654- THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the public health, but the iDublic itself is far too little occupied 

 with it. 



I shall speak only of national health. In consideration of his own 

 self, a man may be deemed healthy who lives idle, comfortablj'-, and 

 long ; who enjoys every day of his life, and satisfies every natural ap- 

 petite without consequent distress. And when such a one dies of old 

 age, with a timely, uniform, and painless decay of every part, he may 

 be deemed to have been completely healthy. And yet it is possible that 

 he may have enjoyed his own health in the midst of a poor, unhealthy, 

 and unhappy nation, to which he has done no good whatever. 



If we could find a nation composed of people such as this man, we 

 might be bound to speak of them as healthy ; but we should be right 

 in calling the whole nation utterly unsound, and might safely projihesy 

 its complete stagnation, or its quick decline and fall. 



It is not health such as this — idle, selfish, unproductive — that we 

 want to promote either in the individual or in the multitude. Com- 

 fortable idleness, such as that of some vagrants and fine gentlemen, 

 is a despicable result of good health ; it is what no thorough man 

 would ever wish for. In view of the national health and welfare, the 

 pattern healthy man is one who lives long and vigorously ; who in 

 every part of his life, wherever and whatever it may be, does the 

 largest amount of the best work that he can, and, when he dies, leaves 

 healthy offspring. And we may regard that as the healthiest nation 

 which produces, for the longest time, and in proportion to its popula- 

 tion, the largest number of such men as this, and which, in proportion 

 to its natural and accumulated resources, can show the largest amount 

 and greatest variety of good work. 



Here let me insert, as an interpretation clause, that in all this and 

 what is to follow the word "man" means also "woman," and "he" 

 means also " she " ; and that, when I sj^eak of work, I mean not only 

 manual or other muscular work, but work of whatever kind that can 

 be regarded as a healthy part of the whole economy of the national 

 life. And I shall take it for granted that a large portion of all na- 

 tional welfare is dependent on the work which the population can con- 

 stantly be doing ; or, if I may so express it, that the greater part of 

 the national wealth is the income from the work which is the out- 

 come of the national health. 



It is a common exj^ression that we do not know the value of a thing 

 till we have lost it ; and this may be applied to the losses of work 

 which are due to losses of national health. There are very few cases 

 in which these can be estimated with any appearance of accuracy ; but 

 I am helped to the best within our present reach by Mr. Sutton, the 

 Actuary to the Registry of Friendly Societies. In his office are the 

 returns, for many years past, of the sickness and mortality among the 

 members of a very large number of these societies ; and, among other 

 things, there is recorded the number of days which each member, when 



