PHYSICAL DEGENERATION OF THE PEOPLE 247 



tained her prowess in the pubHc arenas, when her 

 citizens were sunk in excesses of debauchery and vice, 

 and her manhood effeminated by unbridled indulgence ; 

 yet physical decay had sapped the strength of the people, 

 and Rome sank to rise no more as a great world empire. 



The strength of the great masses of our people has been 

 sapped by other causes than those which contributed to 

 Rome's downfall, yet the results are not dissimilar. 



Go, watch the crowds in any of our great manufactu- 

 ring towns, and you will soon become aware of the effect 

 of a couple of generations of town life on the people. 



Watch them at our holida}' resorts on any Bank Holi- 

 day, and you will seek in vain for that splendid type of 

 manhood and womanhood which was our boast two or 

 three generations back. Pallid, under-sized, narrow- 

 chested and narrow-shouldered men and women you will 

 find moving about in a listless, half-hearted way, that is, 

 indeed, sad to behold, but you will look in vain for that 

 breezy briskness and frolicsome gaiety which is as 

 natural to young men and maidens as water is to the 

 duck. Go a little further afield, to the outskirts of your 

 holiday resorts, to your woods and quiet places, and you 

 will find your young men and maidens, instead of indul- 

 ging in that gaiete de civur which is but the external 

 evidence of a sunshiny mind, in positions which can only 

 indicate the working of a a mind depressed and degene- 

 rated by unhealthy physical and mental surroundings. 



In every park or place of public resort in the Kingdom, Moral as well 

 particularly in provincial places, is the spectacle to be Deferforation 

 met with, and it is a matter for general comment. In 

 some places it is carried to such an extent that it 



