December 3, 1900] 



SCIENCE 



783 



work has been hardly begun and we 

 scarcely realize what this great movement 

 means and what will be its future develop- 

 ment. Certain are we, however, that it 

 means something more than the mere 

 teaching of young women how to sew and 

 how to cook. It has involved in it the 

 whole question of home building and 

 the rearing of a strong and virile race 

 of people. The dream of the ancients, 

 a strong mind in a sound body, is thus 

 beginning to be realized. But we have 

 only just come to take this view of the 

 matter and have scarcely begun work 

 on this broad basis. Times are strangely 

 out of joint when we justify the extensive 

 scientific inquiries into the way to rear a 

 strong and vigorous race of pigs or sheep 

 or colts or cattle, and are content witli the 

 very meager knowledge which we possess 

 of the nutrition of men. We have millions 

 for research in the realm of domestic ani- 

 mals, and nothing for the application of 

 science to the rearing of children. Ex- 

 haustive studies are made upon the life 

 histories of animals of the lower orders, 

 while vital facts in regard to the life his- 

 tory of our children remain a sealed book. 

 "VVe know how the amoeice develop, but are 

 content to remain in ignorance of what 

 factors contribute to the development of a 

 strong body and a sound mind in mankind. 

 For centuries we have let the injunction 

 "Know thyself" go unheeded, and have 

 forgotten that "The greatest study of 

 mankind is man." 



For every dollar that goes into the fit- 

 ting of a show herd of cattle or hogs or into 

 experiments in feeding domestic animals, 

 there should be a like sum available for 

 fundamental research in feeding men for 

 the greatest efiSciency. The Kansas State 

 Agricultural College ought to take ad- 

 vanced ground here, and build up the 

 greatest institute of research in human 



nutrition in the world. The federal gov- 

 ernment should be interested and cooperate 

 with the state and community in matters 

 of this sort. 



THE EXODUS FROM THE FARM 



It is common to lament the tendency of 

 the best men and women to leave the farm 

 and go to the city as a modern or present- 

 day tendency, whereas it is as old as civili- 

 zation itself. 



Plutarch in his " Pracepta Politiea " protested 

 against the threatening invasion of large cities; 

 Cicero thundered against the depopulation of the 

 rural districts through similar attractions to 

 those which draw young men and young women 

 from the farm to-day. Even Justinian, the great 

 law maker, was in favor of legislation designed 

 to keep the people on the farm. 



The great Roman Emperor Augustus be- 

 fore the Christian era saw that his empire 

 was being undermined and the strength of 

 his people sapped by the exodus from the 

 country to the city, and called to him the 

 poets of the nation and commanded them 

 to sing of the beauties and profits of 

 country life, in order to attract his people 

 back to the land. This trend cityward has 

 been to a great degree due to the half edu- 

 cation which has prevailed in the rural dis- 

 tricts and which has given the farm boy 

 glimpses of the more attractive city life 

 without teaching him at the same time how 

 he may attain such a life at home. 



For the first time in history this situa- 

 tion is sought to be met by making a pro- 

 fession of farming, so that it may be at- 

 tractive to the intellectually strong, at the 

 same time that the returns are large 

 enough to command the reasonable com- 

 forts and luxuries of life. These counter- 

 vailing influences, however, will be found 

 to be inadequate unless they strike at the 

 very root of the difficulty— the farm home, 

 the country road, the rural school and the 

 country church. 



