"I 
Introductory Paper. 1 1 
tlie peculiar character of the Australian climate in its 
relation to the human constitution, might give rise to 
suggestions of the greatest importance in the physical 
and mental education of youth, as well as in the study 
and treatment of disease. It is generally allowed that 
the climate of this country, whether arising from the 
absence of moisture or a higher temperature, or from 
some other cause, is of a much more stimulating and 
exciting character, and tends to bring on a quicker de¬ 
velopment of the bodily and mental powers, than the 
climate of Great Britain. The native children, or those 
born in the Colony of European parents, are in general 
decidedly in advance of children of the same age in the 
mother-country. There is a precocity of body and mind 
quite surprising to those who have come recently from 
Home; and the more so, because associated with no sym¬ 
ptoms of sickliness, or want of activity and vigour. But 
though the usual accompaniments of premature develop¬ 
ment are not apparent in childhood, their presence is to 
be apprehended in the later stages of life. The youth of 
the Colony, it is to be feared, does not always exhibit the 
full proportions and vigorous strength which belonged 
to him as a child. He is not unfrequently characterised 
by a narrowness of chest and general slenderness of 
frame, too surely indicative of a falling off in the vital 
powers from the energy and vigour which marked their 
operation at the outset. An important practical question 
immediately arises; viz. whether the mode of living— 
particularly the profuse consumption of animal food— 
which the Colonists have adopted, or rather continued 
from the habits of the mother-country, however well 
adapted to the climate of the latter, are not out of all 
harmony with the very different climate of Australia ; 
and whether the selection of a diet more in accordance 
with the natui e and circumstances of the country would 
