be removed. Personal and household cleanliness at
last became an object of public interest, and inspectors were appointed
who visited families and reported the condition of their homes. All
kinds of out-door sports and athletic exercises were encouraged and
became fashionable.
"All of these things combined, made a great improvement in the health
and vigor of our race, but still hereditary diseases lingered.
"There were many so enfeebled by hereditary disease they had not enough
energy to seek recuperation, and died, leaving offspring as wretched,
who in turn followed their parents' example.
"Statistics were compiled, and physician's reports circulated, until a
law was passed prohibiting the perpetuity of diseased offspring. But,
although disease became less prevalent, it did not entirely disappear.
The law could only reach the most deplorable afflictions, and was
eventually repealed.
"As the science of therapeutics advanced, all diseases--whether
hereditary or acquired--were found to be associated with abnormal
conditions of the blood. A microscopic examination of a drop of blood
enabled the scientist to determine the character and intensity of any
disease, and at last to effect its elimination from the system.
"The blood is the primal element of the body. It feeds the flesh, the
nerves, the muscles, the brain. Disease cannot exist when it is in a
natural condition. Countless experiments have determined the exact
properties of healthy blood and how to produce it. By the use of this
knowledge we have eliminated hereditary diseases, and developed into a
healthy and moral people. For people universally healthy is sure of
being moral. Necessity begets crime. It is the _wants_ of the ignorant
and debased that suggests theft. It is a diseased fancy, or a mind
ignorant of the laws that govern the development of human nature, that
could attribute to offspring hated before birth: infancy and childhood
neglected; starved, ill-used in every way, a disposition and character,
amiable and humane and likely to become worthy members of society. The
reverse is almost inevitable. Human nature relapses into the lower and
baser instincts of its earlier existence, when neglected, ill-used and
_ignorant_. All of those lovely traits of character which excite the
enthusiast, such as gratitude, honor, charity are the results of
education only. They are not the natural instincts of the human mind,
but the cultivated ones.
"The most
|