8 thp: toner lectures. 



change, because their absolute pauperism has its compensation in 

 that they are no longer subjected to the strain and friction of life. 



The contrast to such cases is found in the histories of some of 

 those who form the subject of the present study. 



One died at the age of sixty-six, holding a position of high rank 

 and responsibility at the time of his death. He was of good hered- 

 ity and physique, and had been thoroughly educated. In early life 

 his habits of eating and drinking had been irregular, and at one 

 period he suffered from gouty symptoms. For fifteen or twenty 

 years before his death, however, he had been careful and systematic 

 in his habits, mental and physical, and enjoyed fair health, Avhen 

 suddenly he was subjected to unusual labor and anxiety, because of 

 a great public catastrophe. He could not escape the suddenly- 

 imposed strain. His health failed rapidly in a few months, and he 

 died of Bright's disease. 



Another, also in high official position, died at fifty-eight He also 

 was of good heredity, used alcohol moderately, and tobacco freely. 

 Mentally he had been through life a fair but not unusual worker. 

 Twenty-seven years before his decease he had suffered severely from 

 scurvy. After this he was not sick until his fatal illness. Mental 

 work, and cares and anxieties, to which he was unaccustomed, 

 crowded upon him during the last three years of his life. Worn 

 out, he took a sudden cold, was attacked with a local inflammatory 

 trouble, and died. 



Some of those who have been lifted from the ordinary walks 

 of life into high official position by appointment, find themselves 

 entirely unfitted for the tasks before them, and yet from these 

 tasks they are unable to escape. If too old, or without sufficient 

 fundamental education to learn, and if unable to do their work 

 by proxy, failure in health, as well as in reputation, is sometimes 

 the result. In England, so severe are some of the competitive 

 examinations for positions in the public service that many are 

 injured in health by the strain Avhich they undergo in prepar- 

 ing for these examinations. With us, it is often the other way; 



