EUGENIC MARRIAGE PERILS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13299, 7 February 1914, Page 9

EUGENIC MARRIAGE PERILS.

TESTS REQUIRED BY NEW AMERICAN LAW. NEW YORK, December 17. The doctors of Wisconsin are m revolt against the new Eugenics Law, which nCcomes effective on January Ist next, and provides that every prospective bride and bridegroom must present certificates of, health before they can obtain a marriage license. The law fixes the doctor's fee for the health certificate at 12s, but the doctors declare that if is utterly impossible to make tho examination ' necessary to enable them to certify the conditions of the applicants for such a ridiculous sura. They havo issued a statement showing that the Eugenics Law examination 'requires four Wasserman tests extending over a period of four months, followed by a Noguchi test. After that it would be necessary to puncture the spinal cord and make a test of the spinal fluid, and then bore a hole m the skull of the applicant .and remove a portion' of tho brain for microscopic examination. Next, all the spinal reflexes Avould have to be tested, all' the bones of the body examined, and the eyes and throat carefully investigated. The whole examination would be spread over six months, and even then the tests would cover only a few of the diseases from which the doctor must certify the applicant to be free. ♦ '