Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part I - Professor J. Vilhelm Hultkrantz, Uppsala and Doctor Emanuel Bergman, Uppsala, The Struggle for Race-improvement in Sweden
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
r
portance for the coming generation. Besides being assigned some etiological sig*
nificance in the occurrence of a large number of the hereditary diseases, the ven*
ereal diseases can also cause sterility, miscarriage and inferior offspring.
Temperance work has been carried on in this country at least since the middle
of the last century. Among its pioneers and leaders, the clergyman and populär
speaker Peter Wieselgren (1800—1877) must be placed first, personally he was a
total abstainer from 19 years of age, thus long before the temperance movement
began anywhere in the world; and the renowned doctor Magnus Huss (1807—1890),
author, among other works, of »Alcoholismus chronicus», one of the most noted
books among the temperance literature, must also be mentioned by his side. Our
five greater temperance societies had, when they were at their greatest in 1910,
about 350,000 adult members, in round numbers. Since then they have suffered
some decrease, so that the number of members at the beginning of last year was
275,000. To these must be added the societies belonging to the Free Churches,
which first in 1920 took up temperance work, and whose members are reckoned
as going up to 205,000. The legislation in the cause of temperance has during
the last few years, gone in the direction of personal restriction. As the result
does not seem to be that which one had hoped for, a strong opinion is in course
of bulding in favour of the introduction of total prohibition. In connection with
this the sinking numbers of members belonging to the temperance societies have
begun to rise again.
The frequency of the venereal diseases in this country has without doubt
risen during recent years. Since 1912 the duty of reporting these diseases has
become law. The whole number of reported cases was 30,429 (5.2 %o) in 1919,
of which 6,451 (1.1 %o) were syphilis cases, 20,651 (3.5 %o) gonorrhoea and 3,327
(0.6 %o) were chancre. In the meantime these numbers represent a minimum and
the real frequency must therefore’be essentially greater. The fight against sexual
diseases is consequently a very important social question. Besides the part of the
marriage law, which prohibits marriage for those suffering from sexual disease in
an infectious stage (it is the duty of a doctor to report anyone who defies the
law), we have since 1918 a law against the spreading of sexual disease. Regula*
tions are joined to the law partly in regard to the treatment free of cost of those
suffering from sexual disease and partly in regard to the duty of the doctor giving
the treatment, to report the case; negligence can lead to forced treatment of the
contumacious person. To expose others to the danger of infection may involve
severe punishment. An inquiry has also been made by a committee concerning
the measures to be taken for spreading a knowledge of sexual diseases. In the
scheme recently propounded it was proposed to carry out a systematic educational
work in the schools as well as among elder persons. As the before mention*
ed preventive law makes this work of enlightenment more difficult, it is pro*
posed to revise it.
* *
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
