classes living in the country which formerly were forced to reside permanently in towns; and thus it happens that athletic pursuits engage the attention of a much larger number of well-to-do persons amongst the mercantile and commercial classes than used formerly to be the case. Never were there so many packs of hounds and so well attended as there are at present. So much so is this the case, that the railway companies find it worth their while to run, for the convenience of members of the mercantile and professional classes residing in our largest towns, special trains during the hunting season, to and from the principal meets of foxhounds. It is hardly possible to take a stroll of a Saturday afternoon in the well-to-do outskirts of a populous town without seeing a game, and it may be several games, of football in winter, and of cricket in summer, being engaged in by a large number of young men who, during the rest of the week, have been occupied in business pursuits. Our rivers are crowded with craft manned by the young men of our commercial classes. During the autumn the mountainous parts of our own island and that country which is called 'the playground of Europe' teem with visitors whose means would formerly not have permitted them to enjoy this healthy exercise and relaxation of mind. These greater facilities for getting into the country have certainly improved the physique of our betterclass townsmen. The effeminate shop-clerk, against whom Punch at the time of the Crimean war, used never to be weary of levelling the shafts of his ridicule, has developed into the stalwart volunteer, the oarsman, or the bicyclist. It is, indeed, unnecessary to multiply instances to prove the presence amongst us of large numbers endowed with physical powers, and inspired by a lion-hearted courage, worthy of the best days of our ancestors. Perhaps it would be impossible for any country to produce as fine a body of young athletes belonging to the well-to-do classes as are to be found at our Public Schools and Universities. Nay, more; taking into consideration the increase of comfort and of population, the England of to-day could probably, under a system of universal military conscription, produce a greater number of fine regiments as regards height and breadth of chest than the England of 1800. But does this admission, or do all these instances of a high standard of physical strength and courage amongst certain classes of the population, prove that other classes, even now the most numerous, and which under the present order of civilisation must inevitably increase, and that at no slight rate, do these instances, I say, in any way prove that these less favoured classes are even now not degenerating in health and strength? As cities increase, will not the physical powers of their inhabitants assuredly decrease, unless steps are taken, and that soon, to counteract the evil effects of the crowding together of masses of human beings within extremely limited areas? Is it not a fact that the population of these islands is annually becoming more and more a town one, crowded together

without light, without air, without the means of obtaining proper exercise, and in the case of many without wholesome, or even necessary food, warmth, and clothing? If we do not as yet discover signs of national deterioration in health, may it not be because the average is maintained by the high state of the physical condition of more favoured portions of the community? Do our athletes, our sportsmen, our travellers, our mountaineers, issue from the crowded lanes of overgrown cities? Are not their homes to be found rather amongst the pleasant places of the earth, in rural manor-houses, in retired parsonages, in country villas, or in the healthy portions of well-to-do towns, in the midst of comfort and of plenty, with every means of exercising the healthy bodies which they have inherited from healthy and well-to-do progenitors? Are not our navvies, our merchant seamen, our iron-workers, our game-keepers, our gillies, and all who require physical strength in the exercise of their employment, obtained as a rule from the country and small town population? It may be said that our soldiers are recruited in towns. Although it is true that the mass of our recruits are enlisted in towns, it does not follow that they have been brought up in them, though no doubt many and perhaps the majority are. Many a country-bred lad walks into the neighbouring large town for the purpose of enlisting. We have no record of the number of town-bred recruits rejected by the inspecting surgeon for physical defects. None but those likely to develop under the influence of good food and healthy exercise are accepted. Even these we do not see in the ranks until they have been withdrawn for some months from hurtful influences, and have been carefully trained with a view to the increase of their physical powers under conditions of life most favourable to their development.

What are the conclusions to which we are naturally led by the above considerations? That the robust and athletic are to be found amongst the well-fed, the well-clothed, the well-housed; that good food and clothing, fresh air and exercise, are necessary to the healthy development of the human frame; and that where these healthrequirements are wanting, physical qualities may be expected to degenerate.

The police records attest that the finest men physically and intellectually come as a rule from the small country towns, and it is precisely in the small country towns that life amongst the lower class presents its easiest aspect.

Now that almost all who have any pretension to the name of well-to-do can get away, for at all events some short portion of the year, from the smoky and grimy city, there is a real danger lest the health-requirements of those left behind, and they the least influential of the community, should be neglected. Formerly it was the interest of the rich as well as of the poor citizen to secure open spaces and means of recreation, but if even the superior artisan can now afford

to live away in a healthy suburb, who is left whose interest will induce him to raise his voice on behalf of the poor against the constant invasions of brick and mortar? Let the reader walk through the wretched streets of one of our large manufacturing towns, or through those of the eastern and southern districts of London. If he returns satisfied with the results of his investigations, he must indeed be gifted with a very sanguine temperament. Should he be of average height, he will find himself a head taller than those around him; he will see on all sides pale faces, stunted figures, debilitated forms, narrow chests, and all the outward signs of a low vital power. Surely this ought not to be. We are not Turks, to cry out 'Kismet!' and then turn on the other side, satisfied that what is is good, and cannot be avoided. If the exigencies of civilisation and the limited size of our island home require that millions shall pass their lives under the unnatural conditions consequent on city life, it is surely incumbent on the nation to see that every assistance is given these unfortunates to enable them to bring up their children in as high a degree of health as the unfavourable circumstances of their lives will admit. Cities must exist, and will continue to increase. We should therefore turn our attention seriously to the question how to bring health. within the reach of our poorer city populations. Had Victor Hugo passed his life within reach of the noxious vapours of a Widnes, in the heart of a Newcastle, on the banks of the odoriferous Clyde, or within the purlieus of a Whitechapel court, it may be doubted whether, as on a certain recent occasion, he would have been eloquent in the praise of cities, and have styled them 'divine.' Places which at the beginning of this century were small hamlets are now large manufacturing towns, teeming with people huddled together under conditions adverse to health and to the development of a robust population. What similarity to their present appearance did Glasgow, Dundee, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, and a hundred other places, present at the commencement of this century? How long will it take before the manufacturing towns and villages with which Lancashire is studded shall have joined one another, and that county become one vast hive of human industry? When will the modern Babylon cease to add town to town, and what will be the limit of its extension? Can we look with complacency on the fact that the population of these islands is annually becoming more and more a town one; that annually more and more human beings are engulfed by the advancing tide of buildings, and become absorbed in endless streets and courts and alleys; that fresh air and the means of wholesome exercise are daily being withdrawn from larger and larger numbers of people; that crowded streets and ill-ventilated dwellings produce vitiated air; that the want of a proper supply of oxygen and of means of obtaining healthy exercise weakens the human system; and that daily and hourly a

