Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1897-02-10


| herited disease upon our social condition.
| One important Question had occurred to
| him: Are our physicians discharging their
/ full obligations to their noble profession
and to humanity by their minisfration IN
| the sick room2 Is 1t not the mission OF
| the physician to level as well IS to neal
| to prevent as we'll as to cure the ills OF
| life? Should not the physician, the
| teacher and the preacher join hands and
| become the educators of the race? Our
| physicians no doubt are doing noble
work in the sick room in combating the
| influence of hereditary diseases, but
what are they doing to provide healthy
environment for the people and to pro-
mote that kind of education which Will
| counterfeit the effects of heredity?
DR.. Wyman then discussed the subject
] from the standpoint of the physician. He
| said that there were several phases of the
subject of eriminology presented in the
| paper which he had not carefully studied.
In its treatment of the pathological
| phases of criminology he commended the
| paper as strong and convincing proof
| of the influence of heredity. In dealing
| with insanity in its various phases, we
find that predisposition to mental dis
| case is almost invariably inherited. The
| physician, whether dealing with disease
of body or of mind, finds the influence of
heredity a difficult obstacle to overcome.
| The germs of disease are transmitted
| from generation TO generation, and the
| accumulated inheritance presents seri-
Gus question to the thoughtful physician.
| DR.. Whelan was called upon and in a
| few words commented favorably upon
| the paper that had been read and the
| evident care with which the statistics
had been compiled. The subject suggest
| ed many phases of great Importance.
| He had emphatic views upon the subject
| of heredity, but he did not care at this
time to express these views. He was
present simply as visitor and preferred
| listening to others who had prepared
| themselves upon these topics.
DR.. Phillips agreed with DR.. Wyman
! that heredity is very important factor
in furnishing a basis and predisposition
to crime. Physicians, however, as rule,
| place too much emphasis on heredity,
and too little upon education and environ
ment. Many people use heridity as
| cloak to screen them from moral respon-
| sibility for the betterment of the race
| through education and improved neviron-
ment. 1t is true that heridity is power
| full, but it is not omnipotent. study
| of natures methods show that she either
| destroys the affect of the organism or
| tends to restore it to a healthy state.
| Everywhere we find in nature tendency
| to heal the wounds that have been in
| f1icted upon her; it may take time, but
| the wound will be ultimately healed. or
| the evil will be eliminated. II believe"
| said the speaker, there is limit to the
| transmission of physical ills under a ia
| vorable environment. The survival of
| the ntleSt is an 1neXOrdDle physical law.
That the sins of the fathers shall be
visited upon their children even to the
| third and fourth generations is not only
a scriptural truth, but biological truth
as well. If we provide proper educa-
| ton and a sound environment nature
will take care of herself and within three
or four generations the race will be lift
ed up physically and morally l am not
| responsible for the inheritance of my fell
low man, but as to his education and
<,nt 1l,x
81 am my brothers keeper and can
not shirk the responsibility. The sta
tistics given by Prof. Cunningham prove
conclusive that there is a limit to the
transmission of hereditary evils and that
the race may be improved physically by
the creation of an environment that shall
be sound and healthy. To educate them
should be the chief mission of the physi-
clan as well as the teacher.
at is remarkable how many intelligent
men there are who assent that education
promotes and increases crime. Even
statistics are distorted and abused to
prove such assertion. The returns from
seventeen states few years ago showed
that three fourth of the criminals could
read and write, while only one-fourth
were illiterate These figures have been
repeatedly paraded as an argument
against education, but let the figures be
analysed. The illiteracy of those states
was 4 per cent, those able to read and
illiterates furnished rs per cent of the
criminals, while the So per cent, who
could read and write, furnished only
rs per cent ratio of one to eight in
favor of reading and writing. The same
argument could be used to prove that
religious training increases crime. In
the Elmira reformat tory for twelve years
SO per cent of the inmates had received
religious training, while per cent had
received none. But not of the total popu-
la tiOn those without religious
training constitute less than 1 per cent.
Yet this l per cent. furnishes seven times
its quota of crime. In dealing with sta
tistics we must compare our denomina-
tors as well as our numerators. We
must consider the qualitotal as well as
the quantitotal side of the problem.
Prof. Cunningham has shown another
important fact by his statistics. Even
the lowest stage of education, ability to
read, lessons crime against the person.
The offenseS of ignorance impair the
physical organism and bring about the
determination of the race, while the Of
lenses of the educated are social and
civic in their nature, crimes that effect
the state and society rather than the
individual If education does nothing
else, it proves a blessing to humanity in
personal to Institutional
The teacher, the physician and the
minister should cooperate in the devel-
opment of the race through education.
There can be no true religion that is not
sapremely educative; there is no true
education that is not supremely religi-
GUS"
DR.. Newfield was then called upon to
discuss the subject. He reviewed at
length several lines of thought developed
in the paper and commented especially
upon the fact proven by the statistics
that the percentage of crime is greater
in the foreign than in the native born
population. He explained this in part by
the fact that the majority of immigrants
to this country are from the lowest
classes of the European population and
many are already by education and en-
vironment predisposed to crime. The
fact, also, that these immigrants are
unfamiliar with our language, customs
and institutins, may to some extent ac-
count for this difference. While he did
not wish to criticize the paper, yet it
seemed to him that in the treatment of
the theme, Mentality In Criminology,"
Prof. Cunningham had entirely omitted
the mentality and confined himself to the
various phases of criminology He wished