Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-06-02

One C1ause Selected for Comment
but the Latest Should Also he
Read-What DR.. Ulrich Said On h
Subject of Prolonging the Lives
Of Hopeless COnsumptfves.
The efforts of many newspapers tt
make a sensation out Of the views x
pressed by DR.. C. F. Ulrich, of this city
in the paper read by him before the
American Congress of tuberculosis in
New York on May 18th, do not appear
to be justified. AS is very frequently
done for the purpose of manufacturing
saleable newspaper yarns" one clause
only in the paper was quoted, whereas
the context very materially modiies
the opinion with which DR.. Ulrich is
| credited.
The paper vas read during a session
Of the Congress held in the Hotel Ma
jestic. DR.. Ulrich was the Vice Presi-
dent for West Virginia, and the only
representative OF this State who was
present. He was reelected to that Of
flee. The meetings were held in con-
nection with the Medical-Legal socie-
ty of New York, and since his return
DR.. Ulrich has been notified by the
| President of the organization OF his
| election as an active member.
A Register reporter called upon DIR.
| Ulrich at his home on North Main
street yesterday. In response to ques-
TOMS, he made the following statement
anent the matter which is now being SO
freely discussed in the newspapers:
The title of my paper was 'Sugges-
lions for the Prevention of Tuberculo-
sis, Wrllten from Personal Observa-
tion.' That means, I followed no text
took or other authorities; but told what
l have learned from experience and
observation.
Il hold the doctrine that heredity
is one of the most important features
in the transmission OF tuberculosis. i.
e., thai the tendency to consumption,
or the conditions necessary to its de-
| velopment are inherited from our pro-
| genitors. The principal topic of my
paper is to instruct parents and rela-
tives how to overcome this tendency.
and thus prevent the development OF
the disease. The principal cause OF
tuberculosis is defective assimilation,
caused by deficiency of electrical force
in the tissue. This is remedied to some
extent in the very young by the in
halation of uncontaminated air charg-
ed with ozone, electric oxygen.
The newspapers that criticized my
paper paid no attention whatever to
my instructions in the treatment and
prevention of the disease, because they
either did not understand them or
, found no material in them to create a
| sensation. But when they came to my
suggestion to make no effort to pro-
long the life of those miserable objects
of pity, the helpless consumptives,
doomed to a life of pain and suffering,
but to devote their best skill to render
these unhappy people comfortable, they
thought, Here is material for a sensa-
ton that will make our papers sell
and yield us a good harvest" They
took that one clause of a sentence and
worked it up into a most horrifying
sensation.
Here is a man that would murder
his patients in order to eradicate the
disease; an unfeeling monster like one
of the ancient Spartans that tested a
child as soon as it was born to see if
it was strong, and if it failed to stand
the test, killed it at once" If you take
a sentence, a clause or a phrase out of
it's context, you can make 1T mean al
most anything. Read the much
maligned passage:
In regard to confirmed ~consumptives
who lave passed the years of childhood
and for whom there is no hope of recov-
cry, with nothing before them but a life
of misery, l am going to say something
that may be stigmatized as unfeeling and
cruel. But, on the principle of the great
est good to the greatest number, / regard
the idea as humane. | do not refer to
what was at one time strongly advocated
by many prominent physicians, under the
title of "EuthanaSia,' because in this age
of exaggerated humanity, 1t would not be
permitted, even If its utility and general
benefit to mankind were proved beyond
the shadow of d d1Iot. What | wish to
| speak of is this: In every case of con-
tirmed tuberculosis. cease your efforts to
| prolong life, deVotin6 your entire energy
TO the endeavor TO make your patient as
comfortable as possible. even though the
means employed should have a tendency
to shorten life. For if YOU lengthen out
| the span of a miserable existence. permit
ting the unhappy being to marry and send
an infected progeny out into the world to
increase the aggregate of suffering in a
geometrfcal progression until the earth is
filled with pale, emaciatel, unhappy, use
less, 1ife-marring men and women. do you
feel that you have accomplished a human
itarian work? or do yeu rather know that
| you have contributed your share to the
task of converting this beautiful earth.
that ought to be the abode of joy and
happiness, into a vale of tears and sorrow.
| a pandemonium of suffering and misery?
| Every young and incurable victim of tu-
berculosis that dies before he or she has
had an opportunity to bring into the world
other infected beings, lessons by death.
the amount of human Su~fferings. OF
course. if such afflicted persons would re-
frain from marrying. or otherwise propo-
eating their race, these words need not be
spoken and this apparently cruel course
need not be pursued But we know that
the sexual instinct and passion are strong
in the human race; wen stronger in the
degenerate and diseased than in the sound
and healthy. Therefore. legislation for the
regulation of marriage to prevent the
propagation of a diseased offspring would
only be partially effective.
Now, do You see anything cruel in
this? Shall you p~rolong a life of hope
less suffering? Like the ~executioner
of the middle ages whe had an alleged
criminal on the rack to make him con-
fess, and when the powers Of life be-
gan to fail he pours into his mouth a
reviving cordial that he may live and
suffer longer. Do you cal that mercy
oud hum uifv9 or ic II NOT tho avtror,o