CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



Man's body and mind are framed and moulded by two 

 influences — heredity and environment. Through his 

 parents he inherits certain physical and mental powers 

 which are developed or stunted by the circumstances of 

 his life, by the education given to him by others or won 

 by himself, and by the discipline which his own will, 

 aided or unaided, enables him to extract from the changes 

 and chances of this mortal life. ' 



Great is the power of environment. " There, but 

 for the Grace of God, goes John Bradford," is a 

 thought that has occurred to us all when watching 

 misfortunes we have escaped. The efforts of men of 

 science, philanthropists, and statesmen have been directed 

 for centuries towards improving the general environ- 

 ment of the race, and of late years with conspicuous 

 success. Two centuries ago the annual death-rate of 

 London was some eighty in a thousand ; to-day it has 

 sunk to fifteen. And a lowered death-rate means more 

 than lives prolonged. It means improved conditions, 

 which give greater health and strength to those who, 

 even in old circumstances, would have survived. 



B 



