The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-26


proper are likely TO develop children of
uhsound mind, and should be sufficient
cause for the prohibition of marriage be-
tween parties affected. These are dipsO-
mania Involuntary drunkenness), neurosis
NERVE disease), consumption.
A slight hereditary taint of insanity ON
one side may be overlooked. but II there
Is slight faint on both sides. the danger
OF transmission is great. a careful study
OF the original cause of the faint should be
made before the parties are permitted to
marry. For instance, If on one side there
was but slight trait of insanity, and on
the other perfect health for several gener-
atoms the union might with safety be per-
mttted. But if. on the other hand. the
slight insane faint on one side should be
onset by tendency toward eccentricity or
any neurotic symptoms, epilepsy. paraly-
SIS consumption or cancer, the union
should be absolutely forbidden
Il am told" said the doctor. that plan
of this sort would be impractical l say it
would be practical. We have hedged mar
riage about with many restrictions, omit
ting only the most important one of all
the one which would make certain that
marriage would give healthy and brainy
children to the world. 1t is high time that
something were done along this line, and
l believe that something will be done 1
not only believe that marriages between
persons who have any heredity
faint should be prohibited, but
believe that insanity after mar
riage should be sufficient cause for di-
vorce, especially if 1t be found that the in
sane faint existed at the time of marriage
Marriage is a contract. and contract can
not be made by a person of unsound mind
The influence which Is manufacturing
hereditary taints," the doctor went on, lis
liquor. The drink habit is constantly and
rapidly growing in ominous Importance.
There was time when il was more or less
truthfully said that "a gentleman was not
a gentleman unless he was carried to bed >
and things were bad enough then. But
now, alas, II is not the gentlemen alone
who gets drunk. All men of whatever sta
ton drink. And not only men, but women
fall victims to the habit. If you casually
examine the statistics of hospitals you will
find that the number of men treated for
chronic dipsomania, or drunkenness, is
much greater than the number of women.
But If you refer to the reports of private
cases you will find that the number of wo-
men treated thus is much greater than is
the number of men. 1 fancy that, all in
all, it about averages up.
First. Reform the marriage system
and call for certain health requirements
before a license be granted.
Second. Restrict the liquor traffic and
establish new and rational institutions for
the treatment of chornic drunkenness.
Then, after l had done these things.
would see to it that the public better I'M
dersood certain things that have a serious
effect on the insanity rate. Chief among
these is the fact that parents and friends
make no especial effort to surround those
who are under their care with the in
fluences which will be most beneficial TO
them. Next to improper marriage and
drink, overwork. worry, shock and relig-
ious and political excitement are
the most fertile causes of
insanity. When child is of
nervous or neurotic temperament, its pa
rents should make every effort to save it
from any of these influences. A thousand
cases of insanity are developed every year
which might have been escaped had the
victim been spared eXcitements, worries
or other unfortunate influences, which
were really necessary. L do not believe
in the detailed descriptions of crimes in
the newspapers. l was very deeply in
terested in the Jack the Ripper case,
and L watched its effect upon the public
You know Jack sent me a letter warn
ing me that he was about to commit a
series of horrid murders long before he
committed the first butchery and long
before the police received any of the
communications from him which notified
them of his impending crimes"
This letter hangs upon the wall of the
doctors office 1t is written in red, as
Is the letter WiiitH was IttGlNtu ny lA6
London police, and which is on exhibition
in the Black Museum at Scotland Yard
1t announces in absolutely grammatical
English that the writer would soon COM
mence to kill people. DIR. Winslow paid
no especial attention to 1t at the time
of its receipt, merely saving it as a curl
{ osity of a kind which frequently falls into
his hands. He glanced it over and made
up his mind that the handwriting was that
of a lunatic, although it did not necessar-
lily follow that because the lunatic wrote
about blood he was really a dangerous
man. Later, after the murders began the
doctor went to the police with the letter
and expressed the opinion that it offered a
valuable clew. He believed that 1t indi-
Gated that the man was a physician, ar
guing that only physician would be like
~ to write to him before he wrote to the
police His theory was that Jack the
Ripper was a doctor gone mad, who, de-
spite his mania, knew that he had gone
mad. He believed that the man had been
thinking of coming to him for treatment
before his mania reached its acute stages,
and that after he had reached the point
where he could no longer reason out his
own condition, his mind still turned to
him (Winslow) as the person who would
be most interested in his strange case.
1t is the general belief among people
who are closely familiar with the affair,
that DR.. WlnSloWS theory proved 10 De
the correct one, and that through it Jack
the Ripper was eventually captured and
locked up in an insane asylum, where he
died. The police, however, have never adj
mitted this to be true have interrupted
the doctors conversation about the effect
of certain excitements upon minds in
sanely preiisposed to tell this story, be-
cause in the next sentence he showed that
the Jack the Ripper case offered one
of the best illustrations of this on record
He went on.
Il believe that several of the crimes COM
mitted after the Ripper method in the
Whitechapel district of London were done
by persons other than the man who origi-
mated this peculiar style Of butchery, and
who were metamorphcsed into criminals
of the most horrible type b. the influence
of the published descriptions of his crime.
know that no great criminal excitement
has ever developed in London without in
ducing some weak-minded persons who
previously had not been wrong-doers to
initiate the deeds so Interestingly described
in the public press.fI remember in partic-
ular the case of one barber who cut his
own throat in a peculiar way. Within
few weeks three other BARRIERS had fol-
lowed hts example and months later an
American barber committed suicide IN the
AAH.. mo Itch no