82 
THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT. 1907. This paper ap- 
peared in a brief abstract; it took up in detail some of the things here men- 
tioned. I repeatedly refer to John Chinaman who is adapted to live under 
slum conditions, who thrives in large city slums where even the white man 
can not live. Now if we look at it from the proper angle, we may conclude that 
our educators are reducing us to the condition of John Chinaman. They 
give no attention to the air conditions under which children live and meet. 
Instead of having teachers who react and who ean tell by their own senses 
whether air conditions are good or bad, who are living barometers or ther- 
mometers, our schools are supplied with teachers of the robust kind (but 
who nevertheless react and readily use tobacco, as a sedative, to get ease, to 
feel less irritable). Under unsanitary conditions the susceptible are constantly 
weeded out, killed off, and what remains? In the end the John Chinaman 
type survives, a type which thrives bodily but at the expense of mentality; 
all the energy being required to ward off infection, leaving nothing for the 
brain. 
Indiana today is stationary in population, as I attempted to show a year 
ago. It is due mainly to bad air conditions which lead to the use of sedatives 
and narcotics. As long as a country is thinly settled, alcohol and tobacco 
can be used with impunity, but under massed conditions these become 
racial poisons. The individual who reacts wants a sedative and (as I attempt- 
ed to show a year ago) there are many that can be used. The most univer- 
sally used today is tobacco. Tobacco leads to the spitting habit, alcohol not. 
Here I shall not take up the statistics of our sedative and narcotic bill, 
the cost of tobacco and alcohol, and opium and patent medicines, and the 
various expenses that accompany life under unsanitary conditions, including 
needless doctor bills, the increased expense for fuel required to feel comfort- 
‘ 
able under bad air conditions, the desire for ‘“‘overheated’’ houses, public 
buildings, railway coaches and trolleys, ete. . It must suffice to say the cost 
runs into the billions of dollars annually in our country. 
FLORA OF CASS COUNTY. 1908. I mentioned in the beginning 
that the tobacco factor can be traced into practically every paper I have 
given before this Academy. Does that apply to the flora of a particular 
region? People who feel bad want ease, they want relief from distressing 
symptoms; they will experiment, they will try anything and everything. 
An old belief was that every plant has a use, particularly a medicinal use, 
if we could only discover it. ‘Today we know this is not true, that very few 
