Importance of the Child 5 



in surroundings that will nurture the best. 



There has probably been no era in the history 

 of the world when such importance must be at- 

 tached to the coming generation. Sir George 

 Newman,^ in a report on the health of English 

 school-children, well states that the War, more 

 than anything else, has brought home to the 

 public the conception of the child as a primary 

 national asset, and that no investment and no 

 national economy can compare in results with 

 the care of the rising generation. 



Civilization itself seems to be at the parting 

 of the ways. All kinds of wild and destructive 

 theories are in the air. It is certain that radical 

 and abrupt changes, which are manifestations 

 of primitive intellectual and emotional re- 

 actions, will result in disaster. These elemen- 

 tal passions and strivings that find outlet in law- 

 lessness and revolt are a result of an intellec- 

 tual and emotional instability that are rever- 

 sions to the childhood of the race. It has been 

 well said that we have had a world in conflict; 



1 British Medical Journal, Oct. 6th, 1917. 



