Back Pains

I want to get back to regular blogging but have to get my back back to proper behavior.  First the semester hijacks my brain and energy, then my lower back starts hurting, and now it's in full blast mode of "I have trouble walking upright like the human I am."  But!  For once in my life I have health insurance that covers chiropractic care (I spent much too much of my adult life without any insurance at all) and while I enjoyed getting high on pain meds the last time this happened, I much prefer medical care that actually aims to improve one's health.   [A couple of years ago, when I couldn't get out of bed and ended up going to the ER (it was a Saturday), they gave me pain meds, something like strong ibuprofen, and sent me home.]  I never ever used the phrase "I feel so blessed" until my first chiropractic appointment this afternoon.

My lower back started hurting back in the ole' days when I waited tables to pay for college and life (alas, when in our twenties, we tend to hurt less for shorter periods of time).  I hated that job more than anything, no matter the restaurant I worked in and even the one where I adored my boss.  Aside from leaving me with several emotional scars, it's left me with chronic back and knee pain.  Thanks to those giant trays, I now have trouble walking up and down stairs without my knees making freaky creaking sounds.  As MY (I have one!) chiropractor (and new best friend) told me today, you are too young for this.  Here here! 

Heat versus Brain

It has been unbearably hot over here in STL.  Temperatures in the 100s with heat indexes that much higher.  My brain feels like that anti-drug use commercial.  Eggs, hot pan, and "this is your brain on drugs" as the eggs sizzle away.  There is so much work to be done, but I have been beyond lethargic.  Plus, when your work consists of reading and writing, you want to leave the house and go for a walk, for example, to get away from the page.  Not possible at this juncture.  Even Grover gets out of breath walking round the block. 

Heat puts in mind the "emotional races" of my previous post on immigration and I found yet another volume in which the authors expound on the dangers posed by the lesser races of Eastern and Southern Europe.  In a chapter titled "The Immigration Problem: ITS PRESENT STATUS AND ITS RELATION TO THE AMERICAN RACE OF THE FUTURE" by Robert DeC. Ward published in the 1904 volume of The Survey (by Edward Thomas Devine and Paul Underwood Kellogg who were "Survey Associates, Charity Organization Society of the City of New York"), Ward writes: "The question before us is, therefore, a race question.  Slav, Italian, Jew, not discouraged by the problem of maintaining high standards of living with many children, are replacing native Americans.  ...  There can, then, be absolutely no doubt that the recent change in the races of our immigrants will profoundly affect the character of the future American race." How so, you may well ask.  According to Ward, it's a mixed bag and we should stick to our known superiority rather than risk tarnishing Anglo-American perfection:

The increasing proportion of Alpine and of Mediterranean blood will "soften the emotional nature, but it will quicken the poetic and artistic nature. We shall be a more versatile, a more plastic people, gentler in our thoughts and feelings because of the Alpine strain; livelier and brighter, with a higher power to enjoy the beautiful things of life," because of the Latin blood. "We may doubtless learn courtesy from many an Italian; virtue from many a Slav; family loyalty from many a Jew; the beauty and the refining influence of music from many a Hungarian." Turning to the physical side it is clear that the average stature will be reduced and that the skull will become broader and shorter. He would, indeed, be a hopeless pessimist who should maintain that this racial change will have naught but undesirable effects, mental and physical, upon the future American race. We probably need less nervous energy and push; we shall undoubtedly benefit by a quickening of our artistic and poetic nature; we shall probably not be injured by an infusion of some of the "conservative and contemplative stock which comes from eastern Europe." The good qualities of the new races we may need; their defects we should be willing to do without. Yet, when all is said regarding the benefits which we may, or even must, derive from these new elements in the blood of our race, are we not, as it were, giving away to the philosophy of despair? Are we not, most of us, fairly well satisfied with the characteristics, mental and physical, of the old American stock? Do we not love American traits as they are? May we not be rather reckless in assuming that everything will settle itself for the best? It may be that the American race of the future is to be a far better race in every respect than the old one. But we should remember that, as it has been put by a recent writer, "in forming a race of unknown value, there is being sacrificed a race of acknowledged superiority in originality and enterprise."

