e in full force to operate
upon the inherited tendency of the children. A second consequence of
this insufficient bodily nourishment, during the years of growth and
development, is rachitis, which is extremely common among the children of
the working-class. The hardening of the bones is delayed, the
development of the skeleton in general is restricted, and deformities of
the legs and spinal column are frequent, in addition to the usual
rachitic affections. How greatly all these evils are increased by the
changes to which the workers are subject in consequence of fluctuations
in trade, want of work, and the scanty wages in time of crisis, it is not
necessary to dwell upon. Temporary want of sufficient food, to which
almost every working-man is exposed at least once in the course of his
life, only contributes to intensify the effects of his usual sufficient
but bad diet. Children who are half-starved, just when they most need
ample and nutritious food--and how many such there are during every
crisis and even when trade is at its best--must inevitably become weak,
scrofulous and rachitic in a high degree. And that they do become so,
their appearance amply shows. The neglect to which the great mass of
working-men's children are condemned leaves ineradicable traces and
brings the enfeeblement of the whole race of workers with it. Add to
this, the unsuitable clothing of this class, the impossibility of
precautions against colds, the necessity of toiling so long as health
permits, want made more dire when sickness appears, and the only too
common lack of all medical assistance; and we have a rough idea of the
sanitary condition of the English working-class. The injurious effects
peculiar to single employments as now conducted, I shall not deal with
here.

Besides these, there are other influences which enfeeble the health of a
great number of workers, intemperance most of all. All possible
temptations, all allurements combine to bring the workers to drunkenness.
Liquor is almost their only source of pleasure, and all things conspire
to make it accessible to them. The working-man comes from his work
tired, exhausted, finds his home comfortless, damp, dirty, repulsive; he
has urgent need of recreation, he _must_ have something to make work
worth his trouble, to make the prospect of the next day endurable. His
unnerved, uncomfortable, hypochondriac state of mind and body arising
from his unhealthy condition, and espec