172 



The Journal of Heredity 



bcfjinning of the European war, in the 

 immigrant-carrying trade, and on ac- 

 count of the fact that certain steamship 

 lines had vessels arriving at from two 

 to five different ports, it was found that 

 there were about 173 Hues of immigrant 

 travel into this country. 



It must not be supposed that these 

 milHon or more immigrants are allowed 

 to enter the country just as any of us 

 might go from here to New York. On 

 the contrary they are subjected to a 

 series of examinations tending to the 

 elimination, in the first place, of paupers 

 and criminals, and secondly, to the 

 elimination of persons with physical 

 and mental defects. At every port or 

 place in the United States where im- 

 migrants arrive, the United States 

 Immigration Service, under the Depart- 

 ment of Labor, has officers stationed for 

 the examination of immigrants, to 

 insure compliance with the immigration 

 law, exclusive of matters relating to the 

 physical and mental condition of aliens, 

 which is in charge of the U. S. Public 

 Health Service, under the Treasury 

 Department. This latter Service has 

 medical officers at all the ports of entry, 

 who subject the immigrants to a careful 

 medical examination. 



DEFECTS EXCLUDED. 



The number of immigrants examined 

 by these medical officers varies from one 

 a vcar at the port of Aguadilla, P. R., to 

 1 ,009,000 at the port of New York. The 

 following classes of aliens arc excluded 

 from admission into the United States: 

 Idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, 

 epileptics, insane persons, persons who 

 have been insane within five years 

 previous; persons who have had two 

 or more attacks of insanity at any time 

 previously; paupers, persons likrly to 

 become a public charge; professional 

 beggars, persons afflicted with tuber- 

 culosis or with a loathsome or dangerous 

 contagious disease; persons not com- 

 prehended within any of the foregoing 

 excluded classes who arc found to be 

 and are certified by the examining 

 surgeon as being mentally or physically 

 defective, such mental or i)hysical 

 defect being of a nature which may 



affect the ability of such alien to earn a 

 living. 



In order that the provisions of this 

 law may be put into convenient form 

 for the use and guidance of the medical 

 examiners of aliens, the Public Health 

 Service has issued a book entitled 

 "Book of Instructions for the Medical 

 Inspection of Aliens." In this book the 

 diseases are placed under four headings 

 as follows: Class A-1, Class A-2, Class 

 B and Class C. Under Class A-1 are 

 included idiocy, imbecility, feeble- 

 mindedness, epilepsy, insanity and 

 tuberculosis. Under Class A-2, which 

 is devoted to loathsome, contagious or 

 dangerously contagious diseases, are 

 included favus, ringworm of scalp, 

 sycosis barbae, actinomycosis, blastomy- 

 cosis, frambesia, mycetoma, leprosy and 

 venereal diseases, such as demonstrable 

 syphilis in an active, communicable 

 stage, gonorrhea and soft chancre. 

 Dangerous contagious diseases include 

 trachoma, filariasis, uncinariasis (hook- 

 worm), amebic infection and endemic 

 hematuria. Under class B are included 

 those defects or diseases which affect 

 the ability on the ]3art of the immigrant 

 to earn a living. From the very nature 

 of the diseases included under this 

 subdivision it is apparent that it is 

 impossible to name all of them, but a 

 few are as follows: hernia, the various 

 varieties of heart disease, states of 

 permanently defective nutrition and of 

 marked defective skeletal and muscular 

 de\'Clopment, cases of chronic arthritis 

 and myositis, the various nervous affec- 

 tions, malignant new growths, deformi- 

 ties, varicose veins, senility, defecti\'e 

 eyesight, various cutaneous affections, 

 anemia, erui:)tive fevers, and such tuber- 

 culous affections as lupus, Potts disease, 

 hi]) joint disease, chronic inflammation 

 of the lymph glands, chronic arthritis of 

 knee joint; in fact, all those diseases of a 

 more or less ]iermanent character which 

 call for institutional care and treatment 

 are included under Class B. Under this 

 heading are given cases of diseased, 

 deformed or crippled children who will 

 require unusual care during childhood, 

 and who arc likely to be physically 

 defective if they live to reach maturity. 

 Under Class C come defective or 



