RECENT JEWISH IMMIGRATION. 343 



affairs is further aggravated by the favorable expectation of life for 

 the Jew, something quite distinct from the matter of health or 

 capacity for work. Temperate habits and the religious factor in the 

 conduct of ordinary matters of diet and life, as well as their absence 

 from hazardous occupations, contribute to this result. An apparent 

 longevity also results from the fact that infant mortality among them 

 is exceedingly low. The centuries through which these people have 

 been associated with the worst phases of civilized life have undoubtedly 

 led to an inherited ability on the part of the children to exist in un- 

 favorable surroundings and an increased power of resistance to certain 

 diseases, but it is also to be noted that in the humblest Jewish house- 

 hold the first symptoms of acute illness will not be overlooked nor 

 neglected, and that the sick child will receive the best available pro- 

 fessional attention, together with such a degree of unremitting care 

 and attention on the part of the family, as can seldom be realized 

 among Gentiles of the same station in life. 



