Omaha daily bee., 1919-03-30
Eugenic Maria &c.

|
ruary 8, thus summarizes the new
Norwegian marriage law, which
came into force, January 1: man
under 20 and woman under 8 may
not marry without the consent of the
authorities. Birth and baptism GER
tificates must be produced before the
bans are published. Under certain
conditions one or both of the parties
may be required to show that they
have not been insane. Both must
declare in writing that they are not
suffering from epilepsy, 1eprosy,
syphilis or other venereal disease in
| an infectious form. In the other al
| tentative, the subject of these dis
| eases must prove that the other
party to the marriage contract is
cogniZant of the fact, and that both
parties have been instructed by d
physician as to the dangers Of the
disease in question. The physician
is not to be tied by professional Sc
crecy and is bound to interfere if he
knows that any one of these diseases
is being concealed by either side. A
written declaration must also be
given by the parties as to previous
marriages and to children born to
them out of wedlock. The marriage
may be nullified if it is afterward
proved that insanity or any of the
foregoing diseases has been con-
cealed, or if an incurable morbid
condition Incompatible with married
life exists. Dissolution of the mar
riage may also be claimed if false
declarations have been made or OBJ
stacles concealed. If the woman has
become pregnant by another man, or
if the man has rendered another
woman pregnant and this has not
been revealed, dissolution of the
marriage may be claimed, whether
the child of this irregular union be
born before or after the marriage;
such claim must be made within
six months of the facts becoming
known to the claimant. Many other
causes are defined as valid for the
dissolution of the marriage.
Mental Diseases in New York During
War Period.
H. M. Pollock, statistician of the
New York State Hospital commits
sion, in an article on the subject
named in the State Hospital Quar-
terly, February, 1919, published by
the hospital commission, offers the
following figures and conclusions:
Comparing the admissions on ac-
count of mental diseases for the pc
riod, 1911-1914, with the period,
1915-191S, there was an increase in
senile cases of SIS per cent, in gen.
eral paralysis of 14.2 per cent, de-
crease in alcoholic cases of 1928 per
cent. an increase of 17.5 in the ma.
nic-depressive and allied groups, an
increase of 37.9 in involution melan-
cholia cases, an increase of 42.9 per
cent in dementia praecoX> and allied
forms, and decrease OF 12.5 per
cent in the psychoneuroses. 1t can
reasonably be inferred that the war,
like all great emotional disturbances,
has been precipitating factor in the
causation of some forms of mental
disease among the civilian popula-
ton. Patients under treatment in
the institutions for the insane in the
state increased more rapidly during
the war. The increase was due in
part to the accumulation in the hos
pitfalls of deportable aliens. The ratio
of first admissions to the general
population of the state increased
during the war period. The rate of
alcoholic insanity decreased during
the war; especially in the years 1918
and 1918.