Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-09-13
NEGROES PHYSICAL CHANGE.
Extraordinary Deterioration In
Body and Mind Since the War.


Body and Mind Since the War.
tuberculosis has. in recent years. be-
come so prevalent among the Negroes
as to justify the belief that it may soon
be the veritable scourge Of the race.
The susceptibility Of Negroes to con-
sumption has apparently undergone
most remarkable change within the last
thirty or forty years. During the days
Of slavery the disease was 30 seldom
found among them that they were con-
sidered immune to 1t. In fact. some OF
the older writer's took the stand square
ly, and asserted that consumption was
unknown to the race. From being thus
so rare as to be almost unknown, 1t has,
in a single generation, become, so prev
alent and 80 fatal that now more Ne
groes in the South are dying Of tuber-
culosis 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 fire.
uuent. In institutions where large
numbers are more or less closely con-
fined, the ravages of this disease are
becoming truly alarming.
The following quotation from paper
on the Future Of the Colored Race In
the United States" published some
years ago. by DIR. Eugene Corson. Is In
teresting in this connection. He says,
"All the information which have been
able to obtain has satisfied me that the
race was a healthy Cne, even healthier
in the main than the whites. Since the
war things have been reversed: the COL
ored race as a race is not healthy and
robust one; their vitality Is In a state
of unstable equilibrium: liable from any
undue strain to give way" Statistics
from institutions, having both white
and colored patients, will show that the
latter is less able to resist the onslaught
of disease. DR.. Mitchell, the superin-
tendent of the Mississippi State Insane
hospital, in his last report says: "There
Is one great difference between the
races as regards mortality, and al
though 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 lS6o
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 mortar
diseases as Is shown by no other people
in q similarly short period OF time III
the whole history Of mankind. l Will
take the statistics of our own state,
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 q 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 Is recorded in history. This
outburst of insanity becomes still more
remarkable when we consider that for
generations prior to 1860 the colored
people had been free from mental dis
eases. 1t has developed, therefore,