National Health. 63 



like our own may be prosperous, still there can be no prosperity 

 in any c'ty unless the physical strength and health of the 

 community be preserved and maintained. 



Dr. Redfern — I came here fearing that Mr. Scott would 

 have indulged in a number of statistics. I quite anticipated 

 being told that when the death rate had diminished that indi- 

 cated a very high condition of health, and I am very much 

 delighted to find that Mr. Scott did nothing of the sort. I 

 entirely agree with almost every word he has said. I feel that 

 the subject he has brought forward is one of the most serious 

 importance. He has touched the great causes which produce 

 disease and fill our workhouses and lunatic asylums, and when 

 such things as Mr. Scott has spoken of prevail and corrupt the 

 community in such enormous numbers I see no hope of any- 

 thing better except by the adoption of some such measure as 

 Mr. Scott advocates against the propagation of disease and the 

 production of poor, miserable, and feeble human beings. 



Dr. MacCormac — I came here to-night to absorb not to 

 criticise, and can say that T have not been disappointed in the 

 nutriment. I think that what Mr. Scott has said has been put 

 clearly, forcibly, and truthfully. The points he has touched 

 upon are of the greatest importance ; the proportion of the 

 healthy to the unhealthy, and the history of ancient races com- 

 pared with the people living at the present time. At the same 

 time I would take the liberty of saying that these are subjects 

 which have not been neglected. The medical profession has 

 been dealing with these subjects to the very best of its ability, 

 and with very great success. What I would like to have heard 

 from Mr. Scott would have been something of sanitation. This 

 would have been most interesting, because it would have had 

 the effect of perhaps throwing light on the mode by which the 

 diseases of which we have heard could be grappled with. I do 

 not think that because persons suflfer from certain diseases they 

 are to be looked upon as loathsome creatures. They could not 

 perhaps have been able to avoid them. Drunkenness is not the 

 only cause of disease. I do not for one moment say that it is a 



