The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-09-06
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NEGROES PHYSICAL CHANGE.
Extraordinary Deterioration i'm
Body and Mind since the War.

Extraordinary Deterioration in
Body and Mind Since the War.
From the New York Medical Record.
tuberculosis has. in recent years, be-
come so prevalent among the negroes
| as to justify the belief that il may
soon be veritable scourge to the race.
The susceptibility of negroes to con-
sumption has apparently undergone a
most remarkable change within the
last thirty or forty years. During the
days of slavery the disease was SO sell
dom found among them that they were
considered almost immune to IT, In
fact, some of the older writer's took
| the stand squarely, and asserted that
| consumption was unknown In the race
From being thus so rare as to be al
most unknown, 1t has, in a single gem
| Grafton, become so prevalent and so
| fatal that now more negroes in the
South are dying of tuberculosis than of
| any other disease. While it exists
among all classes, 1t Is in the densely-
| populated quarters of towns and cities.
where they live in overcrowded and
| poorly ventilated houses, that 1t is
found to be most frequent. In institu-
tons where large numbers are more or
| less closely confined, the ravages of
this disease are becoming truly alarm
| ing.
The following quotation from a pa
| per on the Future of the Colored
Race in the United States" published
| some years ago. by DIR. Eugene Corson.
is interesting in this connection. He
| says, "All the information which
/ have been able to obtain has satisfied
me that the race was a healthy one.
even healthier in the main than the
whites. Since the war things have beer.
reversed: the colored race as a race Is
not healthy and robust one; their
vitality is in state of unstable equf-
l1brium; liable from any undue strain
TO give way" Statistics from instit,I-
tons, having both white and colored
patients, will show that the latter is
less able to resist the onslaught of dis
case. DIR. Mitchell, the superintendent
of the Mississippi state insane hospital.
In his last report says: There is one
great difference between the races as
regards mortality. and although our
treatment, both dietetic and medicinal.
is the same, our loss from deaths
among the colored far exceeds that
sustained by the whites"
Turning from the physical condition
of the negro, let us now investigate the
mental stability of the race. Since 1860
the negroes in this section, and the
same is true Of the South generally.
have undergone such a change in their
tendency TO the development of men,
tai diseases as is shown by no other
people in a similarly short period of
time in the whole history of mankind.
1 will take the statistics of our own
state, of Georgia. a typical Southern
state. as they will probably be Of more
interest TO this society than would
those OF the whole United States. In
forty years the total negro population
in the state has been little more than
doubled. while the number OF insane
has increased twenty-fold. No other
such rapid and radical change In the
mental stability OF a race IL recorded in
history This Outburst Of insanity be-
comes Htiil more remarkable when we
consider that for generations prior 70
1860 the colOred people had been free
from mental disease. II has developed,
therefore, without the slightest hered-
itary taint.
II cannot leave this subject without
calling attention 20 one more danger
which a threatening the nesFo AZ this
time, that ~, the drug habit