

HEALTH AND BUSINESS 87 



become vertical. Thus the lag of a year between the conditions 

 of health and the succeeding conditions of mental achievement is 

 eliminated. The next curve, C, illustrates the attendance of chil- 

 dren at school. Where it is high the attendance is good and vice 

 versa. If absences depended only upon health, the school curve 

 would be expected to follow the health curve directly. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, absences depend upon many other factors. One of 

 these is the amount of employment. In good times there is a tend- 

 ency to take children out of school and send them to work; 

 whereas, in bad times there is nothing for children to do, and they 

 are better off in school than anywhere else. Another factor is the 

 mental attitude of both parents and children. When health and 

 energy are at their best the parents are more likely to keep their 

 children up to the mark than when the community as a whole is 

 anaemic. Thus curve C shows not only the direct influence of 

 health but also the influence of employment and of mental energy. 

 It has been shoved back, that is, to the left, one year because 

 here as in many other cases the effect of habit lasts after the orig- 

 inal cause ceases to act. In this position it shows an unmistakable 

 resemblance to the curve of health. 



Curves D to E in Figure 4 represent business conditions. In D 

 we see what happens in New York. The curve represents the 

 amount by which the transactions of the New York clearing house 

 depart from the normal that would be expected if business 

 increased steadily without the pulsations which are so notable a 

 feature. This curve has been shoved to the left three years, so 

 that the year 1873 lies in line with 1870 of the health curve. The 

 agreement of the two curves is so close that one can scarcely doubt 

 that there is some connection. Notice the decline in business 

 corresponding to the poor health of the early seventies. Then 

 see how good health in 1878 is followed by great activity in New 

 York's finances three years later. Thus, as our curves are 

 arranged, the two high points come together. A little later there 

 comes a decline in health and business, followed by rather poor 



