CHAPTER IV. 



INSANITY AND ALCOHOLISM. 

 Nerve Derangements Insanity. 



WE saw in the preceding chapter that during quite 

 recent years the dangers of early life have been 

 greatly lessened because of our increased knowledge 

 of infantile hygiene, and from the fact that the in- 

 fective diseases, which are always most dangerous to 

 the young, have been greatly abated. We saw, how- 

 ever, at the same time, that the constitutional weak- 

 nesses of humanity are by no means lessened, and 

 that there are strong grounds for believing that 

 during the last thirty years the race has observably 

 degenerated, a result to be anticipated from the with- 

 drawal of selective influences during childhood and 

 early life. Amongst these constitutional weaknesses 

 we may specially notice defects in the respiratory, 

 circulatory, nervous and other systems, as being of 

 interest and importance, and their observation worthy 

 of our close attention. In this little treatise it is im- 

 possible however to do more than shortly to allude to 



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