years, and this practical aspect of eugenics ought to be developed considerably. If the women who are marrying at thirty could, under better economic conditions for the upper classes, marry at twenty-two or twenty-three, larger families would be born to the people who supply the best type of children. The eugenists desire to help and encourage early marriage and larger families amongst the people who possess the double advantage of health and ability. They advocate State help in periods of adversity, not so much for the unfit as for the fit, healthy members of the community, who are often overburdened under present conditions by direct and indirect taxation to contribute to the less useful, less healthy and degenerate among us. The idea of the eugenist is to raise the average quality of the people by encouraging eugenic marriages." To get a large number of families containing even three or four children of good quality at the present time would raise the domestic and social life of the people as generation succeeded generation. Because these, in their turn, instructed in eugenic ideals, would form eugenic marriages, and produce children of a higher type and quality, until perhaps the ideal of the superchild would be realised. Ability, efficiency, character, and worth would become less rare, because we would gradually increase the level or standard of family life by encouraging and perhaps assisting the "useful classes of the community to contribute more than their present proportion to the next generation." The Superchild If we can get the right sort of children, and ensure them good nurture, healthy environment, careful upbringing, we are progressing in the right direction. This touches the question of marriage, and the idea of the eugenists is that unsuitable marriages should be banned socially, so that they would come to be regarded with as much disfavour as marriage between people of near kinship is regarded at the present time. Here we become very complex. People might be taught to understand the evils of marrying when they were physically unfit or mentally unsound. But if the superchild is ever to be attained, the question of character, as well as physical fitness, must be considered. The ideal stock is free from disease and racial poisons, and its members are at least of fair mental ability. But character is the most important faculty of all. The worth of one healthy, moderately clever man or woman, who possesses character, conscientiousness, a sense of responsibility, honour, and the power of Sustained effort, would have to be stated in many thousands of pounds for the nation. And would it not be worth while to assist this type of person o marry and provide children for the State? We spend millions of pounds on charities, which o largely to the upkeep of the unfit, and the ugenists say that it would be infinitely more rofitable to assist the able, capable, healthy mbers of the community, who would return than one hundred per cent. of the cost of they had received, millionaire who heads subscription working on eugenic principles of his funds towards endowyoung men and women in marriage dowries or for their children. ctical development One difficulty which the eugenist has to meet at the present time is the uncertainty of the results of eugenic marriages. Granted that a worthy man and woman marry, it does not invariably follow that their children will be better, or even as good as themselves. The probability is that when both parents are normal in health and intelligence, the offspring will be one stage higher or better than the parents, if the environment or nurture of the children is good. But every now and again we come upon families of high civic standing containing one or two members with a degenerate tendency. The explanation may be that these are sports," or represent a "throwing back" to an undesirable great-grandparent of an anti-social type. " Heredity is "Mixed" One eugenist declares that if two people who are the best of a poor stock marry, the children will revert," and be inferior to their parents. If, on the other hand, the two parents are somewhat poor specimens of good stocks, there is every chance that the children will be of a high order of intelligence, worth, and efficiency. This is, of course, an argument in favour of improving the stock." The advocates of positive eugenics have an immense amount of opposition to overcome. Negative eugenics, or the weeding out of the unfit, appeals to all thoughtful people, and there is every indication that its teachings will be carried out in the near future. But it is said that those who advocate positive eugenics have not sufficient data to give us, and that they under-estimate the power of nurture," as opposed to "nature," in elevating the race. It is found that children taken from poor, and even evil, surroundings, brought up in Dr. Barnado's Homes or by waifs' and strays' societies, for instance, turn out a high percentage of fine men and women-because they have had a chance. Man may rise above his environment, it is true, but if the environment is very bad, only the really fit, superior, strong types can survive. Good parenthood, hygienic care, education, and moral training develop the latent tendencies for good which in an inferior environment would never have appeared at all. The eugenists say that certain types of people can be produced by selective marriage. Good Parenthood and What It Means On the other hand, the antecedents of most people are so complex that the most that can be said about inheritance is that we have a general capacity or lack of capacity, a general efficiency or inefficiency, and the nurture of the child provides his opportunities. This means that men and women should be trained for good parenthood. They should be given ideals concerning their duty in this respect. Higher standards of morality, health, and conduct will have to be taught. We need schools for fathers as well as schools for mothers. We need commonsense teaching of elementary physiology and the meaning and duty of parenthood. Children should not