TOWN-LIFE AS A CAUSE OF DEGENERACY. 327 



cal aspects of the case. But it must not be lost sight of that there 

 is a large class who are not able to procure much nourishing food 

 of any kind, but, on the contrary, are forced by poverty to be con- 

 tent with less sustaining dietary, and they adopt another kind of 

 food, not less injurious, but in another way— a diet mainly con- 

 sisting of bread, tea, and such-like aliments. The time-honored 

 fashion so prevalent among well-to-do people, of five-o'clock tea, 

 may be attended with many advantages socially, but woe to 

 those who take tea four or five times a day, and rely upon it ali- 

 mentarily ! 



But it is not the male sex alone that we have to consider. The 

 factors I have briefly enumerated tell a terrible story on the lives 

 of mothers of this part of future England, and their offspring pay 

 the penalty Nature imposes upon those who fail to fulfill her laws. 

 Their children evidence constitutional disabilities of the frame, 

 which is badly and slowly developed, while their mental precocity 

 shows itself in a peculiar adroitness in all the arts of cunning 

 acquisitiveness. It is supposed by some that the efi^ects of mental 

 activity thus early developed interfere with the development of 

 the physique. No doubt the scanty necessaries of life induce a 

 standard of craftiness and cunning which passes muster for intel- 

 lect at an age which would imply precociousness and superiority, 

 while the country child remains in its first simplicity. 



But to the important question, " Is the town-dweller degener- 

 ating in stature, or is he not ? " there is yet no satisfactory answer 

 supplied. It has been said that such a thing as a pure cockney of 

 the fourth generation is a rarity, and so it may be said of all other 

 large towns. The immigration of country-folk of both sexes into 

 our large towns is a well-known fact, and it is impossible to trace 

 how far marriage suj)plies an admixture of new blood into the 

 worn-out stock, and thus renovates it and becomes an antidote to 

 decay. Taking the best evidence we possess, we can only approxi- 

 mately arrive at a solution of the problem. I have said that the 

 degeneracy probably is more found in the loss of enduring tone 

 and physical vigor than in inch-measurement. The constant and 

 ever-recurring immigration of the strong and robust countryman 

 into the cities constitutes a steady counterpoise to the downward 

 tendency, and the balance is fairly well sustained. Hence the dif- 

 ficulty of solving the problem. Seven years ago, at the request of 

 the Anthropometric Society, I obtained the measurement of three 

 hundred men of various nationalities, some born in towns, some 

 in the country, of various occupations, of different complexions 

 and temperaments, and of various habits. I failed to discover 

 any satisfactory evidence to lead to the conclusion that in actual 

 inch-measurement the town-bred man was appreciably inferior to 

 the country-bred man. But, so far as my observation enabled me 



