SCIENCE AND HEALTH 



417 



unfit for front-line duty. They had been out of school a very 

 short time, but, evidently, had received very little, if any, instruc- 

 tion in health. 



Science and health. In the Report on National Vitality, issued 

 by President Roosevelt's Conservation Commission on National 

 Vitality, it was claimed that the reasonable application of scientific 

 knowledge would add at least fifteen years to the average lifetime. 

 It stated that at least 40 per cent of American mortality was pre- 

 ventable or postponable. There are probably always three mil- 

 lion people ill in this country at one time. About 50 per cent 

 of this illness is probably preventable. This report was issued 

 in 1909. The expectation of life has gone up since that time from, 

 approximately, forty-five years to fifty-five years, according to the 

 figures of the Life Extension Institute. 



Underwood & Underwood 



Health is more often a matter of prevention than cure. In baby clinics, nurses weigh, measure, 

 and make various examinations of babies to make sure that they are in good health. 



Along with the diseases that have been partially or entirely con- 

 trolled through scientific investigation and health education, there 

 has been a big drop in mortality. The deaths from typhoid fever 