be allowed to pick up, haphazard, knowledge of evil. They should be taught by their parents concerning racial instincts, and imbued with high ideals of thought, speech, and conduct. There is no doubt that we are having a hopeful reaction in favour of the child. Public opinion is forming, and the child is coming into its own. Parents of the right sort are ΙΩ MEDICAL realising that it is their duty to give children the very best opportunities they can, and a sense of parental responsibility is growing. We shall hear less about the rights of women as time goes on, and more about their duties. The responsibilities of the father will come to have a wider significance than at present. As a rule, the woman is the less well educated, less well informed of the two parents, and yet custom provides that she alone has the responsibility of training the children, the father doing his share if he provides food, shelter, and clothes for his offspring. The material good of the child is very important, and the provision of good food, fresh air, sunlight, hygienic care for the child is attention in this receiving more and more we are only beginning to generation. But comprehend the vast importance of character cultivation, and eugenic teaching will perhaps bring parents more to a sense of duty, of the need of co-operating and working together, to 5714 develop the innate capacity, character, poten- The plastic stage of early life gives the opportunity to the parent. Parental care can assist or retard the evolution of qualities good and bad. It cannot, of course, create capacity that is not there, but it can direct tendencies, develop faculties, and materially influence the Parents who are future career of a child. Empire building working on the right lines are far more than are politicians. The home is the cradle of the race, and it is only by the aggregation of homes where high standards are held, where healthy and sane doctrines are taught, where character is slowly formed day by day, year by year, that a great race can be produced. Thus every man and every woman can contribute some share towards the formation of the eugenic ideal, a race of supermen whose forefathers we may be, although it may take twenty, fifty, a hundred thousand years to evolve them. INFANTILE SUMMER DIARRHOEA Danger of Hot Weather to Children-Preventive Measures-Treatment of Infantile DiarrhoeaPreparation of Egg Albumen Εν VERY summer a great number of bottle-fed babies die from diarrhoea. The disease is much more rare amongst children who are fed by the mother, because diarrhoea is due to contamination of the milk with microbes, which multiply very quickly in warm weather. A great deal of careful study has been given by various people to this subject during the last few years, and it is now widely recognised that the chief source of contamination is by flies. fly season," two During what is called the " hundred babies die in London alone every week, and thousands of young infants succumb to this disease all over the country. The flies carry the discase germs on their legs and wings straight from decomposing refuse and manure heaps outMilk is the one food side right into the milk. of young infants, and if they get it in a poisoned form they can hardly escape this scourge of infant life. At the same time, the disease can be prevented altogether, and a great many children's lives saved, if the mother is alive to the danger and takes steps to meet it. Whenever baby has to be weaned during the summer months, particularly between July and September, special care should be taken to procure fresh milk and to keep it free from contamination in the house. The jugs containing the milk must be kept covered with a clean cloth, a sheet of clean white paper, or even an inverted plate. A brisk warfare must be waged upon flies, A good rule with regard to hygiene in the By be burned, from old rags and dust to tainted food Treatment of Diarrhea The best plan when an infant contracts diarrhoea in the hot weather is to call in the doctor at once. Many a baby's life is lost by letting an illness run on for a day or two until the disease has got hold of the child and very little can be done. The earlier treatment is started the more hope there is that the child will recover, and no mother can say whether a case is one of mild diarrhoea or a really acute attack of A dose of castor oil will the dangerous variety. probably be prescribed by the doctor at once, and the milk should immediately be stopped and the child fed on egg albumen. The preparation of egg albumen has been described before, but it is such an important foodstuff on this occasion that the facts well deserve repetition. The whites of two eggs are mixed with a breakfastcupful of cold water and This is strained two lumps of sugar added. through muslin. The child can be fed on this for two or three days, until the motions become quite yellow. The characteristic feature of this severe diarrhoea is that the motions are green and full of curded milk. The digestive organs are unable to digest the milk, so that it is quite useless to continue giving it to the child, as it simply forms an excellent food material for the germs in the intestine. It is important in treatment also to keep the child warm and to guard against chill, and it may be necessary to give occasional sips of brandy and water if the infant shows signs of collapse. WHAT TO DO TILL THE DOCTOR COMES Continued from page 5560, Fart 46 When the nose bleeds the patient should sit with the arms raised above the head. Cold cloths soaked in cold water applied to the nose will often arrest the hæmorrhage Injury to the Nose VERY few small boys pass through the school age without sustaining some sort of injury to the nose. This is a part of the human anatomy jeopardised by football, hockey, and school sports in general. Most people know how to deal with nose bleeding. The one point is that the patient should sit not lie down -with the arms raised above the head, which must be held well back. Cold cloths applied to the nose will usually stop hæmorrhage, and, if