The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-26
Examples for Certain Reform ers Of
Humanity.

NJ 'ne when this country 1.
discussing the moral aspects of tn,
sacrifice Of an infants life because IL
the Judgment Of Its parents and thei,
physician II was doomed to mental
and physical malformation a trav.
eller only recently returned from
land where infanticide Ia more com.
mon than It now Is here should re.
veal to us the practices of the race
among whose members he has oh.
served It. He tells us that immedi.
ately after the child Is born:
THE infant - taken with her 1.-THE
motherl to the river and 10 washed and
ducked. II It survives this drastic treat
ment its body Is covered with what the
witoto call 'heittasei.' thar IL. r,fbber
latex. over which q brown or red clsy
is smeared
I'm all these tribes infant mortality
Is great. The custom Of submerxins the
new born child undoubtedly causes an i'm
mense increase In tho number of deaths.
This led me to inquire why they per-
sisted In such q fatal course but one and
all said that II the child was not strong
enough to survive II had better die"
1t Is not from mere callousness that
the infant Is subjected to this harsh
test. His parents have faith In a
definite philosophy. which the trav.
eller thus describes:
III to he sickly and deformed is an
undesirable state the indian sees no
reason why any unfortunate being
should be condemned TO live in such a
condition and. moreover. the sufferer
must handicap others as well as itself
In the strenuous race for life. Therefore
deformed children are never seen. A
child that lie discovered to be in any
degree abnormal or sickly at birth is
allowed to die on immersion by the very
simple method Of holding 1t under water
until life IL extinct"
True l~ogicians. the practitioners Of
this method of preserving tribal
strength. should they discover the
child to he deformcd after Immersion,
have another way Of treatment for It:
"ff, however. the deformity is not dis
covered until after the child has been
brought 20 the tribal house the medi- |
cine man is called in to deal with the |
case. n the mischief be beyond his
power to remedy he declares that It was
caused by some evil spirit. and may |
work III 10 the tribe. so as a %precaution-
AIRY measure the wretched lttle creature
IL taken out and left exposed in the
forest, or some tribes 10 so far a. TO
bury 1t alive. This Ia done with no IN
to cause unnecessary suffering,
simply that as II had to die +, might
as well die BY sutocatlon a. by any
other means
As infants unlikely to grow into
robust and sclf-sustaining men and
are thus disposed NJ for the
good Of the tribe, So the preservation
Vt feeble and useless adults is not at.
tempted. Why should II be? They
ire incapable Of aiding In the defence
IF the tribe. they nre non-producprs,
and they constitute a constant source
If danger. SO:
"a man who cannot hunt or fight is
al useless he 10 merely a bur-
len to the community. Should he show
10 signs of eventual ecovery his
riends unhesitatirRly leave him to die.
n, II . medicine man has not been COM
nissioned to put him out Of the way. he
$ driven into the bush, where the same
Is speedily attained,
This is done not only TO the invalids
mt also to the aged members of a tribe.
Inless they possess great wisdom and :
experience. and 80 are Of great tribal
aiue. Otherwise they. too. have ceased
ribai life. and merely hamper the more
Actual parricide there is none :
Id people arc not killed they are {
,erely left to die" I
We have taken these paragraphs ,
THOMAS WHIrrEN's book on =
West Amazons," peoples who !
the matter of selecting from their v
anks those who are judged UNIT long
to be numbered among them have
rogressed to a point not yet reached
Y II most pushing reformers. They c
xhibit in the striking form familiar O
students of primitive man the prac. n
cal application Of the theory that !,
My the sound. the whole, the pro. S
are tOlerable In society. We II
'ust that their example will not G
ISIS unobservcd in those enlightened H
relies in which the advantages of C
for rival at birth are 7
Nv so elogpently and vigorously S
1vOcated. d
TIM RrlflSh Armv NV~.I,Iu. G