The sun., 1898-02-20
oHIO'S MARRIAGE BILL.
SAID TO BE A FIRST STEP TOWARD
"THR REIGS OF SCIENCE"

ringe TO persons OF sound bodies and sane minds
is not due to the caprice Of the doctorlegisla-
tor who presented IL. According 10 the state
ment Of q man Of science attached TO tho
Smithsonian Institution this is the first step
toward what he calls the reign Of SCIENCE" and
II Is not the suggestion Of any one man. but OF
a number. The final steps indicated by him
are rcvolutionnry-so revolutionary that prog
rcss must be slow, though the men who arc In
! terestcd harbor no doubts of ultimate success.
| Ohio was chosen as the field for the first effort
after long delbcration. because experience has
| shown that the people OF that State are moro
prompt and ardent than any other to apply a
new idea the instant IL Is seized by the intel
| ligence."
This bill is the product of three or four years
correspondence among persons who sd-
dictcd to the pursuit Of science in different parts
! OF the country. 1t was drawn up long ago and
after many alterations and eliminations. copies
were submitted to the approval Of more than
| a score OF men who are famous in the world OF
| science, including two or three physicians in
| New York. 1t is not expected that the bill will
| become a law at this session, the first purpose
being to make people familiar with the subject
| and to induce them to recognize the soundness
of its principle. "The Utopian idea OF this year
is the practical policy OF next year." said its ad
vocates TWAS believed that the novelty OF the
measure would cause it to be discussed by the
| newspapers Of the whole country and set the
| public to thinking about IT, The dcsirability of
the kind of marriages that are alone allowed by
| the bill they consider solf.evident, and in time
| arguments will be presented in defence OF tho
| intervention of the State.
THE ultimate aim" said one Of the men in
| terested in II, 'is to rescue tho human race
from the obvious tendency toward deteriora-
/. tion and degeneration. The physca, detcrio-
ratiOn of cixi1i iyadr t,d obu hy
Jean Jacques Rousseau. who sounded the warn
ing that our ways Of living were fatal to strong
bodies, active lives, and long living Go
Back! he exclaimed. Abandon the destructive
methods and manners Of civilized society.
Take to the woods, and in the simple savage state
regain the strength that has boen dissipated.'
Prof. Max Nordau and Prof Lombroso, both
close and accurate observers and well qualified
to determine the Tendencies of the time, have re-
vealed how positively and rapidly moral de-
generation has advanced. They have found in
the asymmetry and malformation Of the skull
and in the misshapen ears and other physical
defects the sure indications. OF a degenerate
race. German statistician, an abstract Of
| whose paper has appeared in the Medical Rec
ord. has shown by the census returns of the diff
ferent countries that the centenarians are con-
fined almost exclusively to the least civilized
and least prosperous and educated peoples and
classes Of society. Actual paupers, deprived
Of the power of overindulRence. show a far
higher percentage OF centenarians than the
nobility or even than the vel. to. do classes.
and race hatred that belongs to harbaric are
has called this the century of science 1t Is
its revolutionary career until this century Was
fully OPEN. Born in the days of Sir Isaac
Snn SceIes m Ss IN "a @ Clothes al
But the spirit Of science does not yet permeate
society and dominate the thoughts and lives Of
m IN ia ntf liN thnf de l.
Of softness, while science is as hard as adamant-
We have womaniZed and are womanizing.
and methods Of science will be called upon to
check the destructive influences of an unscien-
What viii science dot When science ac-
tually reigns and legislates. the restriction Of
capable OF caring for the children they bring
into the world win be only one among many
things necessary to the preservation Of the hu-
STABILITY of tie object q limiting % marriage. f &C.
but Sssdh the f chiefly aanss new
cf no sasts 70
,ls slser q broken bed. In our present haphazard
But when it is seen to be a choice between Ie: re-
strction end the rapid and fatal degeneracy Of
the the WI GHPG0p s Ibs will r,.
most people know or viii believe or want to b.
painless death for the hopcessly afflicted. has
more advocates than the inexperienced can
Of the Vice 70 of ne Se% hs
York MedicoLegal Society, that 1t is a COM
minister an anesthet!c to inourabie sufferers
I to produce eternal (; sleeP: but it vii become
ene OF aS5 so and tSs h D. the de-
lief that God does not enjoy the spectacle Of q
human being in the throes of a fatal disease,
more and more appeal to the doctors to give
the only relief there is, painless death. More
and more the tortured friends VIII indorso the
sufferers appeals. and more and more thehumane
doctors doc will meet the demand. Then society
it cannot stop, in order to surround it With ali
possible safeRuards against abuse
p In the best and most enlightened days Of
Rome II was tho practice to end the lives OF the
bear man who should allow one edH Of bis sfs fanS
with no hope OF better days to come, would have
been looked upon as no bett er than the savage
Thomas More was a strong advocate Of eu-
thanasia, and In his Utopia he made it a gen
durable sufferer had only to call the priests and
council to his side to obtain permission to give
lioz. after seeing beloved sister suffer exc
oiable and useless torture for six months from
Unhappy victim o. fatal disesse sSa the rs LEI sfS TO
Of q century. ago, Englishman in the Fort RI.
,ng ,nn,ghtty Rerie,r urged society to provide for
received the Endorsement OF many leading
men, but the Church was too strong for them.
Even In this country, perhaps more here than
anywhere else, man would be censured by the
public for advocating this benehcent and hu-
name cause. But the cause will make its way
Another thing science will do. natural Sc
bies from the miserable fate TO which pitt. |
less nature dooms them. The little unfortu-
mates deformed, defective demented, or what
ever their 4ncnrable III, will be painiessly sent
out Of world that has only suffering In store |
for them. This for their own sake and for the |
good Of mankind. Herodotus. Plato, Cicero, |
and all the great free minds that had never been
warped by superstition were tho friends O, a
tender zen and humane infanticide. The fault OF |
the Spartans in their destruction OF weakly chill.
methods. ,
What Is the stream OF tendency respecting |
thcse things we may see not only in the increas- |
ing frequency or suicide among people OF in,eli-
gence whose lives have been upright but also |
n fni me frequency Of published arguments dc |
the hopeicssly incapacitated 10 take his own |
NE. In his work on European Morals Lccky |
shows the contrast between the extreme in. |
difference to suicide which prevailed in the |
first century Of the Christian era and the utter |
adherence Of iDfrodur.d hy