CHILDHOOD FROM A MEDICAL STANDPOINT. 731 



odical return to Nature or summer outing, which is a national 

 habit, and is the one efficient means, if properly used, of combat- 

 ing the disintegrating tendencies of city life. 



The children of the poor, in spite of many drawbacks, fare 

 better in some respects than those of the well-to-do. They often 

 respond better to treatment when they are sick ; they are at 

 least not deprived of that contact with their fellows and struggle 

 for existence which is absolutely essential to health ; whereas 

 the children of the so-called higher classes are too often edu- 

 cated in sensitiveness, and false and hurtful views of life, not 

 always by precept or example, but by force of circumstances. 

 A colleague, who is intimately acquainted with the physical con- 

 dition of some eight thousand children, taken from the worst 

 classes in New York, who have in the course of several years 

 passed through a public institution under his care, says that they 

 improve so much, after having enjoyed for a few months the 

 ample diet and simple and regular life provided, that their physi- 

 cal condition compares favorably with that of any class of chil- 

 dren in New York. 



Much of what has been said applies to certain classes in cer- 

 tain restricted localities, and it may be thought that the picture 

 is an exaggerated one, but I maintain that the physique of the chil- 

 dren that are now growing up under our eyes is not on the whole 

 satisfactory, and that it is a difficult matter to bring up whole- 

 some, hearty children in New York, for example : if this is true, 

 it is well to recognize the fact. The average conditions both 

 within and without the family seem restricted and unnatural ; 

 fortunately, there is a large amount of sturdy stock throughout 

 the land, brought up to individual independence in contact with 

 Nature, and in wholesome home surroundings, upon which we can 

 draw indefinitely. 



It is true that the advantages are not all on the side of country 

 life ; that the struggle with Nature may be strenuous, and the 

 living narrow and poor, and that on the other hand the conditions 

 of city life may bring a better diet and a better knowledge of 

 personal hygiene. Indeed, it is claimed that during our civil war 

 certain city regiments stood campaigning better than the men 

 from the country, possibly because they better understood how to 

 take care of themselves. All this does not militate against my 

 position that the conditions of country life are, or may be made, 

 more favorable for children. 



Just because life in our large centers puts such pressure on 

 men and women do we get such remarkable effects in certain 

 directions. Much of the world's best work is the direct result, but 

 it is usually the effect of such stimulation on broad and healthy 

 natures developed partly or wholly in the country; and ulti- 



