82 



THE INFLUENCE OP ENVIRONMENT. L907. This paper ap- 

 peared in a brief abstract; it took up in detail some of the things here men- 

 tioned. I repeatedly refer to John Chinaman who is adapted to live under 

 slum conditions, who thrives in large city slums where even the white man 

 can not live. Now it' we look al it from the proper angle, we may conclude that 

 our educators are reducing us to the condition of John Chinaman. They 

 give no attention to the air conditions under which children live and meet. 

 Instead of having teachers who react and who can tell by their own senses 

 whether air conditions are good or bad, who are living barometers or ther- 

 mometers, our schools are supplied with teachers of the robust kind (but 

 who nevertheless react and readily use tobacco, as a sedative, to get ease, to 

 feel less irritable) . Under unsanitary conditions the susceptible are constant ly 

 weeded out. killed off. and what remains? In the end the John Chinaman 

 type survives, a type which thrives bodily but at the expense of mentality: 

 all the energy being required to ward off infection, leaving nothing for the 

 brain. 



Indiana today is stationary in population, as I attempted to show a year 

 ago. It is due mainly to bad air conditions which lead to the use of sedatives 

 and narcotics. As long as a country is thinly settled, alcohol and tobacco 

 can be used with impunity, but under massed conditions these become 

 racial poisons. The individual who reacts wants a sedative and (as I attempt- 

 ed to show a year ago) there are many that can be used. The most univer- 

 sally used today is tobacco. Tobacco leads to the spitting habit, alcohol not. 



Here I shall not take up the statistics of our sedative and narcotic bill, 

 the cost of tobacco and alcohol, and opium and patent medicines, and the 

 various expenses that accompany life under unsanitary conditions, including 

 needless doctor bills, the increased expense for fuel required to feel comfort- 

 able under bad air conditions, the desire for "overheated" bouses, public 

 buildings, railway coaches and trolleys, etc. It must suffice to say the cost 

 runs into the billions of dollars annually in our country. 



FLORA OF CASS COUNTY. 1908. I mentioned in the beginning 

 that the tobacco factor can be traced into practically every paper I have 

 given before this Academy. Does that apply to the flora of a particular 

 region? People who feel bad w r ant ease, they want relief from distressing 

 symptoms; they will experiment, they will try anything and everything. 

 An old bebef was that every plant has a use, particularly a medicinal use, 

 if we could onlv discover it. Todav we know this is not true, that very few 



