Eugenics in race and state.

  • International Congress of Eugenics
Date:
1923
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Eugenics in race and state. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    415/534 (page 399)
    MEDICAL APPLICATION OF IMMIGRATION LAW 399 stated, Class A includes the mandatorily excludable under the provisions of Section III of the Act of May 5, 1917, and includes: (1) Idiots (2) Imbeciles (3) Feebleminded persons (4) Epileptics (5) Insane persons (6) Persons of constitutional psychopathic inferiority (7) Persons with chronic alcoholism (8) Persons certified as mentally defective (9) Persons afflicted with tuberculosis in any form (10) Persons afflicted with a loathsome contagious disease (11) Persons afflicted with a dangerous contagious disease Those classes representing mental defects of various degrees are self- explanatory as is also tuberculosis in any form. The dangerous or loath¬ some contagious diseases more commonly met with may perhaps require a word of explanation. None of the seven quarantinable disease are com¬ prehended here as they are dealt with exclusively at quarantine stations and I wish to emphasize again that quarantine stations and immigration stations are entirely separate and distinct. Neither are the acute exanthemes, such as scarlet-fever, diphtheria, measles, etc., included as these represent acute conditions which either recover or terminate fatally within a comparatively short period, but rather this class includes loathsome or dangerous con¬ tagious diseases of a semi-chronic or chronic nature, and to use as type illustrations, among the loathsome contagious diseases, falling within this category, may be mentioned favus, ringworm of the scalp and nails, sycosis barbae, actinomycosis, oriental sore, and the venereal diseases, while among type illustrations of dangerous contagious diseases we may cite trachoma, filariasis, amoebiasis, schistosomiasis and other diseases caused by animal parasites, such as leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, paragonomiasis, Clon¬ orchiasis, etc. The dividing line between a loathsome contagious disease and a dangerous contagious disease is of course somewhat shadowy, it largely being a matter of personal viewpoint as to whether one considers a disease loathsome or not and that viewpoint depends to a certain extent upon one's familiarity with the condition, although the regulations do attempt a somewhat blanket differentiation. The point, however, is of no particular practical value as both are mandatorily excludable. Class В comprehends the following conditions not included under Class A. (1) All diseases and physical defects that in the opinion of the medical officer will materially impair a person's capacity for self-maintenance.