larger number of men and women, conscious of impaired vitality, resort to the spendthrift habit of drawing upon capital to replace income by permanently injuring their constitutions for the sake of the transitory stimulus which is obtained through the use of alcoholic liquors. Vain are the efforts of temperance societies and reformers as long as they leave untouched the condition of things which engenders the mad craving for drink. Are men and women brought up under such circumstances likely to be the parents of healthy children? Nature is stern-she has no compassion-as men sow, in like manner shall they reap. Certain well-known laws have been laid down by Providence for the guidance of man, and if he in his obstinate blindness deliberately chooses to violate them, he must abide the consequences. Wholesome and sufficient food, warm clothing, fresh air and exercise, are necessary, at all events in childhood, to the healthy development of the human frame. How many of these requisites ordinarily fall to the lot of the children of the poorer classes in our large towns? Let those who go in and out amongst them answer. Ask the Board School teachers in the poorer districts of London whether children are not sometimes sent to school without having tasted food; whether they do not occasionally fall off the benches from sheer physical exhaustion; whether the teachers, from motives of humanity which do them credit, do not often supply out of their own slender resources the more pressing necessities of these wretched starvelings. Let the district visitors answer whether the children, with just sufficient clothing on their half-starved frames to satisfy the demands of decency, but not sufficient to promote warmth, do not often in the depth of winter return to homes where it is the exception rather than the rule to find a fire burning on the hearth. Ask the medical officer what is the sanitary condition of these houses, and whether it is possible for these children ever to breathe air which is not more or less contaminated. Ask the police constable how far off is the nearest public park or open space where the children now rolling in the neighbouring gutter might enjoy their games free from the dirt and contamination of the present scene of their sports. It is much to be feared he would stare in astonishment at the remark, and would answer that such a paradise was not within the reach of such as these. The truth is that our eyes are blinded to the evil effects of overcrowding by reason of the continued stream of fresh blood which is ever flowing from the more healthy districts into our towns, thus hindering and delaying the natural physical decay of the constitutions of the inhabitants of the latter, which would otherwise be more rapid and consequently more apparent. If we could establish a thoroughly efficient blockade of our large cities, and allow no further emigration into them from the country, it would not be many years before the mortality in our centres of population, as compared with that in healthier districts, would be so

marked, and the physical deterioration in our city populations would become so apparent, that we should be forced to take immediate steps to prevent their utter annihilation. But it may be said, This is an old story, and may have been true before public attention had been called to the overcrowded state of the back slums of our large cities, but since the passing of the Artisans Dwellings Act, and the establishment of working men's dwellings companies, all this has been altered, and the working classes are now housed as well as their incomes will permit. Would that this were the case! Alas! the efforts of these companies, great as they have been, are but as a drop in the ocean, and the difficulties which are met with in working Mr. (now Sir Richard) Cross's Act have sadly limited its operation. What then can be done? If Acts of Parliament and companies whose capital is counted by millions avail but little, what hope is there of a better future. Probably neither private efforts nor indeed public measures, unless of a much more arbitrary character than in the present state of public opinion are likely to be adopted, would altogether avert the deleterious influences of prolonged existence for several generations in crowded cities; but surely something might be done, if not for the adults, at all events for the children of our city populations, to strengthen their growing frames, and thus give them some chance of contending with success against the hurtful influences which surround them. We said that wholesome and sufficient food, warm clothing, fresh air and exercise, were necessary to the healthy development of the human body in time of youth. Is it quite impossible for this rich country to see that the children educated at its Board Schools shall be provided at all events with some of these requisites? Amongst not the least of the benefits which the children of the poor have derived from the Education Act of 1870, there are two not to be overlooked: firstly, that if a child be ill-clad or starved, the fact must in time be known to the teachers, and through them to the outside world; and, secondly, that during a considerable portion of the day, that child, instead of shivering in a cold garret, must of necessity be seated in a warm room. Here we have, therefore, warmth provided by the School Board, not a bad substitute for warm clothing. Would it greatly shock the nerves of our political economists if we were to suggest that the School Board, having provided warmth for the children attending their schools, might still further benefit them by furnishing two classes of dinners, to be cooked, if possible, by the scholars themselves the first composed of the cheapest food which could be provided, such dinners to be supplied gratis to the most destitute children attending the school; the second, a more attractive and substantial meal, to be sold to the more well-to-do scholars, and consumed by them on the spot? By good management it might be possible to make the latter class of dinners pay for the former; and if the dinners were well cooked, it is probable that the parents might