200 JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Vol.7, No. Z% A PLEA FOR THE LIVES OF THE UNBORN *BY BARNETT M. RHETTA, M. D., Baltimore, Md. A plea for the lives of the unborn di- portance of such a course should do 'vides itself at once into a plea for bet- more to urge it upon the various school tter development of prospective parents, boards. Several cities have tried this ;a plea for more rigid methods aiming to idea out and for the most part pro- 'protect the prospective parents from nounced it a failure and it has been and destruction or parylization, both from will be a failure when teachers for such within and without,-a plea for a high- a subject are poorly selected. er regard for motherhood by both sexes The boys and girls should be taught and a better support of maternal care by among many other things, that a very fatherhood,-a plea for more marked large majority of those who indulge in regard for that which destroys the pos- sexual intercourse, especially between sibility of conception, as well as that puberty and the marriageable age which destroys life after conception has are diseased. They should be taught taken place. This consideration, when that the first element of attraction taken further, becomes a plea for the should be health, and in this day, when morals, for the life, for the very soul disease is so flourishing, all should be re- of the race of man. garded as diseased until proven other- Obviously, in this meeting, where a wise. The idea of health certificates professional consideration is required, before marriage is certainly not a bad we propose to restrict our discussion. one. For convenience, let us discuss the At this age, and certainly early in lives of the unborn with reference to marriage, men should be taught the the ages of the prospective and possible common mechanism of the so-called parents. idiopathetic sterility. Men should Let us begin with our subject between know that the making and mixing of puberty and the marriageable age. Ac- the semen within the seminal glands is cording to public opinion, at this age not unlike the making and mixing of the prospective parent should be kept mortar in the mechanical mixers com- in utter darkness as regards this most monly seen on the street works. important consideration. At school, children study every other thing both They should thoroughly understand valuable and unimportant but very sel- that the glands that make and mix the dom do they hear a word relating to semen are by far the most delicate the care of the sex. The direct result parts of the human system. They is utter ignorance and consequent waste should be acquainted with the three of that power which is of all things most sets of glands there, and know that important. when gland A has finished its product, that product should travel into gland B We belive there should be a thorough and after gland B has finished wit it. course in sexology in all of the higher it should go into C, and from C where it schools. The doctor who sees the im- is completed, it continues through the *Read before the Maryland Medical, Dental vas into the seminal vesicle. and Pharmaceutical Association, December, In order to understand the mechan- 1914. ism of idiopathic sterility, they should A PLEA FOR THE LIVES OF THE UNBORN 201 be taught that several hours are re- is understood and need not be dealt with quired for each set of glands to com- here. Suffice it to say, that despite all plete its work, and consequently at theory regarding idiopathic sterility, least three times several hours should most sterility is still due to destruction elapse between the sexual act. of the seminal glands, or obstruction or They should understand thoroughly occlusion of their ducts, or changes in that the ducts of gland A normally emp- the blood, all by and due to disease. ty into B, and those of B normally For this reason, we cannot too much empty into C, and that C and C only emphasize prophylaxis. empties into the vas, which leads to the Referring to the female in the "wild seminal vesicle. Certainly they should oats" stage, we read with great interest understand that with every sexual a lecture by Ella W. Wilcox to women act, or every ejaculation, from what- of Chicago. She emphasized the ease ever cause, some of the glands, both A with which men and women alike threw and B, and occasionally C, rupture di- themselves away, the utter disregard rectly into the vas. Very few are rup- for future children by both sexes. But tured if the vesicle is full, but if it is the most radical statement in all of her empty, because of the strain on the little lecture was that no man, and certainly organs there to get material for ejacu- no woman, should indulge in the sexual lation, many are ruptured. The rup- act, unless his object was the having of tured parts in a manner heal, forming an offspring. A statement, when put artificial ducts, and from that time on, up against the facts in the case, that the contents of ruptured A for exam- is most startling. A statement with ple, instead of going through B and C which we may be able to agree, now and being completed, travel directly into that we are older and married, but which the vesicle and there form the required certainly should have met with our bulk, but in quality is not sufficiel<'t. hearty disapproval in earlier years. But, withal, a statement which merits a A thorough understanding of the me- more serious consideration. chanism of sterility will show the boy that by "running" alone, whether he The theory regarding the vaginal se- runs up against disease or not, he can cretions of certain otherwise normal soon lose all power to beget. So many women, how that they are deadly to married men cannot understand why both the ovum and spermatozoa,-and they stop with one child. A thorough consequently make impossible the understanding of the mechanism of ste- union of the germ cell,-is well known rility will remove the wonder )f tLis on to all of us, and in this meeting should the man's part. only be mentioned in passing. Fallo- pian tubes and other parts of the tract Not man, but only every professional that have to do with are often man should be on intimate terms gestation, every malformed, occluded or immature. works on with recognized sexology. These all go down as causes of sterility. We should urge that they be put in high Schools. If the school boards are indif- We mention sterility because we feel ferent, the doctor should instruct men at that no discussion of the welfare of the other r1aces where men can be gathered future child is in part complete without together. a mention of this