system of some children. Emaciated little creatures, with skin harsh and rough, rapid pulse, nerves ever on the strain—have yet a look of lively intelligence. But, he adds, this is only the intelligence of a hunting animal. It is not intellect in any real sense. The steady tendency of starvation is towards the destruction of brain power; disease lowers it. And so true is this that a very large proportion of all the children of the country, though of good race, have become stupid merely through illness, underfeeding, and an unhealthy mode of living.
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It is hard to draw a line between the "diseased" and those who, without being actually ill, are living in a state of lowered vitality. If we consider the latter to be ill, then indeed whole classes of the community must be considered ill or diseased. The strange fact is, however, that in many cases they are not diseased. They lose strength, intellect, power of every kind, and yet escape disease and deformity in a wonderful way, just as if Nature kept the door of salvation for them open to the last.
The great cause of disease and defect is poverty—poverty, with its sad train—overcrowding, foul air, bad housing, insufficient or unsuitable food, worry,
