The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-05-24
yIRGINIAS INSANE.

creased more rapidly among the latter
than the former, and that there are now
$40 negro insane under hospital treat
ment in Virginia: and that during the
past two years ITO insane have died in
Jail or at their homes waiting for room TO
occur at the Central Hospital" lie very
significantly remarks that the above fig
ures do not cover all the negro insane in
this State.
by other authorities it has been claimed
that the increase of insanity among the
negroes in Virginia has been for 25 years
a the rate of 100, or more, per cent. every
ten years.
AS summary of the foregoing, it may
be briefly stated that "in the returns from
death from consumption in the last tive
years, the colored death rate is very nearly
triple that of the wnites,' and that the
increase in insanity among the negroes
now nearly approximates that OF the
whites, this alarming increase in the
former being especially notable, II we re-
member that in one hospital in this state
at present there are 105 more insane ne
groes than there were in the entire United
States in 1860. The testimony that has
been adduced, then, appears to me ample
and conclusive as to the following points:
ID That insanity and consumption were
comparati lively nfrequent in the negro race
eases have disproportionately increased
in the same race since the war; 60 that
the causes that give rise to one OF these
diseases also produce the other, and t4)
that the negro race is especially hapie
to certain forms of nervous diseases. Inc
question now naturally arises, what IS the
cause for this rapid and remarkable trans
formation in the health of these people
during the short period Of three decades?
i,1canitv and CONSERVATION
develop side by side, and at an equal
pace? Have the changes in the environ
ments of the negro had ought to do with
this state of things, or, in other words,
what is the relation of freedom to these
diseases?
LAWS OF SLAVERY.
To arrive at a correct solution of these
questions, and to appreciate the effects
OF the changed political and social rela-
tons, because of freedom, on the mental,
moral and physical constitution Of the
negro, it is necessary to know his man
ner of life during the ante-bellum and
past-belum periods of his history.
I'd to 1865 it was to the interest Of the
owners of Southern slaves not to allow
them to violate the laws Of health; there
fore, their hygienic surroundings were
carefully and cautiously guarded from
their youth through life. Their lives, from
necessity. were regular and systematic,
and they were absolutely restrained from
all dissipat ton and excuses, and when
sick they promptly had from the family
phvsician the very best medical attention
and nursing, and We're carefully treated
in every respect until pronounced fully
restored by the physician. Freedom came
to him. and a change came over ms en-
tire life Freedom removed all hygienic
restraints and they We're no longer ooe-
dent to the enexorable laws OF health,
plunging into all sorts of eXcesses ana
vices, leading irregular lives. and having
apparently little or no control over their
appetites and passions. 1t is very mani
fest that these morbid tendencies and sus-
ceptibilities have been growing and tax
ing deeper root for the past thirty years;
hence their unstable condition and their
suscent;bility to and inability to resist
attacks OF disease that were formerly al
most unknown among them (Powel)
In the wholesale violation OF these ny
sienic laws after the war, as previously
stated. was laid the foundation of the
degeneration Of the phys'cal ana nieli.a.
constitution Of the negro. Liclenlousness
left its Shiny trail of sometimes 1neradl-
cabl. disease upon his physical beng,
and neglected bronchitis. pneumonia ana
,laurisv lent their helping hand toward
lung degeneration a,.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TENDENCIES.
Nov. ladies and gentlemen, having
shown the effect Of freedom upon tie
nhysical and mental health OF the negro,
! would depict some OF the psyciloio5i1Si
tendencies Of this race, did | not feel
No. r have already far too long craved
YOUR generous Indulgence.
In this presence, however, Win tle
story of the past sounding in my ears
and at this time when the future OF this
race is SO much discussed, cannot LOT
bear to trace for q moment the develop
mental tendencies of this unique ana
peculiar people What 1 shall say shall
be said with an open frankness, an I'M
reserved canior and delibera'eness OF
mature conviction that is born OF a de-
sire to do justice to this important sub
ject.
late there has been too much of sentl-
.nent too little Of scientific truth; ana
what shall say applies to the race as a
mass and not to individuals, and IS
spoken in no carping or censorious spirit,
but In a sense of fairness and justice
to all concerned. I am not yet old
enough to have forgotten the companion
ship of other days, the black boy who was
raised by my side, nor the comfacely
sympathy of my old black NANNY, now
dead and gone to rest, who sootned me
with her grooming 1ullaDleS ana leu ile
smiling into sleep; nor have I forgotten
the true soul of the trusty slave, keep
ing a faith which hath no parallel. in
history.
a MORAL BEING.
Science has demonstrated that he is a
moral being. without the high moral
character or broad brain abilities Of the
white man, il being an anatomical fact
that the average weight of the Negroes
brain is A ounces, While 40 ounces is the
recognized average OF the Caucasian;
that his mental calibre is small, his brain
convolutions being few and superficial
and his forms of insanity, principally
mania, showing the involvement only of
the lower physical strata of the brain.
II science thus demonstrates the
negro's mental inferiorty, certainly his
tory, dating as far back as to the time
of Pepi, of the VI Dynasty of Egypt,
800 >years B. c., proves his phylogeny
TO have been of an inferior type. and
that the general characteristics OF the
negro of that date were the same as
those of the negro Of equatorial Africa
to-day.
From the time of Genesis and the
c!cNc 0E pAREI VSgC