subject. Sterility that has its origin in disease Keeping in mind the welfare of the JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Vol. 7, No. 3 unborn child, let us come now to the on earth today, the paid executioner of married state. Right here is a great the helpless child. If we make no nien- amount of work needed. Here public tion of the abortionist, we have made no opinion needs rebuilding. Here is the plea for the lives of the unborn. There great danger to a race. Not only is are many abortionists posing as reputa- there an utter disregard for the future ble physicians, there are many abortion- child, not only is there not enough love ists who profess nothing but the knowl- for the child, but too often there is edge of the abortion. Whoever he is, and actual hatred on the part of married wherever he or she may be, he should people, for the child that is unborn. be marked. The laws. are too lax along This naturally leads to a dislike for this line. This body should enter a the child after it is born, which dislike protest to the city and State law making often follows it throughout life. bodies, regarding the laxity of such What physician has not been request- laws. ed by legitimately married patients to Let us deviate long enough to say, suppress normal conception What that in regards to the midwife, the phy- physician has not been urged to per- sician should protest, cry out, and con- form the abortion tinue to cry out, until all midwives are Public opinion on this point is just driven out, for they are a dangerous what it should not be, and the Doctor foe to the unborn. should start the work of changing it. They usually mean well, but in their We have heard intelligent people, we ignorance, they often cause death, or have heard a few physicians say, that mar the infant at its beginning of life. the problem was not how to have chil- We referred to the present day prac- dren, but to keep from having them. tice of Eugenics. Let us see what rela- A thing was never more wrong. tion it has to our subject. Eugenics With all living things, the great prob- has been defined as "That science which lem is, and ever will be, how to perpetu- deals with influences that improve the ate life. This is the meaning of nature. unborn qualities of the race." In other This is the one great reason for ma- words, it is that science which tends to turity. Take away this as the primary improve mankind by breeding fbetter object of life, and in a few years* we children. have a dead world. When properly applied, there is no The physician should be the staunch- higher calling in the field of medicine. est friend of the child that is yet to be. But to you, and for me, as practiced he is, too often, he is not. here today, it means death,-unless we Most often, are When he is not, if he is not now, too awakened and then do our part to often he degenerates into the abortion- awaken those for whom we should be ist or the eugenist,-and with all its responsible. good sides, the present working under- In 1909 and 1910, a prominent phy- standing of Eugenics as laid down by sician of this city read a series of pa- Francis Gilton and as practiced daily pers in this country and in Canada on our dead- Eugenics. They were so widely published among us,-makes Eugenics and liest enemy. discussed, that, as has been said, But let us not hasten. Go back for they amounted to a call to the profes- greatest sion, requesting the Doctor that, in the a time to the abortionist. The name of enemy to society, the greatest criminal Eugenics, under its protection A PLEA FOR THE LIVES OF THE UNBORN 203 and for the good of the race, he (the every single natural birth. A fearful Doctor) should pick out the racially waste of life. superior for parenthood, and suppress The importance of heredity and en- parenthood in the racially unworthy. vironment is well understood here. We have made it our business to con- Scientific selection in breeding animals vince ourselves that the Doctor who has proved its value beyond refutation. issued this call, if you please, meant Our argument here must not be mis- nothing but the very best to all men. understood to be an argument for great His idea was to weed out the diseased numbers of children. Nor do we believe and especially the mentally weak of in the breeding of the unfit by the unfit. mankind so far as to prevent them from We also mark that while the birth-rate begetting their kind. But his inten- of the world is decreasing, the population tions have been grossly miscarried. of the world is on the increase. The Cranks, in this country especially, best argument possible for better child- have spread it that in the name of Eu- ren and a better care of the few we genics and for the betterment of the have. race, the Negro in America should be But men, the law of Eugenics, the silently wiped out. question of who shall marry -and who The consequences are that in most shall have children, must be squarely of the big hospitals and institutions of applied. this country, surgical and x-ray steril- We have mentioned disease as a men- ization is a common practice where the ace to the unborn. I think we have said Negro is the subject. Every Doctor that most sterility and impotency has seen any number of women fall vic- comes from disease. All parents, as tims to surgical sterilization, and fall well as prospective parents, should be when there was neither necessity nor acquainted with its wide spread. All excuse. But fall, nevertheless, and too parents should know that 96 Dut of often they were willing victims. every 100 city boys between the ages The men and women who escape sur- of 18 and 28, marriageable men, either gery are often taken to the x-ray room have or have had some communicable just for the purpose of having electri- disease. That perhaps 60 girls out of cally killed that within them which cre- every 100 are likewise affected. They ates life. The Doctors in charge, do these should know these facts that they may things with a clear conscience for this intelligently instruct their children. Be- is considered proper eugenic procedure. cause these diseases not only destroy the victims, but also, and of far great- The subjects are willing victims. er importance, destroy within them This is too well known to the profes- their children before conception, if you sion to require further argument. will permit the expression. There is hardly a fanwily where chil- We say that these people should know dren are possible, where the parents these facts, and who should teach them? have not worked either to get rid of Gentlemen, in our opinion, under the unborn child, or to prevent