Way to deliver a backhanded compliment!  Why should we pay for poetry, music, or family (stereotypes all) with shorter statures and smaller brains when we are so perfect already? 

Immigrant Fridays: The Insane Immigrant

Immigrant Fridays turned into Saturday.  I wrote too soon when I promised regular theme days.  The semester started and, as always, hijacked my life.

Toward the end of the 19th Century, examinations of immigrants began at places like Ellis Island.  To this day, immigrants with certain diseases like syphilis, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS [the last one until 2010 when Obama got rid of it--thanks Ben!] are barred from legal residency.  Back in the day, insanity and idiocy were also on the list ("insanity" differently defined is on the list now too) and I often wondered how officials determined the two.  I found a 1903 volume titled Book of instructions for the medical inspection of immigrants by the U.S. Public Health Service ("Prepared by Direction of the Surgeon-General"), which answered my questions not at all, but was entertaining enough especially since it contains a reference to "ignorant representatives of emotional races." This last one goes unexplained so I guess everyone knew who they were talking about.

Here are some of the instructions:

The medical examination should be made by daylight and never, except in an emergency, attempted in poorly lighted rooms or by artificial light. The preliminary line inspection should be conducted on an even, level surface, so that the passengers may not be tempted to look where they are stepping. ... Care should be taken to prevent crowding, to maintain a single file evenly spaced, with the individuals well separated (10 feet).

Good to know about the lighting.  You can't see crazy in the dark. 

Below are two of the document's subdivisions.  One on insanity and the other on "idiots."  Both of them pose ethical issues today, but how in the world did they determine these at the turn of the century (daylight notwithstanding)?  How could English-speaking officials, with few if any translators, keep an ear out for illusions or hallucinations?

Subdivision III.—Insane persons.

The following definition of insanity may be accepted for guidance: Insanity is a deranged and abnormal condition of the mental faculties, accompanied by delusions or hallucinations or illusions, or manifesting itself in homicidal or suicidal tendencies or persistent mental depression, or inability to distinguish between right and wrong.

In the case of immigrants, particularly the ignorant representatives of emotional races [!!!], due allowance should be made for temporary demonstrations of excitement, fear, or grief, and reliance chiefly placed upon absolute assurance of the existence of delusions or persistent refusal to talk or continued abstinence from eating.

Persons suffering from acute attacks of delirium tremens should be certified as insane. Those presenting less active evidence of alcoholism should be regarded as coming under the heading of likely to become public charges, as should also all cases of simple epilepsy or hysteria.

At least two officers should concur in a certificate of insanity, and when this is impracticable the medical officer should recommend the employment of a local physician in good standing, and they shall jointly sign the certificate.

The evidence on which a certificate of insanity is based should be made a matter of permanent record. It should always include, among other things, the physical appearance, character of hallucinations, delusions, or illusions, and a brief history of the peculiarities noted while the case was under observation.

Subdivision IV.—Idiots.

The following definition of an idiot may be accepted for guidance:

An idiot is a person exhibiting such a degree of mental defect, either inherited or developed during the early period of life, as incapacitates the individual for self-maintenance or ability to properly care for himself or his interests. (Richardson.)

Idiocy is a defect of mind which is either congenital or due to causes operating during the first few years of life, before there has been a development of the mental faculties, and may exist in different degrees. (Standard Dictionary, by Maudslev; Responsibility in Mental Diseases, chapter 3, p. 66.)

In case of persons of impaired mentality to whom the term " idiot" or " insane," as above defined, is inapplicable, certificates should be made in such terms as may be deemed best calculated to convey an idea of the degree of disability in each particular case.