THE INTERMARRIAGE OF DISEASE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11059, 22 September 1903, Page 4

THE INTERMARRIAGE OF DISEASE.

Not the least important Department .of State in this . colony is which has been established to protect the health' of the people. It is good work ' in guarding the colony from, the introduction of scourges from other lands and in preventing as far as possible the spread o£. infectious diseases. The scope of the Public Health Department might, however, with great advantage, be, increased by educating public opinion pn the laws of health. We have our fruit experts, poultry experts, dairy experts, and veterinarians constantly on the move throughout the colony lecturing, and giving advice and especially instructing- the farmers and growers in the prevention and'citie'of'dis* ease, and surely it will be adniitted that'

the^health of -a human jjCTn^|iss^o^or less importance than that of '^a- Jibrse, a cow, a hen, ot,^, tree. That being^s.o r the Government : ought to consider the enlarging "Of '/t^e' scope of the duties of health .officers, even if jt meant some increase in cost,' which is 'problematical. That as yaat amount of .human suffering might be avoided by a better knowledge' of physiology and the laws • governing ■ health needs no proof, and it is satisfactory to note that, voluntarily, the medical profession occasionally takes the platform to dissipate ignorance that prevails, even in what are called educated circles'.' Lecturing before the Australian •ffe'alth !Sd-"! Sd-" ciety last week, on "The Inter-marriage 'pi Disease," Dr Frank Nyulasy said that the danger from near-akin marriages arose from two causes — first, from the contracting parties having" inherited similar p'ecu-' liarities of nature ; and -* 'secondly, from •their -having been brought up in' Similar i external conditions, whereby the • pe'6tili- J arities had been promoted, and.no variatipns elicited. In his opiniofr,' the most important consideration in a "marriage contract should be the health;"'whetlier acquired or hereditary, of the- contracting parties. The worst 'inter-marriage of dis-> ease resulted when both parents inherited' the same disease or tendency to disease, as, for hJiitaiice'; 'when "both ,'ifrere' ' predisposed to consumption,;! cancer, or- insanity. In such cases it was next to impossible that the majority of the children should the, 'legacy of disease. The inter-inarri&gef pf ' recent diseases was .al-, most equally fataK investigations had shown t*hat epilepsy, insanity,- cancer,, rheumatism, gout, and scrofula but the, varying outward s^tfj*T?9r Wycommon constjtujbipnal depravity, and -,conistantly replaced one -another in succeeding generati&hs^bfr k tli« aeteriorating 1 ' family, and, even in different members ,of the same 'generation. •■ This hereditary transmission of physical character had been known from the" earliest' periods^ '6f MBto'ry, -and man had used that knowledge in. JLhe breeding of stock ; v but," as a ' physiological writer „ had/. said: "When it become^ a." personal question, lie 'ignores this fundamental .law, and -every year thousands, cf children are born_ with pedigrees + Hat would condemn puppies ,to the horsepond." If the race was to be improved, said the doctor, it must be on exactly the same lines as were followed in the worM of inferior animals, viz., to, cultivate -the good, modify and improve thetindifferent, and let the absolutely bad die out. It could not be 't'o6 "often ' 'repe^te r d v • that heredity waß a law from which there- was no escape, and that a man could , jipt break the tyranny of his.own'orgaiu^iii'jn. It was Nature's .law that there must be a reversion to the healthy type, or total extinction of the family. The., (lecturer concluded by indicating what. natural im-' provements m'f ht be expected, by spreading health knowledge' -and'-inflttericing^the ' masses in regard to their, food,, drink,, mode of life, and environment, and added that "health conscience" was being, slowly . I 'created,..iand 1 . tljey, had.'-the beginning ,q£;a health 1 ideal. Tn'Uew Zealand,', as already bbserveo!, 1 ' we "have the means at hand -to work up to that ideal, and so improve the stamina of the* race, and the , sooner 'lie services. fcf the" officers of <'tße-" fieal^h\ Department are availed of 'foif that 'hs,rpo3e the betteif. ''i- --'-' ■••■'' 'W*!"*?-- -