THE FUTURE ‘ 
OF THE 
COLORED RACE IN THE UNITED STATES 
FROM AN 
ETHNIC AND MEDICAL STANDPOINT 
BY 
Eugene R. Corson, B. S., M. D. 
SAVANNAH, GA. 
A Lecture delivered before the Georgia Historical Society, June 6, 1887. 
[A Reprint from the New York Medical Times. Oct and Nor*., 1887.J George W. Rodgers & Co., 
STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, 
26 and 28 Frankfort St., 
New York City. THE FUTURE 
OF THE 
COLORED RACE IN THE UNITED STATES 
FROM AN 
ETHNIC AND MEDICAL STANDPOINT 
BY 
Eugene R. Corson, B. S., M. D. 
SAVANNAH, GA. 
A Lecture delivered before the Georgia Historical Society, June 6, 1887. 
[A Reprint from the New York Medical Times. Oct. and Nov., 1887.] THE FUTURE OF THE COLORED RACE IN THE UNITED STATES 
FROM AN ETHNIC AND MEDICAL STANDPOINT * 
By Eugene R. Corson, B. S., M. D., Savannah, Ga. 
LIVING, as we do, practically in the “ Black Belt,” the 
future of the colored race is of vital importance to us 
and must interest us, especially as there has come a cry of 
warning from certain writers who see in the race a menace 
to the country in a future not far distant. Since many of 
the discussions of the question have shown a more or less 
strong political and sectional spirit let me state at the outset 
that I shall have nothing to do with its political or sectional 
bearings. If we are to get at the truth and are to solve this 
problem it must be from the teachings of ethnology, and bi- 
ology, and the experiences of those who have studied the 
physical status of the race. Any political bias is apt to play 
sad havoc with the truth. Much that I wish to say and many 
details and statistics necessary to the support of my argu- 
ments have no right in a lecture of this kind, and I shall re- 
serve them for another place. I have introduced as few fig- 
ures as possible, allowing another to answer the argument 
from the census returns—an argument brought forward as 
all sufficient in the solution of the problem. 
In February, 1883, there appeared in the Popular Science 
Monthly, an article by Professor E. W. Gilliam, entitled 
“ The African in the United States.” In 1884, Mr. Albion 
W. Tourgee, author of “A Fool’s Errand,” published a book 
entitled “An Appeal to Caesar.” These two essays treated 
the subject from the same standpoint. They both gave rise 
to much comment at the time, and with those who could see 
no other side to the question they appeared convincing, as 
both writers based their reasoning upon figures, and to many 
* A lecture delivered before the Georgia Historical Society, June 6,1887. 2 
minds figures never lie, no matter how those figures may 
be arranged; bu£ in problems of this kind figures may prove- 
to be very tricky if not dangerous, and when used by those 
who have their preconceived opinions they may be made to 
prove almost anything. As a practicing physician I have 
had many things brought home to me which are intimately 
connected with the question before us, and which, I think, 
disprove what these writers seem to regard as almost self- 
evident. I have called your attention to these two essays 
because they contain the only arguments, if arguments they 
can be called, which could be brought forward to prove their 
side of the question. I trust that before I close I may be 
able to show you that there is another view to take and one 
more in accord with our hopes for the bright future of our 
country and the higher civilization of our race. 
And first, what is Professor Gilliam’s thesis? and what 
are his arguments ? His thesis is, first, that the blacks are 
so gaining on the whites that they will eventually outnum- 
ber them; second, that the former are, and must continue to 
be, a distinct and alien people; and third, that the upshot 
of this will be a repetition of the Israelites in Egypt. “This 
dark, swelling, muttering mass along the social horizon, 
gathering strength with education and ambition to rise, will 
grow increasingly restless and sullen under repression, until 
at length conscious, through numbers, of superior power, it 
will assert that power destructively, and bursting forth like 
an angry, furious cloud, avenge in tumult and disorder the 
social law broken against it.” 
He argues from the census of 1880 which, he states, gives 
upon the face of the returns a percentage of increase of 
29.21 for the whites and 34.85 for the blacks and colored. 
Estimating foreign immigration as constituting 9 per cent of 
this increase he deducts this number to get the figures repre- 
senting the native increase. For the blacks he deducts 5 per 
cent to allow for the errors in the ninth census. Then, tak- 
ing it for granted that in the future the colored race will 
increase even more rapidly than in the past, he cancels this 
5 per cent deduction making a normal rate of increase of 35 
per cent. From this he further argues : “ The white popula- 
tion, increasing at the rate of 20 per cent in ten years, or 2 per 
cent per annum, doubles itself every thirty-five years. The 3 
blacks increasing at the rate of 35 per cent in ten years, or 
per cent per annum, doubles itself in twenty years.” On 
this basis it does not require much mathematics to find the 
population in the United States a century hence, so here 
are his figures : 
Whites in United States in 1880 (in round numbers) 42,000,000 
Whites in United States in 1985 (in round numbers) 336,000,000 
Northern Whites in 1880 30,000,000 
Northern Whites in 1985 240,000,000 
Southern Whites in 1880 12,000,000 
Southern Whites in 1985 96,000,000 
Blacks in Southern States in 1880 6,000,000 
Blacks in Southern States in 1980 192,000,000 
This is figuring with a vengeance. We may well tremble 
for the future of our country if these figures are even approx- 
imately true. Their menace, Professor Gilliam thinks, is in- 
intensified by the second factor in his argument, namely, the 
impossibility of fusion of whites and blacks. 
Mr. Tourgee, in his “Appeal to Caesar,” endorses in the 
main the conclusions of Professor Gilliam, and quotes at 
length from his article. His treatment of the subject, how- 
ever, is somewhat different, and it may be worth our while 
to look at his arguments and the spirit in which they are set 
forth. He, too, is fond of the tenth census. He gives tables 
showing the number and percentage of each race resident 
in each of the Southern States in 1880; also in the States in 
which the proportion of colored inhabitants does not exceed 
the general average of the South, or by the action of nat- 
ural causes cannot be expected to increase; also in the 
States in which the proportion of colored inhabitants exceeds 
the general average in the South ; and also in those States 
in which the number of colored inhabitants exceeds the white 
population : 
“ Seven of the Southern States have an average of 16.9 
per cent of colored inhabitants; eight have an average of 
47.6 percent, and three an average of 56.4 per cent.” * 
He further confidently points to the following figures : In 
the United States the whites increased from 1790 to 1880, 
1299 per cent. During the same period the colored race 
increased 769 per cent. In the so-called Slave States the 
whites increased from 1790 to 1880, 880 per cent, the colored 
♦ “An Appeal to Caesar,” p. 115, 4 
race for the same period showed a gain of 775 per cent. 
These figures show that in the United States the two races, 
increased as thirteen to nine, while in the Southern States 
nine to eight shows the relative increase.* 
From tables showing the numerical increase and the per 
cent of gain of each race in each State of the “ Border States 
and the “ Slave States ” from 1790 he attempts to show 
that the increase of whites in the “ Border States ” has been 
greater than that of the colored during the same period., 
while in the “ Old Slave States ” the increase of the whites 
has been less than that of the colored. “ While, therefore,, 
the colored race has not in all the States kept pace with the 
white during the whole period since 1790, yet in this region 
which may be termed the ‘ Black Belt,’ it has greatly out- 
stripped the dominant race.”f 1 quote his own words. 
And again “ while in the ‘Black Belt’ the whites increased 
only thirty-three per cent, and the blacks forty-three.” J 
From all of which figuring he unhesitatingly concludes that 
in the ‘ Black Belt ’ the whites are bound to decrease and the 
blacks to increase in relative numbers. And again he writes : 
‘‘The census of 1880 reveals the unexpected and amazing* 
fact that in a state of freedom the reproductive energy of the 
American negro not only exceeds that of the white race 
dwelling in the same locality, but exceeds his own ratio of 
numerical gain in a state of slavery.” § 
The chapter entitled “To-morrow in the Light of Yester- 
day” he doses with these words: “The tables which we 
have given showing the operation of the rate of increase 
in the colored race upon separate groups of Southern States 
indicate a still more startling fact; to wit, that in the year 
1900, or sixteen years hence, each of the States lying be- 
tween Maryland and Texas zvill have a colored majority 
within its borders ; and we shall have eight minor re- 
publics of the Union in which either the colored race will 
rule or a majority will be disfranchised!” ■]’ He may 
well put an exclamation point after these words. Much of 
what follows in his book is taken up with arguments to show 
that the influences at work in the future will favor even 
more than in the past the increase of the blacks and the 
* Op. cit., p. 119. 
g Op. cit., p. 129. 
t Op. cit., p. 123. 
T Op. cit., p. 135. 
t Op. cit., p. 124. 5 
decrease of the whites. He attempts to show further from 
the census that the colored population of the “ Slave States” 
will be strengthened by immigration of blacks from the Bor- 
der States, and that the white population will be weakened 
by the migration of whites to the Northern and Western 
States. Mr. Tourgee arranges everything to suit himself. 
Throughout his book he regards the African as the equal of 
the Caucasian. He writes: “Whether the colored man is 
the equal, the inferior, or the superior of the white race in 
knowledge, capacity, or the power of self-direction, has not 
specifically revealed to me.” On such a basis it is not worth 
while to argue the question with him. His book is written 
in a sensational way, it shows a good deal of political and 
sectional fervor, and is altogether the product of one who 
took an active part in the dark days of reconstruction and 
who did not make “bricks without straw.” 
