and fro in the midst of our social structure, is well known to be the result of some congenital blight which has fallen upon the vitality of the individual. Too frequently there is associated with these tend-encies not only an attractive person hut mental qualities closely allied to genius but wanting, on careful analysis, in that balance which gives repose and guides the individual calmly but steadily in the straight and narrow way of a virtuous and contented life. The very abnormalities of such characters furnish striking features which attract attention, and between the sexes, foster those associations, which result in marriage. It is obvious therefore, that not only should the state stand ready to authorize measures for preventing the propagation of degenerates recognized as such, but should also provide for wise regulation of the marriage contract. We hear much discussion of later years regarding uniform legislation in the United States for the restriction and regulation of divorces, but the enormities of the divorce courts daily brought to our attention by the public press would in some measure be prevented if marriage were entered upon under wiser state regula-tions, and with greater knowledge and circumspection upon the part of the contracting parties. Legislation upon the lines indicated has been regarded as against public policy since it would tend, it has been argued, to retard the growth of the population and would foster illicit relations. Whether this is true or not the experience of one state legislature which has sought to restrict the marriage of the unfit has proved how extremely difficult is the task to which it has committed itself. The ridicule and opposition of a large section of the public press; the antagonistic views expressed by individuals, espe-cially women, set forth in published interviews has served to demonstrate how difficult it will be in the present state of public understanding to secure legislation which will prevent unsuitable marriages. It is plain therefore that a wider knowledge of the conditions is necessary in order to create public sentiment in opposition to the union of the unfit, and will in the end be far more potent for good than restrictive legislations. This public education must come largely through the teaching of the physician.