Medicine: Race Improvement

Mr. & Mrs. Henry Ford sought to entertain the scientists who were at Battle Creek, Mich., last week for the Third Race Betterment Conference. The Fords took a four-piece orchestra with them to Battle Creek. There was to be square dancing in the Battle Creek Sanitarium’s gymnasium. Girls from Battle Creek College went to dance. And they danced for the most part with each other, for the scientists, aware more of stiff joints than of dignity, refused to dance with the girls; contented themselves with watching.

Physical Immortality. Sixteen years ago Dr. Alexis Carrel of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research took some cells from the heart of a chick embryo and began growing the isolated cells in his laboratory. They are still growing. Remarked Dr. Carrel:

“The cell is immortal. It is merely the fluid in which it floats which degenerates. Renew this fluid at intervals, give the cell something upon which to feed, and so far as we now know, the pulsation of life may go on forever.

“Quickly, involuntarily, the thought comes: Why not with man? Why not purge the body of the wornout fluids, develop a similar technique for renewing them—and so win immortality?

“Although the body is composed of elements that are potentially immortal, it is and always will be subject to senility and death. . . . Immortality is incompatible with organization. But organization is necessary for the development of a highly differentiated nervous system and for the appearance of mental processes.

“Death is the price we have to pay for possession of our brains. The price is not excessive because the mysterious energy which is created by the brain cells, or expresses itself through them, is after all the greatest marvel of the universe.”

Marriage. “We needn’t worry about the immortality of the individual, the immortality of life in the race is the important thing. … I cannot believe in companionate marriage. Trial marriage damages the race and is deteriorating in its effect. A proper marriage must last at least twenty-five years, for the child needs the care and counsel of its parents for that length of time. Making the most of one’s self and getting the best possible sex partner, so as to rear children better than their parents, is a sufficient ideal for the youth of today. It is necessary to shed the old religious ideals, superstitions and faiths. The doctrine of the forgiveness of sins has done more harm biologically than anything else.” So said Dr. Aldred Scott War thin, president of the National Association of American Physicians.

Bad Girls. Tuberculosis has been increasing among women between the ages of 15 and 30. The causes, according to Dr. Sigard Adolphus Knopf of Manhattan:

“1) The filmy modern dress of thin material, the sleeveless waist and short skirt, the low shoes and silk stockings worn in the coldest weather.

“2) The insane desire of a boyish appearance causing intentional undernourishment.

“3) Too much night life, resulting in insufficient sleep and generally too many cigarets and too much bad liquor.”

Moron Marriages. Detroit’s Commissioner of Health, Dr. Henry F. Vaughan, recommended: “Those who show themselves to be morons should be desexed before they reach the reproductive stage. Then they should be encouraged to marry, because marriage tends to stabilize and fix the location of those people. The State could afford to pay those of this class a small annuity so long as they complied with the law.”

Race Suicide. The man generally credited with having invented the phrase “race suicide.” Professor Edward Alsworth Ross of the University of Wisconsin, spoke with his usual terseness: “Broadly speaking, those who rise in life or attain any worthy form of success find out how to curtail the size of their families and do curtail them. On the other hand, it is made dangerous to give this information to ignorant and poor couples, many of whom feel themselves to be in the greatest need of it and desire it keenly.”

Obesity as much as drinking is a form of self-indulgence, decided Dr. Louis Harry Newburgh of the University of Michigan Medical School, who said: “In every case, obesity is due to overeating. In the university hospital we have been able to control the weight of patients with the same precision as an engineer controls the operation of an engine. The idea that obesity is caused by a disease of the glands is widespread and fallacious.”

Health Examinations. Last year 5,000,000 people who had never asked for a health examination, did ask for one, said Dr. Franklin H. Martin, Director General of the American College of Surgeons. He predicted: “Within five years at least, 50% of the 125,000,000 people of the U. S. will demand periodic health examinations.”

Physical Education has progressed in the U. S. In 1914 there were 1,848 teachers of physical education and 23 training schools. Last year there were 12,000 teachers and 1,168 schools, and 35 states had compulsory physical education in public schools. Said Professor & Coach Fielding Harris Yost of the University of Michigan: “Few men really think. They only think they think. There are few men with imagination; most of them are just encyclopedias of information. The competent man in athletics must have both qualities. The world is not interested in what a man knows, but in what he does. A man is successful when he has his own self-respect, the respect of others and the consciousness of having served humanity.”

Intelligent Electorate. The director Of the psychopathic laboratory of the Municipal Court of Chicago is Dr. William James Hickson. He observed: “If we continue with a practical and social system which takes no account of varying degrees of mental endowments, nothing will be done. . . . One of the most urgently necessary steps is to restore the balance of political power to where it belongs—to the better endowed mentally.”