The article of Professor Gilliam and Mr.Tourgee’s “ Ap- 
peal to Caesar ” called forth a reply by Mr. Henry Gannett in 
an article in the Popular Science Monthly, for June, 1885, 
entitled “Are We to Become Africanized?” In a short but 
pithy reply Mr. Gannett shows the weak points in the argu- 
ments of these writers, and refutes them by their own fig- 
ures. I cannot do better than give his own words. In 
refutation of Professor Gilliam he writes :— 
“ An analysis of the author’s curious method of deducing 
these results will, however, dispel this frightful vision of the 
future. The increase of white population between 1870 and 
1880 was slightly less than ten millions. The number of 
immigrants during this period was a little in excess of two 
million eight hundred thousand. Subtracting the latter 
from the former, there is left a number which is 23 per cent 
of the population in 1870, not 20 per cent, as Prof. Gilliam 
has it. But what does this 20 or 23 per cent (it matters not 
which) represent? Certainly not the increase of native 
whites, as he interprets it. The census gives directly the 
numbers of native whites in 1870 and in 1880, and the pro- 
portional gain of this class during the decade was not less 
than 31 per cent. These are the figures he should have used 
in making his calculations. 
“ Now as to the increase of the colored element. Pro- 
fessor Gilliam at the outset, deducts from its rate of 6 
increase 5 per cent, representing about a quarter of 
million persons, on account of the imperfections of the 
census of 1870. Concerning the omissions of this census 
little is known, except that they were generally distrib- 
uted through the cotton States, were largely, if not mainly? 
of the colored element, and of that element, approximated 
nearer three fourths of a million than one fourth, and cer- 
tainly exceeded half a million. Professor Gilliam’s subse- 
quent addition of 5 per cent ‘ as an obvious consideration 
points to the conclusion that the blacks will for the future de- 
velop in the South under conditions more and more favora- 
ble,’ certainly is not warranted by the facts or the proba- 
bilities, and, as we are reasoning from what has been and is, 
and not from what may be, it looks very much like begging 
the whole question. 
“ Correcting Professor Gilliam’s statements it appears 
that the ratios of gain during the past decade were, 
as nearly as can be known, as follows: For native 
whites, 31 per cent; for blacks, not above 25 per cent. 
“But all such comparisons, based upon the results of the 
ninth census, are utterly worthless. No reliable conclusions 
regarding the increase of negroes can be drawn from a com- 
parison in which these statistics enter. The extent of the 
omissions can be a matter, within certain wide limits, of con- 
jecture only. The only comparisons which yield results of 
any value are those made between the statistics of the 
eighth and tenth censuses. That the former was, to a cer- 
tain slight extent, incomplete, is doubtless true, especially in 
regard to the colored element, but the omissions were trifling 
as compared with those of the ninth census. A comparison 
between the results of the eighth and tenth censuses shows 
the advantage to be clearly in favor of the native whites 
who increased 61 per cent in the twenty years, while the col- 
ored element increased but 48 per cent. This great increase 
of the native whites was effected in spite of the fact that the 
ranks of the adult males were depleted to the extent of over 
a million by the casualities of war, which the negroes 
scarcely felt.” 
In reply to Mr. Tourgee he writes :— 
“In ‘An Appeal to Caesar,’ by Judge Tourgee, the ques- 
tion of the future of the colored element is discussed from 7 
a somewhat different point of view. Without committing* 
himself as to the increase or decrease of the colored element 
in the country at large, in proportion to the whites, the 
author finds, upon a somewhat superficial study of the 
statistics bearing upon the question, that in the South 
Atlantic and Gulf States the negroes have increased decid- 
dedly in proportion to the whites, while in those States which 
he classes as Border States they have relatively decreased. 
This massing of the negroes in what may, for convenience, be 
denominated the cotton States, coupled with the steady 
sharpening of the line of separation between the two races— 
a line which, as the author claims, becomes more and more 
accentuated as the inferior race increases in numbers and 
advances in education—will lead to inevitable conflict be- 
tween fhe two races. As the negro becomes numerically 
the stronger, and, through education, appreciates more fully 
his present position, he will commence a struggle for the 
mastery, and then the days of the Ku Klux will be eclipsed 
in blood and slaughter. Such is the condition to which 
these iU-fated States are hurrying. Toward off this impend- 
ing evil Judge Tourgee urges upon the general government 
the work of educating the blacks. Such, in brief is the 
‘ Appeal to Caesar.’ ****** 
4: * :]c 
“ It may, in passing, be suggested that a careful revision 
of his figures will show many important arithmetical errors, 
which may modify very sensibly some of his conclusions. It 
is unnecessary to follow his methods of reasoning, as the 
truth regarding the questions at issue can be arrived at much 
more directly. The fact is, that the negro is not migrating 
southward. There is no massing of the colored people in 
the cotton States. In 1860 the colored element of these 
States formed 66 per cent of the colored element of the 
country. In 1880 it formed precisely the same proportion. 
Between 1860 and 1880 the colored element of the country 
increased 48 per cent. The same element of the cotton States 
increased, in this interval, in precisely the same proportion, 
neither more nor less. These figures are conclusive upon 
this point, and from them there is no appeal. 
“But the fact remains that, in these cotton States 
the colored element was in 1880, in comparison with the white 8 
element, slightly stronger than it was twenty years before. 
This, however, is due not to a southward movement of 
the colored people, but to a decrease in the rate of increase 
of the whites of those States. While the increase of the na- 
tive white population in the country at large between 1860 
and 1880 was 61 per cent, that part of the same element 
resident in the cotton States increased but 39 per cent. This 
low rate of increase among the whites might seem to estab- 
lish Judge Tourgee’s position, though not in the way he 
states it, were it not for the fact that three-fourths of this 
increase took place during the decade between 1870 and 1880. 
The increase of whites in the South received a most ef- 
fectual check during the four years of war, in which every 
male capable of bearing arms was in the field, and in which 
fully half a million laid down their lives. Since the war the 
white race has taken up a rate of increase equal to, if not 
greater than, that of the country at large, a greater rate 
than that of the colored people within its borders, and there 
is no apparent reason why they should not maintain it. It is 
not, then, a migration of the negroes southward which has 
caused their relative gain in these States, but it is the losses 
of the white race—losses which, however, are rapidly being 
repaired.” 
I have quoted at length from Mr. Gannett because I be- 
lieve he has completely carried his point. Writers like Mr. 
Tourgee, however, will convince many ■who have neither the 
inclination nor the opportunity to look carefully into the 
subject. According to them the South is a cul-de-sac, whose 
one point of entrance and exit has become closed compelling 
its elements to fight out for themselves the struggle for 
supremacy. They base their deductions upon census returns 
extending over a few decades, with gaps which must be 
filled up by mere conjectures and guesses, and wholly ignore 
certain great laws of human progress, laws which the study 
of history extending over centuries has enabled us to form- 
ulate. They seem to think that they have proved their case 
if they can show by statistics the greater prolificness of the 
negro race. But in a solution of the problem before us the 
question will not be which is the more prolific, but which 
has the better fiber, the more highly developed brain, the 
finer adjusted nervous system ; in other words, which is the 9 
better able to maintain individual life, the better able to keep 
head and shoulders above the struggling crowd. Were it a 
question of prolificness simply man would have long ago 
given way to the animals and disappeared from the face of 
the earth; in fact he never would have been. 
I think it must be admitted that the colored race is a more 
prolific one than the white, that is, in potential prolificness. 
Study the race in its natural habitat with all the condi- 
tions favorable to the growth of the animal, and its prolific- 
ness will exceed that of the white race whose home is in the 
center of a civilization where every thing tends towards in- 
dividuation and the development of the nervous system, con- 
ditions inimical to great prolificness. But if the savage 
outstrips the Caucasian in the number of offspring, the 
Caucasian outstrips the savage in the ability to maintain 
individual life. In the animal and vegetable worlds the 
greater this potential prolificness the greater the waste; 
in other words, wherever the factors inimical to the increase 
of the species are many, Nature, 
“So careful of the type she seems, 
So careless of the single life,” 
increases the potential prolificness to meet the odds against 
the mature development of the germ. The simpler the organ- 
ism the simpler the genesis and the greater the prolificness; 
the higher the organization and the greater the differentia- 
tion, the more complex the genesis and the less the prolific- 
ness. But if the prolificness is small it is more than compen- 
sated for by the ability to maintain individual life. These 
are laws which Mr. Spencer has carefully elaborated in his 
“ Principles of Biology.” The cod’s prolificness has been esti- 
mated at eight million eggs. I once took the trouble to esti- 
mate the number of eggs in the roe of a lamprey eel and 
found about two hundred and fifty thousand, and yet, com- 
paratively speaking, how few of the ova of the cod or 
lamprey reach maturity. We find great prolificness at 
times among savages, and yet their undue increase is 
counteracted by their very natures and the many external 
influences at work. If not carried off by disease their con- 
stant wars and savage life effect the same result. 
The vital question then is not How many offspring? but 
How many perfected and matured individuals ? in other 10 
words, What is the ability to maintain life when 
started ? 
