EDUCATION AND THE FUTURE OF THE RACE 289 



because the gain in life may be due in a large degree 

 to better methods of preventing the spread of infec- 

 tious diseases, or controlling them when they have 

 gained a footing. It is extremely difficult to prove 

 that the average physical vigor and efficiency of the 

 population are actually heightened by a decrease in 

 the death rate, but it is likely that there is some 

 change in this direction. The effect of the generally 

 improved hygienic surroundings is being neutralized 

 by the increasing proportion of people who live in 

 large cities under unfavorable physical conditions. 

 An illustration of the deterioration arising in a great 

 city obtruded itself on London during the Boer War, 

 when it was found that a surprisingly large propor- 

 tion of the offering recruits were physically unsound, 

 not so much from definite disease as from various 

 forms of underdevelopment and feebleness due to 

 malnutrition. Though it is difficult to predict the 

 outcome of these warring tendencies for good and 

 evil upon the health and efficiency of nations, one 

 important fact is nevertheless clear : the ultimate 

 result is largely in the control of the individuals that 

 make up the community. Never before has it been 

 possible for the citizens of a country to exert so tell- 

 ing an influence in the right direction by the intelli- 

 gent exercise of will power, since the knowledge of 

 what makes for health and strength is to-day fuller 

 and more accessible than at any previous time. 

 Moreover, local and central governments are every- 

 where awakening to the necessity for intervening in 



