Los Angeles herald., 1892-06-26
MEMS SANA IN CORPORE SAA0,
An Address Of Value to all
Glasses.
The Alarming Prevalence Of Chronic
Invalidism.
pr. van slyck's Address to the Cali
fornia Medical Society-How
to Arrest the
Decadence.


The following address was delivered
ct recent meeting Of the Southern
California Medical society, at Ventura,
by the president, DR.. d. B. Van Slyck
s.Mens sana in corpore sano."
LET me have q sound mind in q
sound body" was the prayer of Juvenal
to the gods.
. We moderns willingly subscribe to the
same sentiment as q matter OF theory,
while in practice we unduly exalt intel.
lect and mental culture at the expense
Of our physical powers, and 90 fail in
attaining perfect health of either mind
or body, to our individual loss, and to
the detriment of the future welfare OF
the race as Q whole.
There can be no doubt that for many
years there has been steady deteriora-
ti0n of the average standard of health
and physical vigor in the civilized ma
tions. evidenced by the constant inr,
crease of insanity and nervous diseases,
and the greater prevalence OF chronic
invalidism.
Several concurrent causes contrib
ute to this result.
Natures method of securing the
gradual improvement Of every genus
and species of animal life, is the sur
vival Of the fttest in the struggle for
existence, and the end attained is either
better adaptation OF each to its en-
vironment, greater vigoi and vitality. or
ultimate extinction.
Her manner Of dealing with the hu-
man race Is no exception to this law,
and in obedience to it nations rise, -four
ieh, fall into decadence, and disappear
from the face of the earth, and are sue
ceeded by others stronger and more
vigorous.
Only by thorough knowledge of
natures laws and the penalties attached
to their infraction, can man hope to
mitigate those inexorable and destruc-
tive agencies by which she eliminates
the weak and exalts the strong.
It is only since the beginning OF the
present century that such knowledge
has had it's origin, and even now we
only understand its rudiments. Medi-
cine and sanitation, as sciences, are still
in their infancy, though we can boast
most marvellous progress.
The plague, that from time to time
used to sweep through the world and
decimate her populations, has been rem
dered impossible, and modern methods
of investigation are making constant
additions to the list of preventable dis
eases.
The death rate hal. been reduced from
80 per annum to 1000 of population 800
years ago to about twenty at the present
time, and the expectation Of life has in
creased fully one.third.
This is due to the progress of the race
In civilization, 10 general knowledge,
and in improved social, political and
economic conditions, and doubtless also
to q considerable extent to our profee-
sion, for having popularized sanitary
science, and found out how to save my
riads Of feeble infant lives. and how to
prolong those of the invalided and
the aged, as well as to the brilliant
achievements OF modern surgery.
20 these must be added the multipli-
cation of hospitals and other institu-
tions for the care OF the needy sick, the
deaf, the blind, the insane, the idiotic
and crippled, and the multitude Of be-
nevolent societies working in the same
line and fostering the altruistic prin-
eiple.
From q Humanitarian and sentimental
point OF view, all this is admirable and
to the credit of human nature, but un-
less these modern manners can be sup
plemented by better knowledge, and
the evils growing out of them corrected
by adequate means, the outlook for
robust and vigorous civilization and
higher type OF manhood is not encour-
aging.
The fact is that, in the olden time,
the feeble and diseased, young and old,
if able to survive the hard conditions OF
hn ,e< - AL B. AZ
frequent and fatal epidemics that pre-
vailed, while the survivors, from the
kind of life they led and the very hard
ships they were Obliged to endure, were
most hardy and vigorous. while now,
nursed and cared for that they not only
reach old age, but leave behind them q
numerous and weakly progeny, to be
nursed and coddled by the next genera
tion.
Then those who do the worlds work
in these days overstrain brain and ner-
vous system, and not only neglect the
proper care of the body, but transmit
their own acquired Deurotic tendency to
their children, and aggravate it's bane-
! full effects by neglecting their physical
education and over-stimulrting their in.
tellectual faculties.
There is abundant reason then for the
unwelcome fact that the average stand
ard of health, of stamina, of bodily vigor
and vitality is being steadily lowered in
all civilized nations.
What then is to be done? Must we
reverence the altruistic tendencies of
the age, and allow natures hard and
brutal law OF the survival of the fittest
to take its course with mankind, as in
the earliest ages, and perhaps add to
the efficiency of her methods as did the
ancient Spartans, and try, by expert
commission, every child born into the
world, to determine it's fitness to live,
and expose those found physically un-
worthy to the wild beasts and vultures.
or, by modern methods, give them
euthanasia with an anesthetic?
OF course reversion to such barbaric
practices is impossible. and it is equally
impossible to abolish the beautiful,
tender, loving charities that characterize
the age in which we live, however true
it may be, that probably three-fourths
Of the giving is more than wasted, being
= damage to the recipient as we'll as an
indirect injury to society at large. It is
plain. too, that philosophical charity,
and MISUNDERSTANDING Of the Herbert
Spencer pattern, however logical, are
not for our day and generation.
However, / believe very much may be