And so when Professor Gilliam imagines he can see this 
terrific increase of the colored race in the future, and argues 
his point by attempting to find its rate of increase when freed 
from the agencies inimical to that increase, such as the 
constant stream of immigration of whites from the East, as 
well as a begging of the whole question by taking it for 
granted that its capacity for increase will be even greater in 
the future than in the past, he places himself in the position 
of one who might see a great danger to the country from 
the natural increase of any prolific animal when freed from 
the many elements inimical to an absolute freedom of repro- 
duction. Taking figures representing the natural rate of 
increase of rats in a year, say, and carefully excluding the 
adverse influences of cats, terriers, traps, poison, and what 
not, it would not take long to give a thousand rats to every 
man, woman and child. No “Pied Piper of Hamelin,” nor 
an army of Pipers could prevent the dire consequences of 
such an increase. 
The African, under favorable conditions, will outstrip 
the Caucasian in prolificness, but we must assert most 
positively that the African in the United States does not live 
under the most favorable conditions. Transferred by a sup- 
erior race from his natural home to a country settled by the 
sturdy Anglo-Saxon, a country which is receiving a con- 
stant and steady stream of immigration of the white race 
from the Old World, he has been thrown directly into “ the 
struggle for existence,” and with everything against him. 
Let us admit, for the sake of argument, that thecolored race 
in the two decades from 1860 tol880 showed a large increase 
over the whites, and let us further admit that there were no 
exceptional causes at work to repress the increase of the na- 
tive whites, and still we most emphatically deny that the 
figures in these twenty years can be used to prove the con- 
dition of the two races one, two, or more centuries hence. 
In the history of civilization the rise and fall of nations are 
subject to many fluctuations. The great forces at work 
moulding a nation’s destiny are often interrupted or tempor- 
arily modified by exceptional causes which spring up to stem 
the great tide or to throw it out of its course for a time. 11 
But the result in the end will be the same; these great pow- 
ers must accomplish their mission, must fulfil their destiny. 
History can show us more comprehensive laws and standards 
to judge from than the numerical increase of twenty years. 
An interesting example in point comes to us from the Sand- 
wich Islands. Up to the year 1830 there was every reason 
to believe that the Sandwich Islanders were steadily increas- 
ing. “ Once they were a strong and robust people. In 1830, 
when the first census was taken—which was ten years after 
the American missionaries commenced their labors—the 
population was 130,000, but by the last census there were 
only about 40,000, one-third as many as fifty years ago. In 
the meantime religious institutions have been introduced, 
education has become general, and the family as an instit- 
ution has been established. All the elements of a Christian 
civilization have been thoroughly established, but still the 
population has been steadily decreasing at the rate of about 
1000 a year. How can this be explained ? It cannot be from 
the want of food, nor a well-regulated society, nor change 
in climate, nor want of a good government; there have been 
no wars, no famine, and only two or three epidemics, which 
were quite limited. The cause of this loss of population can- 
not arise from any external condition or agents, but from 
some law growing out of and governing the physical sys- 
tem. It is well-known that certain diseases resulting from 
licentiousness and intemperance, have been brought by for- 
eigners to these islands, causing a physical degeneracy in the 
people. So powerful and far-reaching are the effects of 
these diseases that neither the family, nor education, nor 
Christianity, can eradicate them. The law of propagation 
has been violated to such an extent that it threatens the ex- 
tinction of that people.”* 
Malthus and his followers threw a flood of light upon the 
laws governing population and the increase of nations. Still 
their investigations did not carry them further than deduc- 
tions from the rate of increase in the past, and such factors as 
means of subsistence, and the conditions of society and gov- 
ernment. It is to the school of Darwin, Wallace, and Spencer 
that we must turn for valuable teachings, and the elucida- 
* “ The Law of Human Increase,” by Nathan Allen, M. D., LL. D., The Popular Science 
Monthly, November, 1882. 12 
tion of laws which constitute all potent factors in the growth 
and development of humanity. They studied the subject 
from the standpoint of the naturalist. The great laws at 
work in the entire organic scale were found to apply to man. 
Expressions like “ the struggle for existence ” and “ the sur- 
vival of the fittest ” epitomised the great processes which 
mould and differentiate man as well as the animals. Her- 
bert Spencer in his voluminous studies in biology and 
sociology has not only laid down an elaborate schema for 
the development of this new science, but he has done much 
to fill in the outlines first broadly sketched. In 1852 he 
published a “New Theory of Population.” In this he 
“maintained that an antagonism exists between individual" 
ism and reproduction; that matter in its lower forms, for 
instance, of vegetables, possesses a stronger power of in- 
crease than in all higher forms; that the capacity of repro- 
duction in animals is in an inverse ratio to their individua- 
tion; that the ability to maintain individual life and that of 
multiplication vary in the same manner also, and that this 
ability is measured by the development of the nervous sys- 
tem.”* It was one of the first attempts to show that the 
laws governing the rate of human increase were based upon 
physiology; that the healthier the body and the more har- 
monious its functions the better adapted it is to carry out its 
normal rate of increase. 
It is this thought, especially, which I desire to impress 
upon you as the pivotal point in my argument, namely, that 
the African, removed from his natural habitat and thrown 
into a civilization of which he is not the product, must suffer 
physically, a result which forbids any undue increase of the 
race, as well as the preservation of the race characteristics. 
It is from this standpoint alone, I think, that the future of 
the race can be predicted with any degree of certainty. A 
prophecy based upon the census returns for a few decades, 
and which ignores completely the laws of human increase 
taught us by the study of history and the recent develop- 
ments in sociology arid biology, must necessarily be faulty, 
* Quoted by Nathan Allen in the Popular Science Monthly, for November, 1882. 
See further the IT'esiwnMsfer Review, for 1852 and also “Principles of Biology,’’ Vol 
II., pp. 391-508. 13 
if not wholly wrong. The two points in my argument, then, 
are these: 
First, that the African race, an inferior race, transported 
by force from its natural habitat to a distant country, and 
thrown by emancipation, after a long period of slavery, into 
a struggle for existence with a superior race, can never gain 
an ascendancy, but must in time die out or become so merged 
into the dominant race as to finally lose its identity. And, 
second, that already there are evident signs that the phys- 
ique of the race is degenerating, as shown by the rate of mor- 
tality as compared to the white race, and by the appearance 
of certain pathological conditions which point to an even 
higher rate of mortality in the future. 
It would hardly seem necessary to dwell at any length 
upon the conditions which stamp the African race as one 
greatly inferior to our own. When writers like Mr. Tourgee 
ignore this fact, and not only ignore it but seem to put the 
two races on an equality, it is not necessary to discuss the 
question with him* but for the sake of our argument we shall 
indicate briefly the salient points of difference between the 
Caucasian and the African as taught us by ethnology and 
comparative anatomy. 
The pure negro is the representative of a race whose nat- 
ural habitat is the African mainland. Though spread over 
a large area it shows a greater uniformity in physique and 
moral type than is to be found in the other great divisions of 
mankind. To the ethnologist it marks a type the lowest in 
the scale of humanity. 
A. H. Keane gives us the following points as indicating the 
low type and nearer approach in body to the quadrumana or 
anthropoid apes: 
“ (1) The abnormal length of the arm, which in the erect 
position sometimes reaches the knee-pan, and which on an 
average exceeds that of the Caucasian by about two inches ; 
(2) prognathism, or projection of the jaws (index number of 
facial angle about 70, as compared with the Caucasian, 82); 
(3) weight of brain, as indicating cranial capacity, 35 ounces 
(highest gorilla 20, average European 45); (4) full black eye 
with black iris and yellowish sclerotic coat, a very marked 
feature; (5) short flat snub nose, deeply depressed at the base 
or frontal suture, broad at extremity, with dilated nostrils 14 
and concave ridge; (6) thick protruding lips, plainly showing 
the inner red surface; (7) very large zygomatic arches—high 
and prominent cheek-bones; (8) exceedingly thick cranium, 
enabling the negro to butt with the head and resist blows 
which would inevitably break any ordinary European’s skull; 
(9) correspondingly weak lower limbs, terminating in a 
broad flat foot with low instep, divergent and somewhat pre- 
hensile great toe, and heel projecting backwards (‘ lark heel ’); 
(10) complexion deep brown or blackish, and in some cases 
even distinctly black, due not to any special pigment, as is 
often supposed, but merely to the greater abundance of the 
coloring matter in the Malpighian mucous membrane between 
the inner or true skin and the epidermis or scarf skin; (11) 
short black hair, eccentrically elliptical or almost flat in sec- 
tion, and distinctly woolly, not merely frizzly, as Richard 
supposed on insufficient evidence; (12) thick epidermis, cool, 
soft, and velvety to the touch, mostly hairless, * * 
*; (13) frame of medium height, thrown somewhat out of the 
perpendicular by the shape of the pelvis, the spine, the back- 
ward projection of the head, and the whole anatomical 
structure; (14) the cranial sutures, which close much earlier 
in the negro than in other races.” * 
These anatomical characteristics are well known to every 
careful observer; they mark a distinct race of mankind and 
show conclusively an inferior type. The natural habitat of 
the race is in itself indicative of its inferiority, for whatever 
Egypt may have been in the past, and history certainly 
points to a high order of civilization ages before the Christian 
era, Africa for centuries has been the home of the savage. 
