=Medical Inspection Before Marriage.--=Ante-nuptial medical inspection is certainly as necessary to the welfare of society as the certification of age and of the single state now required by law. No one objects to a medical examination pertaining to venereal and other diseases when it comes to taking out a life insurance policy, and why there should be any more objection to it as a preliminary to marriage is a mystery. A few states already have compulsory ante-nuptial medical inspection. The laws have been enacted too recently to judge adequately of their working. There has been much debate in Wisconsin as to whether their law (Chapter 738, Laws of 1913), which went into effect January 1, 1914, is constitutional and whether it requires a Wasserman test. The Wisconsin law applies to males only. The Supreme Court of the state has declared it constitutional and that its requirement of "the application of the recognized clinical and laboratory tests of scientific search" involves only such examination as the ordinary licensed physician is equipped to make and can reasonably be expected to make for three dollars, the maximum fee specified in the law. A number of the physicians of the state are still dissatisfied with the wording, although most do not oppose the principle of the law. Many believe that it should apply to the women as well as to the men, and others feel that the law should be extended to cover still other kinds of marital unfitness. Most of the practitioners with whom I have discussed the matter appreciate the motive underlying the law and are endeavoring to make it successful. The general public of the state as a whole seems to be in favor of the provision. At least one hears much favorable comment and little dissension among those who understand its purpose. The very controversy over it which sprang up after its passage proved to be of great benefit in the education of the public regarding the necessity of such measures. Such physicians as I have been able to question report that the candidates for marriage rarely object to the requirement, but on the contrary strongly favor it. Especially where they have suffered from venereal disease earlier in life most are eager to know their condition and to have medical advice. To my own mind this last fact is the most significant of all, as it will give every candidate for marriage a chance to know the truth. Most men are not so much brutal or vicious as ignorant in such matters. The vast majority of those unfit for marriage as a consequence of venereal disease will, when they realize the danger their condition imposes on wife and children, take every possible means to put themselves into proper condition.