The Physiological Laics of Human Increase
- Type:
REVIEWS.
:Author : Nathan
Allen, M.D. of Lowell, Mass. Thiladeiphia : Collins, 705 Jane Street.
This treatise is a reprint from the ” Transactions of the American Medical Association.” In it Dr Allen enunciates what he terms a new physiological law of human increase, which is based, he says, ” upon a PERFECT DEVELOPMENT OF ALL TIIE ORGANS IN THE HUMAN BODY, SO THAT THERE SHALL BE A PERFECT HARMONY IN THE PERFORMANCE OF ALL THEIR respective functions. It presupposes other conditions are favourable, such as the age, union, and adaptation of the married parties?provided no laws of nature are violated or interfered ivitli?that there will uni- formly be found, with such a standard of organisation, not only the greatest number of children, but they ivill be found endowed with the highest amount of physical vigour, strength, and health.
If this laAv be confirmed by further researches, and verified by experience, it is not possible to estimate its importance too highly. That Dr Allen has strong grounds for his theory will be evident from the following extracts from his valuable paper:?
” The theory, however, which Ave advocate has its base simply upon that organisation of man which came perfect from the hands of his Maker, and was pronounced very good; and when man was commanded to ‘ be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.’ But he, by his course of disobedience and rebellion, lost not only the moral image and likeness of his Creator, but that harmony and per- fection in his physical organisation, which he has never yet regained. ” A distinguished writer upon Anthropology makes this curious remark : ‘ As giants and dwarfs are rarely prolific, so men of prodi- giously large or small intellectual powers may be expected to be deficient in fertility.’ Both these statements are undoubtedly true, and find a rational explanation by means of this law; but upon what other hypothesis can such phenomena be accounted for, or the following facts be explained ? It is the opinion of some leading writers upon Insanity that the insane, as a class, are not prolific, and if left to intermarry among themselves, they would soon run out. The same remark, we believe, will hold good when applied to the blind as a class; also to the deaf and dumb, and the idiotic. There may be found among these classes cases where individual families are respectable in size, but they are exceptions to the general rule. All these classes, we be- lieve, should they marry exclusively among themselves, if they did not run out in the course of a few generations, will not multiply to any great extent. It would seem as though Infinite Wisdom had devised in some way that all such abnormal characters should not long, or upon a large scale, be propagated, but that they must, by the very conditions of their existence, tend to extinction.”
The next extract gives a melancholy account of the physical con- dition of American women. We fear his observations are equally applicable to our own countrywomen, especially in London :? ” But there is another point of observation which is more tangible and conclusive in its evidence. If the conformation of Avoman Avere Avhat it should be for the best propagation of the species, it presup- poses her ability to furnish a suitable supply of Avholesome nutriment for her offspring. This Avas the case Avith nearly all the first settlers in our country, and is very generally so now Avith the German, the English, the Scotch, and the Irish Avomen. But Avhat a contrast in this respect is presented by our native American Avomen?especially in New England ! It is thought by some very competent observers that more than one-half of our American Avomen are obliged to resort to the bottle for nursing their offspring, and the number of this class is every year increasing. In most of these cases it is not a matter of choice, but of necessity. There is a great deficiency in the vital tem- perament ; and the mammary glands are found very small, and in some instances almost entirely wanting. Besides, in all these cases the ner- vous temperament is altogether too predominant and too active, so much so as to require an undue proportion of the nutrition of the body. It is certain that the physical development of all these cases differs verv materially from the physiological standard upon Avhich the true laAv of increase is based. In confirmation of our statement respect- ing the large number of Avomen unable to nurse their offspring, Ave here present the answer to an inquiry made of a manufacturer of a neAV and high-priced nursing-bottle, avIio in such a matter Avas a most com- petent judge: his sales for the last year, he replied, amounted to lJive hundred gross,’ and in his judgment the sale of nursing-bottles in the United States must amount yearly to not less than ‘jifty thousand f/ross.’1 What a contrast do these facts present in the sale and use of this article, as compared Avith the same fifty or one hundred years ago, Avhen nursing-bottles Avere but little knoAvn ! Do not such facts argue some change not only in the disposition but in the physical organisation of woman ? “
We recommend the Avliole of this treatise for careful perusal; it Avill be found of equal interest to the medical philosopher and the political economist.
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