necessary, the nostrils may be plugged with cotton-wool, applied with some blunt instrument. But general consternation results when injury to the nose displaces it to one side or the other. Swelling in such accidents is usually immediate and very pronounced. The proper treatment is to apply Treatment of stings. First extract the sting, then bathe with equal parts of household ammonia and water cold cloths immediately, and keep up cold compresses one after another until the doctor is summoned. The patient may recline in the chair with the head supported by a pillow, and, unless Stings in mouth or throat. Hot fomentations applied externally there is a good deal of hæmorrhage, the arms need not be raised above the head. A cold compress is simply made by wringing handkerchiefs, folded into a pad, out of cold water. Another may be applied on top, and the handkerchiefs should be reapplied regularly, perhaps every three or four minutes. It is most important to get a doctor to attend to any deformity of the nose at once. The small bones on the bridge are apt to be displaced or broken, and the damage can be put right much more easily at the time than if left for two or three days. Stings bees are not infrequent accidents in the summer-time. They may occasion a good deal of inflammation and swelling if they are not properly attended to at the time. The best treatment is to extract the sting by pressing with a small key directly downwards if it cannot be extracted with a sharp needle. Then bathe with equal parts of household ammonia and water, or with methylated spirit. When a child has been stung in several places, and there is a good deal of collapse, this must be counteracted by keeping the child warm, and giving some hot drink, such as coffee, milk, or tea. Stings in the Mouth and Throat Stinging of the throat sometimes occurs in eating plums and other fruit, or by a wasp or bee finding its way into the mouth. Intense pain and swelling result, and if the sting can be seen, it should be removed at once. Until the arrival of a doctor, hot fomentations or hot water in the mouth will relieve the pain, whilst, when the sting is in the throat, cold water should be sipped or ice may be sucked. A large piece of flannel should be wrung out of hot water and applied externally to the front of the throat. The patient must be kept warm and given salad oil or cod-liver oil in dessertspoonful doses to sip. The oil eases the pain, and sucking ice or sipcold water causes the blood-vessels in the throat to contract. The application of heat to the neck draws the blood away from the inflamed area and soothes the pain. WHY CHILDREN FLAG IN HOT WEATHER Find Out the Cause of a Child's Flagging-Heat Fag versus Rest-Playtime and Bedtime in Summer-Food-Why Cheese is Not Bad for Children-Summer Chills-Fresh Air at Night THERE are mothers who regard as inevitable impaired health in the nursery during hot weather. They consider lassitude, headaches, fairly regular attacks of sickness as "all in the day's work," and flagging health the natural outcome of the heat, which can only be counteracted by a bracing holiday away from home. But that is the wrong point of view. With care and good management, there is no reason why the health of the children should flag in summer. There is no necessity for "summer holidays at all, if one does not happen to be able to afford them for the moment. Children can be kept well, prevented from contracting summer ailments, by common-sense precautions and care. Nearly all the ills of child life are preventable, and every intelligent mother should make up her mind to prevent them, and should realise that the first thing she should do when the children flag from the heat is to ask herself the reason why. Are they having too little rest and sleep? Are they exerting themselves during the hot, sunny hours of the day, when common-sense dictates that everyone who can, should rest in the prone position in the shade? Are they being fed sensibly and suitably, or is improper food or irregular meal-times the cause of the trouble? Has the mother allowed one child to contract summer cold and spread infection to the others? Are hygienic conditions being observed in the home, so that the children are ensured an abundance of fresh air, pure water, and food of irreproachable quality? Under these headings most of the causes of flagging health in summer are to be found. Heat Fag versus Rest All children require an extra allowance of rest and sleep in hot weather. And if method is exercised in this respect, it will do a great deal to keep the children bright and healthy at this season of year. Most children are allowed to stay up later during the cool summer evenings, and unless they have a rest in the middle of the day their sleep time is apt to be curtailed. however, it is arranged that they lie down between twelve and half-past one or between two and half-past three, when the sun is hot, they can with impunity go to bed later at night. If, Many children contract a sort of heat stroke because they are allowed to play on the beach when the sun is literally blazing and their only protection is a shady hat. Let children be kept in the shade as much as possible. Let them occasionally rest from play, and be guarded from the over-excitement and bustle so often associated with life on the sands. From nine till half-past eleven is a much more suitable time for children to play on the sea-shore than in the middle of the day, when the atmosphere and the sands are saturated with the heat and the sun's rays are most powerful. If they are to be out in the afternoon, they are better engaged in gentle walking exercise along shady country roads than broiling on the beach. After tea, in the cool evening air, they may be permitted to play once more on the sands. Then sensible clothing must be considered. Let the children be as lightly and loosely clothed as possible, with sandals instead of stockings and shoes, and a light jersey and knickers for both boys and girls on the sands. All over the Continent the small girls are attired like their |