SECTION 22. - OBSER VA TION. 315 



largest suitable breaks between meals; (e) studied, but appro- 

 ximately minimal, variety at each principal meal and otherwise 

 and at different seasons; (/) proper mastication, no hurried 

 eating, and some rest after meals; (g) eating with pleasure; 

 (/?) good teeth; (/) allowance for physiological idiosyncrasies; 

 (y) proper feeding from infancy ; and (k) obedience to the other 

 principal demands of hygiene, more especially pure air all day 

 long, including good ventilation by day and night; sufficient 

 but not excessive mental and physical exercise ; adequate sleep 

 during the night; protection from extremes of cold and heat; 

 no dissipation; no intoxicants, narcotics, etc., affecting the 

 organism deleteriously ; avoidance of disease from infancy ; 

 no profound anxieties; and a cheerful temperament. Once a 

 fairly exhaustive statement is arrived at, the different classes 

 of facts can be evaluated, considered one in relation to the 

 other, a comprehensive statement formulated, generalisations 

 and deductions made, and further dietetic studies commenced 

 on that basis. 



Likewise, the agriculturist will study the local climate, the 

 local soil, the plants and varieties best suited for the local soil, 

 the best manures, questions of drainage and irrigation, agri- 

 cultural machinery, efficient labour supply, local and distant 

 markets and their requirements, costs, and much else. 



Lastly, instead of seeking to explain the economic crisis 

 following on the war by one or two causes, we should be well 

 advised to draw up an exhaustive list of the alleged influences, 

 assume that a large number of them are of vital importance, 

 and that the forces adduced act and react on one another. 

 Here is such a list, startlingly formidable in character, which 

 could be, however, reduced by classification (as, e.g., deficiency 

 in commodities and workers due to the war, etc.): 



Lack of coal, raw materials, transport, machinery, commodities generally, 

 and foodstuffs; lack of capital (including watering of capital); lack of 

 credit intra-nationally and inter-nationally; lack of markets (due to 

 blockade, adverse exchange, poverty, etc.); exhaustion of stocks during 

 war-time; destruction of coal mines and of much other property; dis- 

 location and disorganisation through changes of boundaries; new fron- 

 tiers interfering seriously with railway systems of transport; customs 

 barriers; serious discriminations against certain classes of imports; worn- 

 out plants; readaptation of commerce and industry to peace conditions; 

 government restrictions on trade; disorganised exchanges preventing ready 

 interchange of goods (low exchange prevents buying and high exchange 

 selling); excessive speculation as regards commodities and in floating 

 companies; inflated and depreciated currency; continued large expenditure 

 on war forces and large government expenditure genei-ally; extravagance 

 in living and little saving; enormous burden of public debt and heavy 

 expenditure on pensions; heavy and excessive taxation crippling and 

 discouraging industry; high wages and high cost of living; rise in prices, 

 and driving up and keeping up of prices; wholesalers, retailers, and con- 

 sumers waiting for lower prices before buying; profiteering; fear of 

 repudiation of liabilities by firms and nations; lack, or presence, of a 

 gold basis; wars and fears of wars; blockade of Russia; non-declaration 

 of reparation amount to be asked from Germany; withholding of stocks 



