40 THE KINGDOM OF MAN 



15. THE INCREASE OF HUMAN POPULATION. 



Whilst there is a certainty of Man's power to remove 

 all disease from his life, a difficulty which he has already 

 created for himself will be thereby increased. That 

 difficulty is the increase of human population beyond the 

 capacity of the earth's surface to provide food and the 

 other necessities of life. By rebelling against Nature's 

 method, Man has made himself the only animal which 

 constantly increases in numbers. Whenever disease is 

 controlled his increase will be still more rapid than at 



alimentary needs. No individual can possibly pay medical men to make 

 these observations. It is the business of the State to do so, because such 

 knowledge is not only needed by the private citizen, but is of enormous 

 importance in the management of armies and navies, in the victualling 

 of hospitals, asylums, and prisons. Thousands of tons of preserved 

 meat have been wasted in recent wars because the reckless and ignorant 

 persons who purchased the preserved meat to feed soldiers had never 

 taken the trouble to ascertain whether preserved meat can be eaten by 

 a body of men as a regular and chief article of diet. It appears that 

 certain methods of preserving meat render it innutritious and impossible 

 as a diet. 



It is probable from recent experiment that we all, except those un- 

 fortunate few who do not get enough, eat about twice as much as we 

 require, and that the superfluous quantity swallowed not only is wasted, 

 but is actually a cause of serious illness and suffering. It surely is an 

 urgent matter that these questions about food should be thoroughly 

 investigated and settled. In the opinion of the most eminent physiolo- 

 gist of the United States (Professor Bowditch), we shall never establish 

 a rational and healthy mode of feeding ourselves until we give up the 

 barbarous but to some persons pleasant custom of converting the meal 

 into a social function ; we are thus tempted into excess. Only long 

 and extensive experiment can provide us with definite and conclusive 

 information on this matter, which is far more important than, at first 

 sight, it seems to be. And similarly with regard to the admittedly 

 serious question of alcohol only very extensive and authoritative 

 experiment will suffice to show mankind whether it is a wise and healthy 

 thing to take it in small quantities, the exact limits of which must be 

 stated, or to reject it altogether. 



