148 THE CAUSATION OF DISEASE. 



not neglect the period of his uterine life, and . we shall best 

 secure the advantage of the child by placing the mother under 

 a perfect E. To take a single instance, the development of the 

 permanent teeth commences in the first months of embryonic 

 life. If the mother's blood be deficient in certain elements, we 

 can well understand how the germ of the future tooth will be 

 improperly formed, and thus a tendency to early decay result. 

 Unfortunately, the effect of bad teeth is not local : many 

 secondary evil results may follow — neuralgia, indigestion, and 

 consequent mal-nutrition — indeed, the effects may make them- 

 selves felt through the whole body. 



In regard to our regulation of the post-partem E, let us ever 

 bear in mind that it is potent in proportion as it acts early. 

 I have more than once said that a small initial change may 

 eventually lead to a very vast difference. Hear what Herbert 

 Spencer says on this head : — 



" In any series of dependent changes a small initial difference 

 often works a marked difference in the results. The mode in which 

 a particular breaker bursts upon the beach, may determine whether 

 the seed of some foreign plant which it bears, is or is not, stranded, 

 may cause the presence or absence of this plant from the flora of the 

 land, and may so affect for millions of years, in countless ways, the 



living creatures throughout the land The whole tenor of a 



life maybe changed by a word of advice ; or a glance may determine 

 an action which alters thoughts, feelings, and deeds throughout a 

 long series of years A hair's-breadth difference in the direc- 

 tion of some soldier's musket at the battle of Areola, by killing 

 Napoleon, might have changed events throughout Europe." 



Now, such being the case, we must, if we wish an individual 



to grow up healthily, most carefully regulate the E of his early 



extra-uterine life, for a slight neglect here may leave an effect 



which the greatest after-care cannot amend. But, unhappily, 



the young infant is but too often exposed to an injurious E. 



r< The child cries, when it is born, because it feels, as 



Shakespeare says, ' that it has come on to the stage of fools.' 



It has its mouth stuffed with butter and sugar, its belly cramped, 



and its legs not allowed to kick. l It has come on to the stage 



of fools.' " * 



* H. G. Sutton. 