It is the cranial and facial characteristics which have the di- 
rect bearing upon the points at issue. The prognathism, the 
facial angle, the weight of the brain, the thickness of the skull, 
and the early closure of the cranial sutures all point to a 
lower intellectuality and an inferior nervous system. 
The negro infant starts apparently with a great advan- 
tage over the white child; it is more precocious in every way, 
and maturity comes sooner. But this rapid growth soon 
reaches the end of its tether, and at a time when the negro 
has attained its full growth, the white child is but beginning 
* “Encyclopaedia Britannica ; ’’ Article Negro. 15 
to develop qualities which in time advance it to a point un- 
attainable by its less fortunate rival. Even when educated 
up to a certain point by the efforts of, and association with, a 
higher race, the mind is in a condition of unstable equilibrium 
which reverts in time back to its original level when the civ- 
ilizing influences have been withdrawn. Throughout the 
animal world whenever artificial conditions have been 
brought to bear to produce results different from those 
which nature attains by her slow methods, the new products 
when left to themselves fall back to their original starting 
points, or but little in advance of them. It will be like the 
stone of Sisyphus. In the two centuries and a half of associa- 
tion with the Caucasian the race in certain directions has 
been much benefited by the higher civilization. If these as- 
sociations were to be suddenly and completely cut off, and 
the race were to be left to its own resources, its future would 
be a retrogression rather than an advance. 
I am speaking now of course of the race without any ad- 
mixture of white blood ; with it the problem becomes a dif- 
ferent one; the intellectual level rises, and the more this ele- 
ment enters into the combination the nearer the new product 
approaches the Caucasian. We may meet with the intel- 
lect of an Alexander Dumas, or Dumas, fils, though I think 
the product a rare one. It is in the large mixed-element 
that we find examples of those who have risen above the 
multitude of their race and have shown qualities which ally 
them closer to the superior race. To writers like Mr. Tour- 
gee this factor of miscegenation does not enter at all 
into their calculations. They speak of whites and blacks as 
though it were a question of color only, with a sharp color 
line separating the two races, a mere difference in the 
amount of pigment in the Malpighian layer. One would 
think from their treatment of the subject that equal political 
lights and equality before the law meant equality moral, 
spiritual and intellectual. They lump together the entire 
colored population as a homogeneous mass to be measured 
by one standard. They bring forward examples of colored men 
who have attained considerable reputation, and have shown, 
perhaps, fine mental parts, to show the beneficial influences 
of education and civilization upon the African, and the pos- 
sibilities of the race, and ignore the influence of the white 16 
admixture, and the credit due thereto. It would be an inter- 
esting point to know the percentage of this mixed-element to 
the pure African. I am persuaded that it is much larger 
than generally believed. The census unfortunately has made 
no distinction in the enumeration. It is, however, a distinc- 
tion which should be made, and any correct returns would 
point to many significant tendencies, and be & point d’appui 
for our argument. This mixed-element indicates the fusion 
and assimilation going on. That it bears the same social 
stigma as the darker color shows that the barrier between 
the races is a social but not a physiological one, for under- 
neath this barrier miscegenation goes on through many 
channels. This new product is a large one though it is 
largely unstable. What I may have to say of its instabil- 
ity I must reserve for another place.* 
Miscegenation will go on in the future as it has gone on in 
the past. Its illegality will be no bar to it, though the pro- 
cess of fusion will bo retarded. To my mind race prejudice 
will not be in the years to come what it has been or what it 
now is. Time alone, throwing the days of bondage further 
back into the past, will in itself modify and soften these 
feelings of race, especially when, by the gradual fusion, the 
color will become lighter and the mixed-element will exhibit 
qualities allying it more and more to the Caucasian. It 
will not be in our day of course, nor in the next generation; 
it may take centuries, but it will come. 
And now let us take up the second factor in our argument, 
a factor which has grown out of the first. 
A deterioration in physique may be looked upon as the 
natural result of the many influences at work arising from 
the transporting of the race to a foreign soil to be thrown 
into the struggle for existence against a superior race, a 
* The question whether the mere mixing of the races in itself results in an unstable 
product is one which I have not been able to answer to my own satisfaction. My 
opinion is that this instability is largely the direct inheritance of a weakness and de- 
generacy of one or both parents, as naturally follows the laws of reproduction and 
inheritance. Still there seems to be a factor outside of this, a factor dependent 
upon miscegenation itself. The mixing of the different nationalities of the white 
race often appears to strengthen the new products, but the ethnic chasm which sep- 
arates the Caucasian from the African is too wide for nature to bridge satisfactorily. 
The bridge is but temporary and gives way to the strain it must eve ntually bear. 
Whatever the true explanation may be, the fact remains that this mixed-element is 
an unstable one with a high rate of mortality. 17 
struggle which can have no ultimate issue but defeat, and 
by defeat I mean an inability to maintain the distinctive 
characteristics of the race. The struggle will be a slow pro- 
cess of fusion by which the weak and unstable elements will 
disappear while that which has any permanency will become 
so blended with the dominant race as to lose its individuality. 
Of the stable and the unstable the latter is by far the 
greater; its instability can be measured by the physical de- 
generacy. Even to-day to call the colored race the African 
race is something of a misnomer because it has undergone 
many modifications. A change in language, in soil, and in 
climate, a change of surroundings and associations are potent 
influences to eventually destroy the original African traits. 
This struggle may, perhaps, be better described as a process 
of assimilation by which the elements ill-adapted to the 
growth of the dominant race are thrown off, while that 
which is assimilable becomes gradually absorbed into the 
main growth. 
Let us glance a little more minutely into these factors of 
change and decay. The change of habitat alone, a change of 
soil and climate, has a certain influence. Man, like the 
animals and plants, bears the stamps of geographical areas. 
A race indigenous to a certain country acquires through many 
generations characteristics the formation of which can be 
traced to climatic and telluric causes. One of the most in- 
teresting departments of biology is the study of the geograph- 
ical distribution of animals and plants; and man is no excep- 
tion, for in him, too, we can trace the effects of the ground he 
treads and the air he breathes. And when man is removed 
from his home to a distant country, and is brought under 
different climatic, and telluric conditions, he feels the change 
in proportion as the new environment differs from the old. 
Nature at once goes to work to adapt the new-comer to his 
newT surroundings. The greater the change the harder the 
process of adaptability and the greater the waste and the 
loss of life. The medical histories of wars in distant climes 
in which Europeans have figured show that the loss of life 
from a new environment has often equalled, if it has not ex- 
ceeded, that from the casualities of war. The Esquimaux can 
as little live in the tropics as the Hottentot in the polar region .* 
* An interesting example among the lower animals.of the fatal influences of a change 18 
Now while the change of the African to America has been 
more in longitude than in latitude it must still have an influ- 
ence in modifying the race. The negro without any other 
modifying influences would be a different man five hundred 
years hence from the one just transported from his natural 
home. 
But a factor much more potent is the struggle for existence, 
and not only a struggle within the race but a struggle 
outside with a superior race. There is no law in the physi- 
cal world more relentless than this very struggle for existence 
and survival of the fittest. From the cradle to the grave it 
is one continuous fight with man and the elements. It is a 
struggle for mere living, a struggle for ease and comfort, a 
struggle against exposure, privation and disease ; and in this 
struggle the weaker die and the stronger live. We may talk 
of universal brotherhood, but the stronger will rise and rule 
and the weaker will go to the wall. The denser the pop- 
ulation the thicker the fight. It is in the great cities that 
we see this struggle at its fiercest—the poorer and weaker 
on one side, and the stronger and richer on the other. It 
is the difference between poverty, hunger and dirt, and ease 
and comfort and luxury, and a difference greater still, a dif- 
ference in the sick list and in the death rate; for with pov- 
erty and close quarters, with dirt and exposure and crime, 
come sickness and death. The situation of the colored 
race is a peculiar one. After being carried off from their 
home to a distant land and held in bondage for years, they 
are suddenly set free and thrown upon their own resources. 
That they have even in a measure stemmed the tide is indeed 
to be wondered at. During slavery it must be conceded, I 
think, that so far as the merely physical man was concerned 
they were better off. Such bondage would be well physi- 
cally for a large portion of the white race. They were out 
of the struggle for existence with their superiors; they 
were cared for like so many valuable animals ; it was to the 
interests of their owners to do so ; though worked hard they 
led regular lives; the dissipations and excesses which enter 
■of habitat is seen in the monkeys brought to this country. They almost invariably 
die from consumption. I once examined the bodies of a number of monkeys from 
our menageries and zoological gardens, and in every case I found pulmonary tuber- 
culosis in all its stages. The change from the pure air of the forest to the confined 
and vitiated air of our centers of population is fatal to them. 19 
into the life of a free people they were withheld from ; when 
sick they had the best medical attention obtainable ; and all 
the information which I have been enabled to obtain has sat- 
isfied me that the race was a healthy one, even healthier in 
the main than the white. 
But since the war and emancipation things have been 
reversed. Suddenly thrown upon their own resources their 
struggle began in medias res; freedom gave loose reins 
to the animal; the doors were opened wide to the vices and 
excesses of a material civilization; their life became an 
irregular one; these vices and excesses which like parasites 
have grown with the growth of our civilization became a 
part of their life, and these parasites in their new soil have 
shot down their roots deeper and have obtained a firmer 
foothold. This has been the history of the introduction of 
civilized vices into all uncivilized communities; whiskey, 
good or bad, certainly disagreed with the poor American In- 
dian, and to-day in India it is playing sad havoc with the 
multitude. The explanation is that, however small self- 
control over the appetites exists in the Caucasian it is practi- 
cally wanting in the savage who drains his cup to the dregs. 
