IS THE HUMAN RACE DEGENERATING?

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8285, 13 November 1906, Page 6

IS THE HUMAN RACE DEGENERATING?

LECTURE BY DR KRESS,

At last evening's services in connection with the annual oamp meeting of the Sevonth Day Advensists, Dr D. H. Kress, Managing Physician of the Sydney Medical and Surgical Sanatorium, delivered an interesting ;;d;ress on the subject, "Is the Human Race Degenerating: If So, What Are the Onuses and What Is the Remedy?" There was a large attendance, including many visitors from Masterton. During the course of his remarks, the doctor said:— It is reooguised with considerable alarm tiy thinking and observing mnn and women everywhere that th« humnn race is rapidly deteriorating physically, mentally, and morally. This had Ifd to the organisation in civilised countries of sanitary, tem perance, and health asnooiatione, physical culture societies, and gymnast,lo clubs, all of which have for their aim the improvement of the rnce. Sone g tod has been an oomplished in preventing the spread of epidemic diS9nse& in civilised countries, which, in ibo past, have at times almost depopulated entire oities. But these epidemics weeded out only tbo foefcle, allowing the healthy to survive. This was Nature's method of preserving tbo ( vitality of the race, and preventing race degeneracy. JL-Jy the prevention of the snread of epidemic disease?, we have managed to keep plive the physically degenerate that were formerly weedud out., nnd have thus succeeded in lowering by a smnll precentage our death rate, and slfghtl7 increasing the average age of life. This must not bo regarded as an evidence of increased raoial vigour, for tno inter-rrarriage of the constitutionally feeble who were thus kept, aiive cau hut result in weakened offspring and race degeneracy later on. & nation's vitality must be determined, not by her power to prolong the livea of her Weakly infants or hor physically degenerate adults for a few e>tra years, but by her fertility or power to fill the vacancies mfide by death, and to fill them with healthier and hardier stock. Here is where all olvllised nations ate failing, for not only are their birth rates deoreasini., but those that are bom nteinfeiior and lacking vitality. Through rigid enforcement of sanitary measures we have succeeded in decreasing slightly the infant mortality, but the mortality duo to constitutional diseases has, during the sam 9 time, been proportionately on the in orease : This shows that while we may succeed in keeping alive the constitutionally weal? by protecting them from germ diseases, we merely prolong their lives a few extra years, and that this alone does not increase race vitality. Race decay is not confined to one or two nations—it is universal. According to the Honolulu Commercial Advor tisor, the Hawaiian race is said to be progressing rapidly toward extinction. Ibis baa been long a wellknown fact, but it appears that there has been a decided acceleration within the last two or three years, and matters are more likely in the future to be worse than better. The newly-acquired vices of civilisation—the alcohol habit and the tobacco and opium habits—are said to be largely responsible for fchia. The paper quoted says: "There are now living men of voting age who Will see the last full-blooded Hawaiian native." A throb of sorrow went round the world some years ago when it was announced that the last survivor of the Tasmaniau race had died. The present time affoids many pioturea of dying racee. A:r:ong these may be mentioned Sandwich Islanders and numerous other youth Sea Islauders. The Maoris of New Zealand and the aboriginies of Australia ate also rapidly disappearing. This is not confined to these raaea. The same condition' exists among oivilisad races. In Prance already the death rate exceeds the birth rate. This means not only degeneracy but the extinction of that nation. England, ns well aa France, is becoming degenerate: this is evidenced by facts too obvious to be ingored. No observing person who has spent a day strolling through the busy thoroughfares of London, or riding through its crowded streets on an omnibus top, could ever fail to be impressed by the numerous evident of physical degeneration appaient in the forms and faces of the passing multitudes. The weakened figures, the weak nnd unsymmetrical faces, the lack of ambition, and the general look of feebleness of a large share of the dwellers in English towns are unmistakable evidences of the same physical deterioration going on in England which has for many yeors been recognised as' a condition in Franco. During the Boer War out of 11,896 applicants, who evidently considered themselves fit for army service, from the district of Manchester, only 3,076 were able to pass' the physical oxaminaton, nnd only 2,200 were finally able to pass the neoessary tests. The remainder were "ill developed and poor in physique;" yet; the standard of efficiency to'enter the army servioe is lower than it has ever been. The Bishop ot Ripon, Dr Carpeuter, at a meeting of the House of Lords, England, held July 6tli, 1903, in sneaking of the decline of the birth rate in Great Britain, declared that "already there exists a shortage of 3,100,000 children." German statistics recently published show rbnt there is also a marked degeneracy in that nation. It is authentically stated that nearly one half of the young men of Germany between the ages of 18 aud 22 are inoapnble of bearing arms. A similar state exists in America. That such a condition exists among the joung men of Franoe, England, Germnny and America is certainly suffloienfc cause for alarm. In tho past men lived to a inucirgreater age than at the present. This is vory clear from the record of both prufane and saered history. Seth, the son of Adam, lived 910 years; Enos, the son of Seth, 905 years; I Tameob, the son of. Euos, 770 years; Shem, the son of Noah, lived COO years; the son of Shem, lived 438 years, his son lived 433 years, bis son's S'on 239 years; Terah, the father of Abraham, 205 years; Abraham, J75 years. Wo see from this that there exists a gradual decrease in the duration of life.

Of Abraham it is said: "And these are the daya of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, a hundred three Boore and fifteen, then Abraham died in a gnod old age." So rapidly had the race degenerated that one hundred and seventy-five was at thai period looked upon as "a good old age." Another death is recorded, which took plaoe about 900 yoars later, which reads: "But Johoida waxed old and was full of days when he died—nnd a hundred and thirty years old was he whan he died." In the time of David even I "three snore years and ten" was considered n good age. But at presant we only reach a little over one-half the throe soore ypars nod ten. It wdb evideot that something is radically wrong somewhere. In olden timea there were whole races of giants; now men ofFgigantic stature are so rare that tliey are carried shout as curiosities*. ' The most civilised nations are rapidly lessen• ing In stature. Tall men, like big trees and mammoth boasts, belong to auoient tiroes. We find authentic records of men measuring more than eight feet high who lived in the two or three centuries prior to the present. In 1555 three brothers, who wore each over eight feat in height, guarded the Tower of London. The Duke of Hanover had in his court in the Seventeenth Century a yeoman who measured eight i'eefc six inches in height. The famous commentator, Dr Adnm Clarke, measured a man who was eight feet six iuohes tall. O'b'rien. the Irish giant, whose sKuloton stands in the museum in the Royal College: of Surgery in London, measured eight feet four inches in height, It is not probable that there oould he collected at the present time from the whole world such a company of men as i<rederick the Groat's regiment, one of whom, the Scotch giant, measured eight feet three inches.