Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1914-01-14

disease or are otherwise physically
unfit has much to commend it, but
the law makers evidently went farther
they intended or undertood in some of
the provisions Of the law, which have
made it apparently UNIV Orkabla and
created CONSERVATION and confusion
throughout the state among couples
who wish to marry.
The crux of the law is found in
the first three paragraphs of section
l which read as follows:
l. All male persons making appli-
cation for license to marry shall at
any time within fifteen days prior to
such duplication. be examined as to
the existence or non-existence in
such person of any venereal disease,
and it shall be unlawful for the
county clerk of any county to issue
a license to marry to any person who
fails to present and file with such
county clerk certificate setting
forth that such person is free from
acquired venereal diseases so nearly
as can be determined by physical ex-
animation and by the application
of the recognized clinical and labortory
tests of scientific search. Such GER
tificate shall be made by a licensed
physician, shall be flied with the ap
plication for license to marry and shall
read as follows, to-wit:
i, being a
Name of physician)
legally licensed physician, do certify
that l have this. -. day of
19...., carefully and thoroughly ex-
Name of PERSON.
applied the recognized clinical and
laboratory tests of scientific search
and find him to be free from all vene-
real diseases so nearly as can be de-
termined.
signature of Physician
Such examiners shall be physi-
clans duly licensed to practice in this
state, shall be persons of good moral
character and of scientific attain
ments and at least thirty years of
age. The fee for such examination,
to be paid by the applicant for ex-
animation before the certificate shall
be granted, shall not exceed three
dollars. The county physician of any
county shall, upon request, make the
necessary examination and issue such
certificate, if the same can properly
be issued, without charge to the ap-
pllcanC. ii said applicant be INDECENT.
3, Whenever there is dispute or
disagreement regarding the findings
OF any medical exam iner, laboratory
tests shall be made in the state labora-
tory of hygiene from material sub
mitted by such examiner, and the
findings of the said laboratory shall
be accepted as evidence of the presence
or absence in the person examined of
any venereal disease.
All over the state county clerks
have been turning down applications
for license because they claim the
certificates presented do not comply
with the law. Physicians quite
generally hold that they cannot make
an examination thorough enough to
justify certificate for the statutory
fee of So, and in those that have
been made the Wasserman test and
the microscopic test have been
omitted, the examinations apparently
having been reduced to what could
be termed a competent physical
examination but not one specifically
and scientifically directed for the
determination of whether venereal
disease exists.
The attorney general has ruled
The attorney general has ruled that
the Wassermsn test is not necessary
for a reasonable compliance with
the law, and that practically any
physician is prepared to make the
required examination aud certificate.
The medical fraternity of the state
does not agree with him and hold
that it is simply an attempt to evade
the strict provisions laid down in the
law. DR.. Brown. of Milwaukee said
in meeting held there few DAYS