It is bad enough for the white man but it is worse for his in- 
ferior. 
These evil influences are bearing their fruit, and bitter 
fruit it is, too, a fruit which has only become very evident 
in the last decade. 
To-day the colored race as a race is not a healthy and 
robust one. Their vitality is in a condition of unstable 
equilibrium liable from any undue strain to give way. To 
the physician practicing in their midst this fact is constantly 
being brought home, and in many striking ways. Before 
the war consumption was rare among them; to-day it has 
become very common and the mortuary statistics from our 
cities show that about two colored to one white die of this 
disease. The reports from some cities show an even greater 
mortality. The race has developed a highly scrofulous and 
tubercular constitution which is manifesting itself in many 
morbid conditions and tendencies. This is not the place to go 
into details in this matter and I shall reserve whatever I 
may have further to say for medical readers. When we re- 
member that about one seventh of all deaths are due to con- 20 
sumption and the tubercular diathesis, and when we remem- 
ber that of al] constitutions it is the consumptive and tuber- 
cular which gathers weight by heredity and shows its true 
force in the generations to come, the significance of these fig- 
ures becomes very apparent,* 
* I hope at some future time to show the evidence which the mortuary statistics 
give of the diseases most prevalent among the colored race as compared with the 
white. At present I have not been able to obtain sufficient material to enable me to 
give figures large enough and comprehensive enough to thoroughly represent the 
truth in this question. All I can hope to do at present is to indicate 
briefly and in a general way the morbid tendencies, and the ways they have been 
brought about, as they have come to me in a general practice among a colored popu- 
lation numbering about nineteen thousand. So far as I can learn, my experience 
tallies with that of other physicians practicing in the same city. I believe that it 
fairly represents the experience of physicians practicing in other southern cities. 
A physician’s experience as to the prevalence and intensity of certain diseases in 
a certain locality among a certain class may have but a local significance, due to 
the peculiar conditions of the place in which he practices. It is only when his experi- 
ence tallies with that of physicians practicing elsewhere that it carries much weight 
in a question involving that class or race in its entirety. It is just here that the great 
value of the collective investigation of disease would be shown, and I would suggest 
that this question have the benefit of this pregnant method of research. It will be 
the only way to solve a problem which has so many bearings and is so far-reaching, 
and enable us to predict to our own satisfaction the future of an element of our 
population now numbering about seven million souls. 
This great mortality among the colored being recognized, we naturally seek to find 
the avenues by which it is reached, and those conditions of life which lead up to them. 
To-day the laws of hygiene and public health have been so thoroughly studied, and 
■our knowledge has been so much increased by many brilliant discoveries of quite re- 
pent date, that, given certain morbid states and tendencies, we are fairly well prepared 
to show the conditions of life which have produced them. The ill effects of over- 
prowding, of insufficient and impure air and food, of intemperance and licentiousness, 
are almost as well known outside the profession as within it, and most fortunately 
so. 
The poor and laboring class in our cities always shows the highest death rate. The 
reasons of this are obvious. The greater exposure to the elements, poor and in- 
sufficient food and housing, the inability to obtain that care and comfort which money 
«an buy, the greater tendency to intemperance and vice that goes with ignorance and 
poverty, all work towards one goal. And this applies to the colored race in our 
pities. The great bulk of them are poor and hard worked, the bulk of them are ignor- 
ant, and this povei-ty and ignorance opens the doors to many hardships and evils. 
There is much that can be said for the poor negro, he works hard and is fairly con- 
tented with his lot, more contented than the corresponding class among the whites. 
He is desirous of improving himself and bettering his condition, and he will stand 
much from those over him which the white man so situated would not stand. These 
are virtues which are to be commended, but they do not avail much in this world’s 
struggle where brain and muscle are the motive powers. The negro is in many 
ways a child living on from day to day, from hand to mouth, with no thought of 
the morrow, and easily lead by his impulses and desires even if they ultimately land 
him in the ditch. There is a considerable portion which constitutes a useful, in- 
telligent, and law abiding part of the population. It is largely of the mixed element 
and of the lighter color. They show intelligence and industry in their work, and 
their homes give evidence of thrift and an appreciation of the amenities of life. This 
plass is growing daily as the mixed element increases and the color becomes lighter. 
It is a most encouraging sign and one which softens many dark shadows in ti e 
picture. But as I have said before this element has a poor physique and its better 21 
In no way can this physical degeneracy be better brought 
home to you than by a review and comparison of the mor- 
tuary statistics of our principal southern cities. Of course 
mode of living does not prevent a high rate of mortality. This in a measure proves 
to my mind that miscegenation in itself results in an unstable product. 
Let us examine somewhat in detail the pathological relief-chart, so to speak, as it 
comes before us daily. 
As a starting point our statistics show a prevalence of pulmonary consumption 
about double that of the whites. This is of the greatest significance and is the direct 
outcome of the scrofulous habit now generally recognized as the most prominent 
morbid condition of the race. The ways by which it has been brought about I have 
already hinted at. Struma, though largely the result of inheritance, is the pro- 
duct of a malnutrition brought about by bad air, bad and insufficient food, and a 
general disregard of those laws which make up the physiological life. It is shown by 
a tendency to glandular swellings, to catarrhal inflammations, and the breaking 
down of tissues into caseous products; in short the development of tubercles 
whose growth is now generally recognized as co-existent with the life and growth 
of the bacillus tuberculosis. All excesses and irregularities which sap the vitality 
favor this goal to which the vital forces are hurried. It can easily be seen then 
how a race, transported from its natural habitat and thrown into a struggle which 
must drive it to the w'all, and must reduce it to the poor and laboring class, with all 
the disadvantages and dangers of poverty and ignorance, naturally drifts towards 
this depraved constitution with all its evil consequences. 
To the physician it is shown in many w'ays. Every day he has brought to his notice 
enlarged and inflamed cervical glands from ordinary colds ; acute and chronic catarrhs 
of the mucous passages of the head and throat from the same cause ; the character- 
istic strumous ophthalmia and conjunctivitis; otorrhseas, nasal catarrhs, follicular 
laryngitis and tonsillitis come under this head ; enlarged inguinal glands from the 
slightest irritation, remaining long indurated or rapidly breaking down into abscesses. 
Inguinal swellings are produced from the slightest urethral and vaginal irritations, 
and urethral and vaginal catarrhs, simple and specific, are as readily induced. 
The catarrhal complications and sequela: of measles are very common as shown to 
me by three very severe epidemics of the disease which proved very fatal to the 
colored children. Coming to diseases of the chest this diathesis is strongly brought 
out. The various forms of bronchitis and phthisis proper can be studied but too 
easily. The wrhole gamut of pulmonary diseases is run over daily up to its highest 
mote in acute tuberculosis, pulmonary and general, wdiose high temperature and 
rapid wasting drive one to therapeutic nihilism and despair. It can be seen in the 
frequency of intestinal disorders of all kinds. We see it among infants and young 
children in the tendency to cerebral congestions and inflammations and convulsions, 
and the various forms of intestinal troubles. We see it, I think, in a poor resistive 
power and a lack of proper reaction to therapeutic measures. Troubles usually re' 
garded as slight, or which respond readily to drugs, are apt to resist treatment or to 
be the beginnings of graver disorders. 
The very great mortality among colored infants and young children has an impor- 
tant bearing, and has most to do with the high rate of mortality. Aside from the 
inherited strumous diathesis, the chief cause of this mortality is careless and im- 
proper feeding. The mother has a poor opinion of her milk as a rule, and the breast 
is soon discarded for dirty feeding-bottles and what she considers better and stronger 
food. You wfill frequently see a colored child, the canines hardly through the gums, 
-sitting up at the table taking its regular dinner with the older members of the 
family, a dinner consisting of rice, greens, bacon, and pot liquor. This child may 
stand this better than the white child, but for all that it pays dearly for its smart' 
ness. The various compounds and articles which find their way into this little stomach 
far exceed in complexity the combinations of an olla podrida or a bouillabaisse. As 
results of all this we are called to convulsions, cholera infantum, entero-colitis, and 
every variety of diarrhoea. And in the treatment of all these troubles it is almost 22 
it must be remembered that these figures do not hold good 
for the large element in the country. For both races the 
mortality falls outside the centres of population. But re- 
impossible to impress upon the mother the absolute necessity of a carefully regu 
lated diet. That good milk can keep a child from starving is a fact difficult for her 
to realize. The potent factor of a close and vitiated air,which holds with such force 
in the tenement districts of our northern cities, can be largely counted out. With 
us here the colored live principally in cabins and small houses which have plenty 
of air and ventilation. It is the extremes of heat and cold from which they suffer. 
In a severe winter their means of heating are so poor that they suffer intensely from 
the cold, while in the intense heat of summer they succumb to the direct rays of the 
sun. I must constantly warn mothers of this danger. While sun-stroke, a result 
of a hot vitiated air, is rare among us, acute high fevers are common from exposure 
to the sun, and these fevers are dangerous from the tendency to cerebral congestion 
and inflammation. 
