THE CAUSES OF PHYSICAL DEGENERACY. 489 



her nursing babe. Sometimes the child grows meagre, pallid, is evi- 

 dently not thriving ; occasionally has spasms from apparent indiges- 

 tion ; at others, it is often nauseated, and ejects the curdled milk, 

 with or without accompanying diarrhoea. The child is withdrawn 

 from the breast, proper food is substituted, and a manifest improve- 

 ment commences immediately. 



There is a similar cause for a depraved condition in all the milk of 

 the country. No sooner is the calf taken from the dam say, when six 

 weeks old than she is again impregnated. In the ordinary course of 

 Nature, her milk would " dry up " on the occurrence of this event ; 

 but she is regularly milked twice a day, and thus it happens that all 

 the milk upon which our children are raised has been first deprived 

 of its essential ingredients to nourish the next year's calf. 



If any one questions the effect of this double attempt at nutrition, 

 let him compare the milk in ordinary use with that of a " farrow " cow. 

 The latter is small in quantity, thick, redundant in cream, dark in color, 

 of a very high flavor, so as to render it quite unpalatable. This is the 

 milk destined to strengthen the bones and invigorate the energies of 

 the young offspring. It is such milk as this, undrained of its essential 

 elements, that the child demands from his mother. It asks for bread, 

 and you give it starch. It asks for milk, and you give it what ? 



In the lack of the natural maternal nutriment, as alleged by Nathan 

 Allen and other eminent writers on this and kindred topics, does not 

 the general use of this deteriorated cows' milk for so many years, as a 

 substitute or as a supplement to supply this general deficiency, point 

 to one among the many causes of physical deterioration ? 



If any evidence is wanted to show the imperfect nutrition of the 

 better classes, it may be found in the frequency of dyspepsia, scrofulous 

 diseases, and deaths from diseases of exhaustion and debility, as 

 contrasted with the general vigor, capacity for prolonged exertion, 

 digestion of immense dinners, excessive drinking, and general deaths 

 from inflammations, plethora, apoplexies, congestions, gout, and the like, 

 which were the main causes of the death of our forefathers. 



If it is also noticeable that the mean of life is now shorter than for- 

 merly as we think it is then it is deducible that, among other causes, 

 imperfect nutrition holds a prominent place. 



Now, when we compare the diet of the past with the present, we 

 find to-day evidences of a delicate and finical appetite, and an enfeebled 

 digestion. The name of " the roast-beef of old England " lives almost 

 but in name ; for the degenerate Britons and allies seek for the kick- 

 shaws, spiced entremets, and flavorous nothings, of still more degen- 

 erate nationalities. The vigorous appetites are wanting, and, possibly, 

 the debile gastric juice, arising from a lack of physical exertion and 

 an excess of mental stimulus, may be the active cause of the general 

 physical deterioration so markedly present throughout the civilized 

 world. 



