72 Teachings of Thomas Huxley 



has an unhappy result in establishing for him 

 ideals of wealth or social condition to which 

 he cannot attain; and consequently these make 

 him very unhappy. What is indispensable for 

 him is to know the significance of germs as the 

 cause of disease, how they are propagated in 

 damp, dark, and filthy places, and killed by 

 dryness, sunlight, and scrupulous cleanliness; 

 how personal cleanliness is conducive to health ; 

 how exercise, proper food, and sufficient sleep 

 safeguard the body from disease and prema- 

 ture decay; and how improper moral living 

 may bring ruin upon his wife and family and 

 descend upon posterity. Of general education 

 he may know nothing other than the ability 

 to read and write, and he will be happy in 

 virtue of rather than in spite of his deficiency. 

 These are the individual rights of the common 

 people; to deprive them from obtaining these 

 rights would be a crime; to teach by precept 

 and example is the work not of the city mis- 

 sionaries alone, but of all good citizens who 

 can give time or money to bettering municipal 

 and national life. 



