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children in cold weather, hardening them as they presumed, but 
in reality testing them. Only the strong ones could survive this 
process, so that the weakly ones were killed off. All barbarian 
or semi-barbarous nations fulfil the same object in some way. 
Now with the growth of civilization this apparent cruelty is 
curtailed, and hence in this country the infant mortality has been 
lessened. The infants are allowed to live, and are hardened or 
fall in the battle of life. 
In Lancashire, during the year 1886, 174 out of every 1,000 
living infants died ; this is called a death rate of 174 per 1,000. 
This rate was the highest for the whole country. The lowest 
was in sparsely-populated Westmoreland, there it reached 88 
per 1,000. This rate seems to vary according to density of 
population. 
About 20 out of every 1,000 people of all ages die annually ; 
this is called a death rate of 20 per 1,000, and to make this 
death rate the infant mortality is included. 
Some towns, such as Manchester (1887), 28°7, Dublin, 50°6 
(1887), have higher death rates than the 20, whilst others such 
as Broughton, 16-9 (1887), have a lower, and the country people, 
taken altogether, have a lower death rate of about 18 for 1,000. 
In dealing with the health of the nation, we shall have to 
consider the diseases which the people suffer from and their 
causes. 
There seems to be a lingering idea that diseases come by 
chance, are a result of some unknown power, or perhaps as they 
come as a punishment for some moral offence. ‘There are 
‘mind influences” in sickness, not the result of any occult 
power ; every illness comes of certain natural laws, which under 
all circumstances work alike. Given certain conditions certain 
results must follow, and if they appear to our feeble minds 
different, it is because we are unable to appreciate exactly the 
cause. The error or freak is in us, not in nature. 
Take as an axiom that mankind should live to 70 years, and 
that life should be terminated by so-called ‘“‘ decay”’ that death 
should be painless. 
A child seems to be incapable of feeding himself, whilst the 
paternal and maternal instincts are strongest; but as he grows 
these instincts of his parents gradually diminish, and when he 
is able to protect himself, his parents’ love for him is gone, and 
he in turn acquires parental instincts, and is able to do more 
than protect and feed himself. As he in turn goes on to old age 
his powers become feebler; but even in old age (if healthy) he 
still retains the power of foraging for himself, for not only are 
his wants fewer, but his hours required for sleep are lessened, 
and he has more time and can do his required work very slowly, 
but sufficient for his own diminishing wants. 
Pe) 
