fering from each other in size, complexion, and general
proportions, complete harmony was rarely obtained, and, judging from our
old painting and sculpture, I should say that no ideal was then produced
equal to that which in Montalluyah now exists in the living form.
Beauty, formerly the exception, now constitutes the rule, the ill
favoured and deformed being more rare than were the handsome in
preceding reigns.

To beauty is now added longevity; for, as I have before stated, the
duration of human life is extended to a period which formerly would have
been thought fabulous. This assertion will probably be received by you
with an incredulity, which will not be diminished when I add that,
notwithstanding the great increase in man's years, all his faculties are
preserved in a state scarcely less perfect than that of pristine
manhood. The eye is not dimmed, there is no deafness, the limbs are
strong and agile, the teeth remain free from decay, pleasing to the
sight, and valuable for the chief purposes for which they were given. In
a word, whatever can contribute to beauty and health in man and woman
remains all but intact to the last. Decadence in any particular, if so
it may be called, is scarcely less marked than is the almost
imperceptible decline by which man descends, or rather ascends,
peacefully to another state of existence.

The facts I state would appear less extraordinary, nay, they would be
regarded as the natural and inevitable result of an actual state of
things, if you knew all that is done and prevented in Montalluyah to
protect the health, strength, beauty, and intelligence of the child from
its birth, indeed prior to its birth; for with us the care of the mother
precedes that of the child. Nor is our care confined to infancy; it is
extended to later years, and does not cease until the limbs, both of
male and female youth, are developed, and their joints well knitted;
until their features and person have received the impress of beauty, and
their intelligence is matured to the healthful extent required by
nature.

You should also be conversant with the means that are taken to secure
the health of the city, the purity of the water and air, and the
wholesomeness of food, the extreme cleanliness, and the general
precautions taken for the prevention of disease, and of that prostration
and waste of vital force by which disease is preceded, accompanied, and
followed. You should realise, in thought at least, the