The great susceptibility of the negro to tetanus is well known, and trismus nascentium 
is of frequent occurrence as compared to the whites. I have never seen a case re- 
cover. I had hoped at one time that Sim’s theory and postural treatment would 
offer something better, but I have been disappointed. Inherited syphilis is a factor 
of some importance, and results from treatment are very unpromising; almost all 
die. Many children are lost from Ignorant and officious midwives, a subject I shall 
refer to further on. 
The question of venereal disease is an interesting one. The scrofulous habit and bad 
living are the best friends of syphilis. In the negro they render both syphilis and 
gonorrhoea serious troubles. The impossibility often of a proper and prolonged 
course of treatment is a drawback, one, however, which applies to a large class 
among the whites. Gonorrhoea is frequently followed by stricture and cystic troubles. 
The most aggravated cases in my practice have been among the colored. The 
secondary and tertiary symptoms of syphilis are severe and prolonged ; miscarriages 
frequently result, and the inherited disease is very fatal. 
A healthy race presupposes a healthy and robust womanhood. As to diseases of 
the uterus and its annexa my experience is that they are very common. They can be 
traced to the naturally poor physique and to many irregularities and excesses. The 
results of miscarriage, accidental and induced, and the wretched hygiene of parturi- 
ition explain largely this degeneracy, a rich field for gynecological research. The 
great frequency of uterine fibroid may be mentioned as a race characteristic. 
Though rarely fatal in themselves I have found them as a serious complication in 
labor and as a cause of sterility. 
By far the largest portion of the colored employ midwives, only calling in a 
physician when there is dystocia. These midwives are a thoroughly ignorant and 
officious set who, by their meddlesomeness, often change a natural presentation into 
an abnormal one, and endanger the life of both mother and child by their ignorance 
and interference. It is not an uncommon thing to come upon a midwife vigorously 
rubbing the abdomen of the poor puerpera in view of helping the pains, and pro- 
ducing a more or loss complete version of the child. The poor woman is put into 
every possible position- The room is close and hot and full of the emanations of a 
number of women from the neighbourhood who have come in to witness an event 
which has always the interest of a novelty. When the child is born and the cord cut 
its placental end is tied to the mother’s thigh “to prevent the after-birth slip- 
ping up into the belly.” The babe is turned over to the granny who dresses the cord 
with burnt rags or some other abomination. A binder is put on the mother which 
simply compresses tightly the waist without any even and firm pressure over the 
abdomen. The granny may put a hatchet under the mattress “ to cut the after pains,’ 
or a tub of water under th* bed “to bring on sweating and prevent fever.” These 
measures are harmless in themselves of course, and I only mention them to show the 
ignorance of these women. Both babe and mother rarely escape the dose of oil. Thia 23 
member that the country feeds the cities, and that their 
losses are being constantly made good by steady streams 
■of immigration. 
babe usually begins life with a “sugar-tit ” or “butter-tit,” with any number of teas 
of various conplexity. Hardly later than five days, often much sooner, the mother 
is up and about her work. I do not mean to say that they do not stand this rough 
handling better than those brought up with more care, but I do say that I see many 
disastrous results from it. Distocia in all its forms is not uncommon, largely among 
the mixed-element, however. In my case-book I have examples of almost every 
form of mal-presentation and difficult labor. Puerperal eclampsia and albuminuria 
stand out prominently, and I find it much more fatal among the colored than 
among the whites. The evils following a difficult labor, and one carelessly and 
ignorantly handled, are constantly coming before the physician ; witness subinvolu- 
tion, lacerated cervix and perineum, and the various forms of pelvic trouble. These 
are significant facts and point to but one conclusion. 
The negro once could boast of his insusceptibility to malaria and live secure in 
regions fatal to the white man. But this exemption has been growing less and less 
complete, and to-day the colored mortality from malarial and miasmatic diseases is 
very much greater than it once was. The reasons for this are various. In the first 
place a large part of this mortality is from the mixed-element which is more sus- 
ceptible than the pure negro by virtue of the white admixture. This is self evident. 
In the second place a less resistive power naturally follows a less healthy physique. 
In the third place, in the so-called malarial and miasmatic diseases an enteric factor 
is apt at times to be an important element, an element to which the colored are very 
susceptible, and which is very fatal to them. This has been plainly shown by statis- 
tics collected during the war among the colored troops. 
The etiology of our prevalent fevers included under the terms malarial and mias- 
matic is largely a jumble of mere theories and opinions. There are certain ones 
which seem to be purely malarial, as we understand the term ; others seem to be 
larval forms, masked by other elements vaguely called climatic; and others where 
a distinct enteric or typhoid character is shown. We call them typho-malarial, 
a convenient term, but one which prompts to laziness in our efforts to more closely 
differentiate. All these fevers from the simple continued fever up to the severer forms 
of the malarial remittent, of the bilious and hemorrhagie types, are constantly met 
with among the colored. My experience has been that the simple continued fevers, 
without any complications, run a protracted course and? are hard to break, while 
he severer malarial remittents and the typho-malarial are very fatal. Granted e»hat 
the pure negro bears, comparatively speaking, a charmed life in rice fields and utr 
•cultivated districts very fatal to the whiteman, his much greater exposure swells 
his death list, and this is the important point. Typhoid fever proper is a rare disease 
with us, comparatively speaking, and when it occurs generally assumes a larval 
form, masked and modified in one way or another by our climatic influences. To 
these fevers the negro rapidly succumbs. 
From our records, the twenty-two years from 1854 to 1876 increased the colored 
susceptibility to yellow fever, due to the increasing mixed element and the poorer 
physique. Thus the disparity between the susceptibilities of the two races, as re- 
gards our southern fevers, is becoming less and less marked; the larger mixed ele- 
ment, the greater exposure, and the lowered vitality, will destroy even this sole ad- 
vantage over the whites of which the negro once could boast. 
The emptive fevers go hard with the colored. I have seen three epidemics of 
measles which were very severe and which carried off many children. Even when the 
disease proper was overcome the severe sequela? caused death. My experience with 
■scarlet feveris too limited to be of any value as the disease is an uncommon one here. 
In the years 1865, 1866, 1867. 1875, 1876, and 1877, small-pox prevailed in Savannah, and 
the death rate among the colored was very high ; the disease was invariably severe 
and left the patient deeply pitted. 
In the years 1866, 1867, and 1868, Asiatic cholera was brought to Savannah from 24 
The data which have been collected from our own city- 
are especially instructive and interesting. Through the 
courtesy of our Health Officer, Dr. J. T. McFarland, I have 
before me a most interesting table, giving the consolidated 
mortuary record of Savannah from 1854 to 188G inclusive. 
From 1854 to 1870, and from 1870 to 1879, there were no re- 
liable census returns. To get the annual ratio of deaths per 
1000 of population for the whites and colored for these inter- 
vening years he has estimated the increase of population 
pro rata yearly. From 1854 to 1870 the yearly increase has 
been estimated for the whites as 154, and for the blacks 259, 
and from 1870 to 1878 inclusive the yearly gain for the whites 
has been 284, and for the colored 216. This computation, 
New York by United States troops. In these three years there were 356 deaths, 246 
among the colored and 110 among the whites. The death rate per 1000 for these 
three years was 20 for the colored and 7.5 for the whites, the disease being nearly 
three times more fatal to the former. 
A word or two as to alcoholism whose pernicious effects are recognized the world 
over with all nations and all races. A careful census of Savannah taken in 1886 gave 
the population as 45,492. There are 229 licenses issued to retail liquor-dealers. This 
gives a dram-shop to about every 200 inhabitants, including men, women, and chil- 
dren. Those who keep these shops show every indication of prosperity; many 
own their own houses and enjoy the luxury of a horse and carriage. Some of these 
shops are for whites alone, most of them are largely, if not entirely, supported by 
the colored. Most of the liquor sold is villainous stuff and too cheap to contain any- 
thing better than methyl alcohol. 
I have never seen a case of deZirivm Zrwiens in the negro. I think this is easily 
explained. We usually find de/iritim tremens in those of tough fibre who can stand 
that heavy and prolonged drinking necessary to develop the disease. The negro 
cannot stand this heavy and prolonged drinking. He is soon done for and becomes 
so overcome by the drug that he must let up for a while ; or he becomes disorderly 
and commits some violence which sends him to the barracks and the chain-gang 
where his stomach has rest and where he is enabled to pick up again. The evil effects 
of alcohol then are seen in acts of violence in the inflammatory troubles which follow 
exposure while under the influence of the drug, and those congestions and inflamma- 
tions of the thoracic and abdominal viscera which can be traced directly to alcohol 
in all its forms. 
And a word as to a habit of drugging common among the colored which has its 
evil influences. They are constantly taking medicines, especially purgatives and 
opiates. Without having any figures to bear me out, I believe that more patent 
medicines are sold among them than among any other class. They are firm believers 
in pills and draughts and nostrums of all kinds whose proprietors reap a rich har- 
vest, and let any travelling mountebank come among them and he can sell out rapidly 
his entire stock of pills, liverpads, or what not. 1 have seen many evil effects of 
this drugging. 
