THE CAUSES OF PHYSICAL DEGENERACY. 487 



machinery into the making of cloths, and especially the general use of 

 the sewing-machine in the fabrication of garments, have made such a 

 difference in the comparative cost of clothing, that it may be believed 

 that never before was the world so comfortably dressed as at present ; 

 and the future has still further assistance for the poor, for even now 

 the great labor of cutting is so far modified by mechanical appliances 

 that by the same operation of a single shears a dozen garments are 

 simultaneously struck out, and the final cost is thus materially dimin- 

 ished. 



The tendency of daily dress throughout the world, imperfect as it 

 is, is yet an improvement upon the past, and life is rather prolonged 

 than curtailed by the change. The corset, allowing all the objections 

 and they are not entirely correct that may be urged against its 

 use and abuse, is yet far in advance of the steel bars, like animal cages, 

 of former days. So far, then, as clothing is concerned, no physical de- 

 generation can be ascribed to modern changes, but, on the contrary, 

 the slight alteration has been for the better ; and, other things being 

 equal, its beneficial effects would be markedly evident. 



Food. If we look at the entire population of the inhabitable 

 globe, in the different centuries, we can, with each succeeding age, note 

 an alimentary improvement. We see now few famines bearing wide- 

 spread destruction in their path. The intercourse of nations, the sym- 

 pathy of a recognized common humanity, the spirit of trade and com- 

 merce, the rapid communication by telegraph, and the power of applied 

 steam, have united to prevent the possibility of a great national fam- 

 ine in the future. The world now feeds the world, and a dearth in 

 one locality is supplied by the affluence of another. 



The continual opening of new territories of immense extent, and 

 seemingly inexhaustible richness, and most of all the frequent discovery 

 of new grains, roots, and fruits, and the development and improvement 

 of the old, seem to insure the world for the future against local 

 destitution and suffering of this nature. More than any one thing 

 else, the discovery of the potato has effected this end ; while the intro- 

 duction of Indian corn and the utilization of the animal life that roam 

 over the immense prairies of America, in both a wild and domesticated 

 state, add a large quota to the alimentation of the world, and have 

 raised the physical stamina of humanity. 



But while it is acknowledged that the race down to its lowest strata 

 of humanity is improved and improving, the same statement is not 

 true respecting the higher classes. While the average stamina is 

 greater, theirs is unquestionably deteriorated. 



We have already shown the injurious results which wealth brings, 

 in depriving the rich of exercise, by taking away its mainspring, in 

 substituting fashion for necessity; it exerts a far more deleterious 

 influence when it ministers to the appetites. 



There is a wealth of wisdom in the remark of Abernethy to the rich 



