128 SUPER-ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



in selecting his potatoes, his calves, his dogs and 

 horses, cannot perfect his own offspring ! For the 

 unhappy children who are born monsters, those 

 directly responsible are the parents, and indirectly, 

 society as it is constituted. It is a sad statement, 

 but far sadder is the fact. 



No illnesses, whether infectious or constitutional, 

 ought to exist, and yet their victims are counted 

 by thousands. Cancer, tuberculosis, and typhus are 

 terrible afflictions, for which nothing but palliatives, 

 of no use, are offered ; it is the vine-leaf offered to 

 satisfy the public conscience. 



Can we be unaware that bad economic and 

 sanitary conditions bring with them physiological 

 misery, and that they are the chief cause of the 

 development and propagation of the tubercular 

 bacillus ? 



What are the academies and all these medical 

 and hygienic congresses then doing ? Why do they 

 not denounce, and exercise prohibitory action? 

 Because we must all agree on one point, namely, 

 that directly medical science points out the causes 

 that originate the evil, and shows the means of 

 avoiding it, there is no excuse for any class, not 

 even the pretext of economic conditions, to justify 

 such criminal delay. The life and health of the 

 citizens are riches, and the money that is employed 

 in diminishing mortality has profitable returns, for 