This question of physical degeneracy is a very comprehensive one and I have 
only outlined it. Upon it rests the solution of the entire problem before us. By it 
alone can we prophesy the future of the race and it is only the physician really who is 
in a position to see fully the many points in the case and their various issues. In 
his every day work he gains an insight into conditions and tendencies, not to be ob- 
tained in any other way. He may thus reach in a comparatively short time justifia- 
ble conclusions which demand a much longer time when based upon figures alone. 25 
as the doctor says, “ although not numerically correct, is 
nearly enough so to give valuable statistical information.” 
Consolidated, Mortuary Record of Savannah, Ga., from 1854 to 1886 ZwcZws+aa. 
From 1854 to 1870, and from 1870 to 1879, no reliable census is attainable; consequently 
I have estimated the increase of population pro rata ye&tXy during said interims, and have 
computed the annual ratio of deaths per 1,000 of population upon this status. Although 
not numerically correct, the estimates are nearly enough so to give valuable statistical 
information. 
This table proves conclusively that prior to the freedom of the African race in the United 
States their death ratio was smaller than that of the white race. 
*' * * * 
00 GO GO 00 ® CD QD (D CD GO CD 00 00 GO X CO 
03 CT> Ci O CT- Ci CT. 03 03 o> Ot ex CX o« ©t ex 
<45 CO -2 CT ©t 4— CO L< h-L © ZC 00 CT O' 4- 
v _____ ' 
Year. 
Population.—Whites 
yearly upon an estimated gain of-“ 
one hundred and fifty-four (154). g 
Whites. 
Population. 
Population.—Blacks increased 
yearly upon an estimated gain ofjo 
two hundred and sixty-nine (269). £ 
Blacks. 
©u k> 
M 
COQOCT. 0<0—»COUXW4-.ObOCT03CO ►— 
Whites. 
Number of Deaths. 
ex ©t ct oo £*■ w w to »o to to w 
ftO 00 CC •-1 )-'JZ ~~l a-. QD CT) 03 ec ?O CT 
O'— IO O C) O K,' CD <C W (O <? (G X 
Blacks. 
-2 
O. w to 
Whites. 
Ratio per 1,000 of 
Population. 
co 
CC X O C W t: "X GO “2 O’ o co 
Blacks. 
Year. 
Population—Whites 
yearly upon - 
estimated gain ofjc 
to St"’0 hundred 
eighty-four (£84). 
Whites. 
Popul 
Population —Blacks 
5 5 5 » 5 ~ Si yearly upon g 
Kooan estimated gain of-jo 
P £ 8 jo 5 ® £ Sjtwo hundred and six- 
teen (216). 
Blacks. 
ation. 
gaizggSS s 
Whites 
Number 
20 
0 
i 
S' 
•sq;«c 
1 
jagaEEESs s 
H-1 
Whites. 
Ratio pei 
Popul 
w 
g 
p 
§*■5 
00 C LO 00 H4 
oo to in cn ex m. ex 
? 
o 
* Yellow Fever 1854—Deaths, whites 625, blacks 10. *1858—Deaths, whites 112, blacks 
2. *1861—Deaths, whites 4. *1864—Deaths, whites 14. *1865—Deaths, whites 1. *1868— 
Deaths, whites 1. *1869—Deaths, whites, 1. *1876—Deaths, whites 771, blacks 125. *1877— 
Deaths, whites 4. +Small pox introduced by United States troops 1865, 1866, 1867. +1875, 
1876, 1877, +1882—One case. +1884—Two cases. +1885—One; case. No accurate account 
can be given as to deaths; it was very heavy in 1865 and 1866, brought from New 26 
York by United States troops. 1866—Deaths, whites 85, blacks 211. J1867—Deaths, whites 
12, blacks 17. J186S—Deaths whites 13, blacks 18. 
I am indebted to compilation of our honored townsman, Dr. W. Duncan, for tabular 
statement of deaths from 1855 to 1869 inclusive. 
J. T. McFarland, M. D., Health Officer. 
In this table we find that from 1854 to 1863 more whites 
died proportionately than colored. Then from 1864 to 1876 
the white mortality was still in excess of the colored. The 
year 1866, however, was the turning point, for with the ex- 
ception of 1876, the year of the yellow fever, the colored 
have greatly exceeded the whites in their mortality. An- 
other interesting feature shown us is the increased suscepti- 
bility of the colored to yellow fever since emancipation. For 
in 1854 there were 625 deaths among the whites and only 
10 deaths among the colored, while in 1876 there were 
771 death among the whites and 125 deaths among the col- 
ored. In other words, in 1854 about 5 per cent of whites 
died of yellow fever and only of one per cent of colored, 
while in 1876 about 4| per cent of whites died, and very 
nearly one per cent of colored. Of course these figures are 
only approximately correct, as no account has been taken of 
the exodus from the city at these times of peril. 
From 1880 the returns show that twice as many colored as 
whites die in proportion to the population. Some years 
show an even greater mortality. In 1880, in the ratio per 
1000 of population, the figures stand 25.3 for the whites and 
58.8 for the colored; in 1882, 18.2 for the whites, and 43.9 
for the colored ; in 1884, 17.9 for the whites, and 36.7 for 
the colored ; in 1885, 13.7 for the whites, and 35.4 for the 
colored ; in 1886, 17.1 for the whites and 49.8 for the colored. 
This table shows conclusively, for Savannah at least, that 
prior to emancipation the death rate of the colored was 
less than that of the whites, but that since their freedom 
their mortality has greatly exceeded the whites’. It would 
be indeed valuable for our argument could we get similarly 
prepared tables from other parts of the country. 
Looking to the causes of deaths in our city, we find that 
though the African shows less susceptibility to malarial and 
miasmatic influences, his greater exposure raises his death 
rate from these diseases, while in pulmonary and tubercular 
affections his mortality rate is double that of the white 
man. 27 
The returns from Charleston, which I have obtained 
access to, tally with those just given for our own city. In a 
table before me, giving the comparative mortality of the 
two races for the last decade, the figures show that the 
colored mortality is just about double that of the white. 
In the returns of deaths from consumption for the last five 
years, the colored death rate is nearly trippie that of the 
white.* 
The last Report of the Board of Health of the City of 
Richmond, Va., gives a number of valuable tables, show- 
ing the diseases most prevalent, and the relative death rates 
of the two races since 1880, which is in favor of the whites, 
* Through the courtesy of Dr. H. B. Horlbeck, City Registrar and Secretary, I have ob- 
tained the Annual Reports of the Department of Health of the City of Charleston for the 
years 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, and 1886. From this last report I find this table o/' comparativ 
mortality for the years 1877 to 1886 inclusive : 
Comparative Mortality 
OBiOiiii 
Years. 
s SIS s sag ass 
ssSSsSgJSS 
Population. 
Whites. 
Number of 
Deaths. 
g-p-g-B-g-g-B-S-p-p 
Proportion of 
Deaths. 
mwm 
Population. 
Blacks and Colored. 
i'giswiii 
Number of 
Deaths. 
B'B-B-g-ffffgg-g-g- 
8S«£S2££SSS 
Proportion of 
Deaths. 
Looking to consumption as a cause of death, I have prepared the follow 
ing table from the mortuary returns of the five Annual Reports in my pos 
session : 
CO 00 GO 00 00 
00 CO 00 00 GO 
OS rf* CM) to H-L 
: : : : : 
Years. 
to to K to 
o o ©o<? 
o o o o 
CT o o o w 
Population. 
Whites. 
ex ex o —* OS 
CO 00 co to o 
Number of 
Deaths from 
Consumption. 
1 in 378 
1 in 347 
1 in 396 
1 in 431 
1 in 467 
Proportion of 
Deaths. 
CO bO JO to iO 
ct toVo’Vo to 
/ x / x 
0 0 0)00 
Population. 
Blacks and Colored. 
to K. to tO 
o — o o «© 
to to co o to 
Number of 
Deaths from 
Consumption. 
BB BP 5’ 
O to CO CO U 
QQ — r- IO 
Proportion of 
Deaths. 28 
though the disparity is not so great as with us and 
Charleston; it maybe roughly estimated as 2 to 3.* 
In the Biennial Report of the Board of Health of the State 
of Louisiana for the years 1884 and 1885 I find a table giv- 
ing the comparative monthly mortality of the two races in 
New Orleans from 1880 to 1885 inclusive. This is decidedly 
against the colored ; the average ratios of mortality per 
1000 for these five years are 25.02 for the whites and 40.85 
for the colored. In the mortality from consumption for the 
years 1884 and 1885 I find that the colored death rate is 
more than double that of the white. New Orleans, which 
has a poor reputation for health, might seem on first thought 
better adapted to the colored race, but the mortuary reports 
show that the white man stands it much better than the 
negro, f 
* Table showing the number of deaths of the two races from 1880 to 1886 inclusive •_ 
2 
Deaths Among the Whites. 
i 
1,009 
Deaths Among the Colored. 
s 
Deaths Among the Whites. 
'e 
Deaths Among the Colored. 
£ 
s 
Deaths Among the Whites. 
2 
Deaths Among the Colored. 
s 
Deaths Among the Whites. 
■ 1 
g 
Deaths Among the Colored. 
g 
00 
Deaths Among the Whites. 
1 L 
§ 
oo 
Deaths Among the Colored. 
OD 
© 
Deaths Among the Whites. 
co 
co 
Deaths Among the Colored. 
op 
CO 
Deaths Among the Whites. 
