The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-14
HEALTH AND DISEASE
TOPICS DISCUSSED AT THE CIVIC
PHILANTHROPIC CONFERENCE.
Interesting Paper by DIR. Kellogg on
"Are We Dying Race:''-Humane
SOciety's Annual Meeting.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich, Oct. 13.-At to-
days session of the Civic Philanthropic
Conference DR.. Baker. secretary of the
Michigan Board of Health, read a paper
on Duty of National, State and Municipal
Governments in Relation to Public Health
He said that the causes of disease must
first be known before it becomes possible
to guard against them. Man, he said, is his
brothers keeper, and cooperation of all
classes is needed for the restriction of dis
eases. Purity of water supply was a neces-
sty of supreme Importance, and all water
should be boiled. Professor O'NIalley, Of
Notre Dame University, read a paper on
the prevention of contagious diseases in
the city. Many cases called diphtheria, he
asserted, were unjustly quarantined. He
held that physicians should be appointed to
examine threats of children in schools peri
odically, and gave instructions for care of
patients and modes of disinfection. The
steam disinfecting plants, though expen-
sive were effective for cities. Coins should
be boiled and all paper money disnfected
with carbolic acid.
AT the afternoon session Dr. Kress, of
this city, made some bold charges His
paper the relation of habits of life
to chronic diseases. Both acute and chron-
habits and, owing to bad living of people,
on the increase. in this country. Peo-
pie are becoming degenerate and one of the
chief means of producing This national con-
dition is the universal practice of beer
drinking Tobacco, he asserted, is also
national curse, and majority of the patent
medicines and many drugs in common use
are deleterious. Meat eating also produces
disease.
DR.. Haughey, of this city, in a paper,
urged necessity for public baths and espe-
cially that they should be shower baths,
bathing in tubs by different persons is
uncleanly and many receive poison in their
systems by bathing after other persons.
Dr. MacGugan, of Kalamazoo, urged iso-
lation of epilepticS, chronic inebriateS i'm
beetles, insane and other detectives. He
advocated a colony system for this class
cured for the afflicted better chances for
health and protected society, preventing
this class from propagating their kind and
producing more criminals and paupers.
This evening Prof. Vaughn, of the State
University read paper on THE Relation
of Germs to Modern Life"
Mrs. Francis W. Letter, superintendent
of physical culture, Ohio w. c, t. u, dis
cussed the question What forms of eXer-
else in physical culture are most to be
commended for students and should such
exercises be made compulsory"
A paper on the question Are we dying
racer" read by DR.. j. H. Kellogg, of this
city, caused something of a sensation He
said in part: Notwithstanding our mar
velouS accommodations of wealth and wis
dom, we are certainly going down physi-
cally toward race extinction. This asser-
ton will doubtless appear in the highest
degree reckless, and perhaps absurd. in
face of the Wel-known fact that the aver
age length of human life has been doubled
within the last two centuries. But vital
statistics are not the true measure of the
constitutional vigor of the race; the aver
age length of life does not represent the
vital capacity of the race. The true mea-
sure is the number of individuals per thou
sand or million who attain great age.
"SanitarianS pride themselves on having
saved millions of lives and the credit
claimed is justly due. Nevertheless, we
must not see in this great increased aver
age length of human life an indication
human longevity may be indefinitely or
greatly increased. Public sanitation
quarantine laws, and general hygienic reg
ulationS serve a most useful purpose in the
prevention of epidemic and endemic dis
eases, but these influences at the same time
serve to keep alive a great number of phys
beings, who would otherwise be carried
off by acute disease, natures method of
securing the survival of the fttest
ut is high time that society gave more
serious attention to the great class of
bankrupts by heredty from which springs
the greater share of crimes and criminals,
cranks, lunatics, fanatics and imbeciles
The remedy to be found is in the cultiva-
ton of private hygiene. More attention
must be given to the training OF the indi-
vidual; men and women must be made to
see that the prevalent conditions of our
modern civilization are anti-natural, and
tend to the deterioration of the vital pow
ers and the development of disease. So
long as man regards his body as a harp
can be made to respond, so long will he
continue to travel down the hill of physical
decadence and degeneration, in spite of
quarantine laws and the most minute SAN
itarV reVulatiOnS.'