conception. existing circumstances, that responsi- This needs no further emphasis than to bility falls upon our shoulders. We say that there are some 700 abortions feel that this body should not only and miscarriages, and perhaps thous- meet, resolute, feast, and adjourn, but sands of intentional miconceptions, to should reach outside the meeting place 204 JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Vol. 7, No. 3 and do some much needed work. In pregnancy. But "civilization" has car- view of the great ignorance of the pub- ried man far away from this law of na- lic, and especially our public, we feel ture, which is so closely observed by the that this body could profitably super- less civilized of animals. vise a movement for the general en- The profession now feels that this lightenment, especially of the mar- lack of judgment is indirectly the cause riageable and the newly married. of most of our divorces. We observe Mothers should be taught, that they that the participants lose appetite if the may the better care for themselves both S. A. is poorly timed. This should be before and during pregnancy, and after modified. They seem to lose appetite the birth. They should know the im- for each other but not necessarily for portance of proper food and exercise, outsiders. Kaminar by statistics and that their children may be strong. They statements of affected parties, has should know the importance of keeping pretty well established this point. The all organs in good working condition. natural sequence is that the greater They should know that certain mental attraction is soon found to be on the states actually hamper the unborn child. outside. The result is a divorce; the They should know that through their cause, a lack of judgment due to igno- blood must be thrown off, not only the rance. usual amount of poison, but also the It is also known that the improper feces and urine of the foetus after cer- handling of the uterus during this stage tain periods. of physiological congestion, is condu- More men should know, and know ducive to disease of that particular or- earlier in life, that they may not only gan. weaken their general resisitance, but We readily see that a stand for the may cause complete sterility, by over- lives of the unborn,necessarily becomes indulgence. They should be acquainted a stand against the divorce evil, a stand with the destructive effects of disease, for an early and long continued mar- and early acquainted that they may pre- ried state with less disease. serve themselves. For if he is worthy We will barely stop to mention lead of parenthood, the childless man, of all poisoning and alcoholism. It is said men, is most to be pitied. that lead and alcohol are responsible They should know these things that for many of the mentally weak, and are to us so simple, but they do not for most of the physically deformed. know. You would be surprised to know Much more should be said on this point, for instance how few of the laity real- but our discussion is already too long. ize that S. I. is absolutely prohibited Dancing should also be touched. It after the fourth month of pregnancy. is said that this habit causes thousands The few that know that this not only of miscarriages yearly. That it pre- deadens the appetite, and permanently vents the meeting of the ovum and sper- lessons the enjoyment and the novelty matozoa and that it often prevents the of the S. A. on the part of both and germ cell, after the union has taken especially the female, do not knowthat place, from catching the necessary hold after this time, the foetus is unfavo- on the uterine wall. Many a dancer is rably affected. said to miscarry regularly every month We know that as a matter of fact, with monthly catimenia. there should be no indulgence after Every one who has given thought to A PLEA FOR THE LIVES OF THE UNBORN 205 the betterment of the child's condition, This disscuion has of necessity been both before and after birth, is forced to a departure from the regular procedure. admit that there is a limit to the num- We have been compelled to generalize, of the field. Any ber of childfren that a because of the breadth many family Doctor could have spent the night on should have. A few well bred and well any one of the several phases of our educated children would mean more to consideration. the race. But this is no argument in We should thank you for your pa- favor of the abortion, nor is it an argu- tience and perfect attention and con- ment in favor of, the so-called Eugenics clude with a plea for the lives of the as practised here today. unborn, that they be saved from death And what of the so-called Eugenics before conception takes place; that they that faces us? We positively'should be saved from death ,as a resuft of meet this situation squarely. We carelessness and a lack of love on the should inform the public of this menace part of parents; that they be saved to the very life of men, that is so clear from the hand of the executioner, the to us. abortionist; that they be saved from poisoning while within the uterus, We owe it to our people to keep them which comes from disease, improper ex- out of some of these places. We should ercise, improper food, alcohol and lead; instruct them, that if they must go that they be saved from the great ene- into them, they should go under the my that has come and is still coming; careful watch of a friendly physician. under the name of the most fair Eu- Finally, the development of competent genics. surgeons and the handling of our own Responsibility in this vital matter cases must settle this issue. properly rests upon you.

THE DOCTOR'S CLOTHES afford two or three suits at the same time will find that such is really No one will find fault with the doctor for economy, as it gives him an opportuni- appearing neat and clean of person ty to get those not in use pressed, with his apparel always looking pre- cleaned and always ready for service. sentable. On the other hand, the doctor The doctor's clothes are peculiarly sub- who is carless of his clothing should ject to spots and stains. The sooner be directed along conservative lines and these are removed, the easier it will be should present nothing loud or strik- on the fabric. Spots and stains are pro- ing. Men's clothing is one thing that fessional earmarks that are no recom- has not advanced in price percep- mendation to even the humble feminine clientele. The average woman can see tibly in recent years. The care of a grease spot farther than a man can the clothing is an all-important mat- see a red necktie.-The Medical Sum- ter. To this end the man who can mary.