00 
co 
CH 
00 
Deaths Among the Colored. 
o 
This is an abbreviated table from one on p. 48 of the Annual Report of the Board of 
Health of the City of Richmond, Va., for the year 1886. In it is given the number of 
deaths for each month. The population of Richmond is put down at 100,000, 56.000 
whites, and 44,000 colored. These figures show that in proportion to the population 
two whites die to three colored. 
As to the relative frequency of consumption in the two races I have only the figures 
for the year 1886: 95 deaths among the whites, and 141 deaths among the colored. 
Here again the colored death rate from this disease is more than double that of the 
white. I am indebted to Dr. T. E. Stratton, President of the Board of Health, for 
these figures. 
t A very comprehensive table gives the number of deaths, white and colored, which 
have occurred in New Orleans during the past six years. The total number of 
deaths among the whites during this time was 24,589, and for the colored 14,708, the 
average white population being 163,788, and the average colored population 59,997. 
This gives 25.02 as the white ratio of mortality and 40.85 as the colored ratio of mor- 
tality. 
Under phthisis pulmonalis they give for these two years 1,083 deaths among the 
whites and 821 deaths among the colored, the ratio per 1,000 being about 6.4 for the 29 
It is from the State of Tennessee that I have obtained 
the fullest information as to this comparative mortality, 
and all the reports show this high negro mortality. In the 
city of Memphis in the last five years we find the colored 
mortality fully double that of the white, while from con- 
sumption more than twice as many colored as whites die. 
The returns from Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville 
coincide closely with the above figures.* 
whites, and 13.2 for the colored. These figures tally with Savannah’s record. I am 
indebted to Dr. W. H. Watkins,Chief Sanitary Inspector, for this Biennial Report. 
* Through the courtesy of Dr. G. B. Thornton, President of the Board of Health of 
Memphis, and Dr. J. Berrien Lindsey, Secretary and Executive officer of the State 
Board of Health of Tennessee, I have obtained full information as to the sanitary 
conditions and the comparative mortality of the two races in Tennessee. From 
the material furnished me I have prepared the following table, giving a compara- 
tive statement of the death rates of the two races in the city of Memphis for the last 
seven years: 
Year. 
Total Deaths. 
Death rate per 1,000 
population. 
White. 
Color’d 
White. 
Colored. 
1886 
676 
749 
16 81 
33.89 
1885 
818 
36 96 
1884 
756 
921 
18 80 
41.66 
1883 
610 
793 
15 19 
35.83 
1882 
420 
<01 
14.85 
39.45 
1881 
665 
806 
30 22 
44.26 
1880 
491 
563 
14.44 
16.55 
The following table shows the large excess of deaths from consumption among the 
colored in the same city : 
Year. 
Population. 
Number of Deaths from 
Consumption. 
White. 
Colored. 
White. 
Colored. 
1886.. 
40,207 
22,128 
92 
144 
1885.. 
40,207 
22,128 
102 
123 
1884.. 
40.207 
22,128 
96 
127 
1883.. 
40,207 
22,128 
72 
134 
1882.. 
28,273 
17,741 
52 
107 
From Chattanooga I have only complete returns for two years. These again 
are decidedly in favor of the whites. 
1883— Death rate per 1,000 among the whites 20.7 
“ “ “ “ colored 37.0 
1884— “ “ “ “ whites 18.7 
“ “ “ “ colored 27.7 
The following table gives a comparative statement of the death rate of Nashville 
for the years 1875 to 1884 inclusive: 30 
Returns from Columbus and Atlanta, in this State, tell 
the same story. Returns from Mobile, Ala., from January, 
1882, to December, 1886, are the only ones which do not give 
this high colored mortality. Here, although the figures are 
in favor of the whites, the disparity is by no means so 
great.* 
1875. 
1876. 
1877. 
1878. 
1879. 
1880. 
1881. 
1882. 
1883. 
1884. 
White... 
25.78 
26.31 
21.82 
17.43 
20.26 
19.98 
20.63 
17.82 
18.68 
16.77 
Colored. 
49.69 
45.35 
38.72 
33.50 
35.92 
36-47 
32.87 
35.50 
31.29 
26.94 
Total,. 
34.55 
33.25 
27.80 
23.11 
25.80 
25.53 
25.27 
24.11 
23.50 
21.94 
* Through the kindness of Dr. Carlisle Terry, of Columbus. Ga., I have obtained the 
returns of that city for the last three years, which show a colored mortality double 
that of the white. 
Dr. Jas. B. Baird, Secretary of the Board of Health of the city of Atlanta, has kindly 
furnished me with the mortuary tables of that city for the last seven years. These are 
the figures: 
Year. 
Total Annual Death Rate. 
White. 
Colored. 
1880 
17 08 
13.00 
28.08 
1881 
24 66 
19 22 
31.70 
1882 
21 00 
13.84 
31.70 
1883 .. 
21 74 
14.86 
32.20 
1884 
21 33 
13.34 
33.52 
1885 
20.23 
13.06 
31.26 
1886 
14.86 
10.10 
23.71 
These figures give an average annual death rate of 13.91 for the whites, and 29.54 
for the colored. Turning to the principal causes of death, consumption, pneumonia 
and other acute lung diseases, we find the following figures for the year 1886 : 
Consumption—Number of deaths among the whites 49 
“ “ colored 70 
Pneumonia— “ “ “ whites 24 
“ “ “ colored 57 
Other acute lung diseases.—Whites 9 
Colored 16 
Estimating the population at 60,000, whites 39,000, colored 21,000, we find the colored 
more than three times as susceptible as the whites to these diseases. 
Through the courtesy of Dr. T. S. Scales, Health Officer of Mobile, Ala., I have 
been furnished with the monthly statements of mortality from January, 1882, to De- 
cember, 1886, inclusive. From these statements I have compiled the following table, 
giving the comparative mortality of the two races for these years. This table shows 
that in Mobile the disparity between the whites and colored as to mortality is not 
so great as elsewhere : 
Year, 
Annual Death Rate per 1,000. 
Whites. 
Colored. 
1882 
22.4 
29 0 
1883 
23.5 
28.2 
1884 
29.6 
24.1 
1885 
28.9 
33.0 
1886 
27.4 
37.3 31 
These statistics are dry things to read, and drier things 
to listen to, so that I shall reserve whatever details I have 
collected for those who may desire to look more closely into 
this subject. I think I have brought forward sufficient evi- 
dence, however, to prove to you that our mortuary 
records give abundant proof of this physical degeneracy of 
the colored race. They show a terrible waste of ante-natal 
life, a high infant mortality, and a high death rate even in 
malarial and miasmatic diseases from which the negro was 
once largely exempt. 
I know of no more significant fact, as pointing to the future 
of the race, and this future is what, as I have attempted to 
show, ethnology and biology would lead us to expect. 
Within the white race we can watch the cyclic movements 
showing the rise of the sturdy element of the lower classes 
to the higher, and again the fall of the higher to the 
lower. Like the plant the vitality of the race is expended in 
the flower, and it must start from the ground again before 
rising to higher things. But in the conflict between the 
w’hite race and an inferior and alien race the movement be- 
comes a different one. Here it is a process of assimilation 
where that which is non-assim liable and perishable dies 
while that which has stability and is assimilable is absorbed 
and moulded to its new conditions, in short lost in the main 
growth. While during slavery this process was greatly 
retarded, emancipation has opened the flood-gates and the 
struggle really begins. The loss of life will be great indeed. 
“ Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they 
grind exceeding' small.” 
America, though in a measure the Botany Bay of the 
world, is the arena for a new leap in civilization. It is the 
land of the Caucasian. However large our colored element 
may be, as a distinct race it can only reach a certain 
point. By the processes I have sketched out it must be- 
come Caucasianized, Americanized, or drop out of the 
struggle. That the colored race will so increase in the 
future as to threaten this country, or even our portion, of it, 
I can see no evidence. There are weightier social and po- 
litical problems before us to-day than the poor negro, 
These figures have been deduced from the census of 1880, which gives a population 
of 31,295, whites 10,927, colored 14,368, so that they are only approximately correct. 32 
depend upon it. We need hardly worry ourselves about 
colonization, or any remedial measures outside of those 
incumbent upon every State to make its people useful and 
intelligent citizens. The negro to-day has his place in this 
country and he has his usefulness. Here to us his sudden 
disappearance would prove a great loss, to say the least, and 
we may well consider methods of improving him rather than 
trouble ourselves about getting rid of him. Despite certain 
writers to the contrary the South has a bright future before 
it. The last decade has accomplished much towards devel- 
oping its vast resources and offering attractions for a good 
element of immigration. I doubt if there is a thoughtful 
person among us who does not firmly believe in this bright 
future. 
The great forces at work and their ultimate issue which 
I have attempted to indicate may be roughly portrayed and 
epitomized by a simile. Imagine a crystal lake fed by 
many clear streams from all the points of the compass, bear- 
ing waters as varied as the regions through which they flow. 
Suddenly from the southward gushes a muddy stream 
which empties into the lake soon to exhaust itself. At 
first, for some distance out on its surface we can see a dis- 
tinct line of demarcation between the clear and the muddy. 
Gradually by a process of diffusion and precipitation this di- 
vision line becomes less and less distinct, the muddy shad- 
ing off into the clear, until finally the lake is left in its 
original clearness ; and our eyes wandering over its surface 
fail to detect any cloudiness in its clear and translucent 
depths.