212 MARRIAGE AND DISEASE. 



rare in the horse, a perfect scourge among grain- 

 eating birds, and much rarer among those that eat 

 flesh. Why this predisposition should exist in some 

 animals, we do not at present know, any more than 

 why the negro and the West Indian Creole should be 

 specially susceptible to the attack of the bacillus ; 

 but it is possible that as our knowledge grows, we 

 may come to understand this too. 



As to advice respecting marriage, it may at once 

 be said that those already suffering from any form of 

 tubercular disease should not marry. Neither should 

 any one marry a member of a family in which con- 

 sumption, or other form of tubercular disease, is 

 common. The clear-skinned, bright-eyed, eager, ethe- 

 real creature may charm the eye, and she may be 

 good as she is beautiful, but she can never be the 

 mother of strong and healthy children. It is possible 

 that in the near future Science may be able to eradi- 

 cate the tubercle bacillus from any individual it has 

 attacked ; but even if this feat of Science were accom- 

 plished, it is not too much to say, that persons of 

 such low vitality as most of these healed ones would 

 be, would hardly be the kind of partners sensible 

 men and women who wished to live in distant pos- 

 terity would choose. Until Science can not only 

 eradicate the disease, but instil sufficient vitality into 

 the purified one to prevent a re-invasion of the system 

 by the disease germ, those who are tubercular or 

 have been tubercular cannot be looked upon as favour- 

 able candidates for marriage. 



