MARRIAGE AND DISEASE

Being an Abridged Edition of “Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage and the Married State.” Edited by Prof. H. Senator and Dr. S. Kaminer. Translated from the German by J. Dulberg, M.D., J.P. (of Manchester). Demy 8vo., 452 pages. Cloth, price 10s. 6d. net.

A quarter of a century has elapsed since Francis Galton, in his “Inquiries into Human Faculty,” drew attention to the urgent need for the foundation of a science and practice of “Eugenics,” that is, the improvement of the human stock. “Health and Disease in Relation to Marriage and the Married State,” edited by Senator and Kaminer, undoubtedly occupies a very high place among recent works devoted to the elucidation of certain aspects of this important topic, and in the abridged edition an adaptation has been prepared for the enlightenment of the thinking portion of the public on pathological questions in relation to marriage and the married state, and from which all purely technical and professional matter has been excluded.

At a time when such questions as the decline of the birth-rate, the sterilization of the degenerate, the restriction of indiscriminate marriages, the voluntary limitation of families, and so forth, form subjects of daily debate and newspaper articles, it is of the greatest advantage that every man and woman who either contemplates or has embarked on matrimony should be as well acquainted, as the limits of our conventionality permit, with the medical or hygienic aspect of marriage.

To give some idea of the scope of this absorbingly interesting work, we append the chapter headings. These apply to the unabridged as well as to the abridged edition at present under review.

I. — Introduction. II. — The Hygiene of Marriage. III. — Congenital and Inherited Diseases and Predispositions to Disease. IV. — Consanguinity and Marriage. V. — Climate, Race, and Nationality in Relation to Marriage. VI. — Sexual Hygiene. VII. — Menstruation, Pregnancy, Child-bed and Lactation. VIII. — Constitutional (Metabolic) Diseases. IX. — Diseases of the Blood. X. — Diseases of the Vascular System. XI. — Diseases of the Respiratory Organs. XII. — Diseases of the Organs of Digestion. XIII. — Diseases of the Kidneys. XIV. — Gonorrhœal Diseases. XV. — (a) Syphilis. XVI. — (b) Diseases of the Skin. XVII. — Diseases of the Organs of Locomotion. XVIII. — Diseases of the Eyes in Relation to Marriage, with special regard to Heredity. XIX. — Diseases of the Lower Uro-Genital Organs and Physical Impotence. XX. — Diseases of Women, including Sterility. XXI. — Diseases of the Nervous System. XXII. — Insanity. XXIII. — Perverse Sexual Sensations and Psychical Impotence. XXIV. — Alcoholism and Morphinism. XXV. — Occupational Injuries. XXVI. — Medico-Professional Secrecy. XXVII. — The Economic Importance of Sanitary Conditions.

Brief as is this sketch of the abridged edition, it will suffice, in conjunction with the following extracts from a few of the many highly laudatory reviews, to show how valuable the work will be to parents and guardians, family advisers, whether lawyers or clergymen, schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, as well as to those who are already married, and to those who are contemplating marriage.

THE LANCET says: “The progress of sociological investigation in modern times has caused increased attention to be paid to questions of health in relation to marriage and the propagation of the human race, and anything which helps to spread abroad an intelligent appreciation of the dangers incurred, not only by individuals who enter on the married state, but also by their offspring, from the existence of many forms of disease must be regarded as a public benefit. The present book is an attempt to make available for general consumption the gist of the larger work from which it is taken.... The material contained in the book is most valuable, and a study of it should be useful to those capable of appreciating it....”

PUBLIC HEALTH says: “It is cleanly, even when dealing with most difficult subjects, and it is a storehouse of information on points on which hygienists are expected to be well informed.”

THE SCOTTISH MEDICAL JOURNAL says: “As a guide for the general public many of the articles are well adapted to fulfil their object.”