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50
discovery had never been made. There can he no
doubt, however, that it is the solemn duty of every
State, and of every community of individuals to
screen themselves and their neighbours from the
liability to take Small Pox, and to get rid of
at least this one of the dire sisters that produce
disease and death.
With these exceptions we can point to no absolute
law that gives certain pre-emption from the
effects of the morbid poisons to which I have drawn
attention. There can be no doubt that other things
being equal, that the healthiest individual will be
the one that is least likely to fall under the
influence of any of the poisons enumerated. We
find that as a rule where—adults as well as children
—are well fed, well clothed, well -washed, and have
plenty of fresh air they are least likely to contract
any kind of disease. It is amongst the poor, the
half-starved, the dirty, the half-clad, and overcrowded
that all forms of Zymotic Disease crop up,
and run their ghastly course. They are for ever
a warning that man is living contrary to the laws
of his healthy existence, and that something is
wrong in his mode of life. This state of body is
not more an indication that the sanitary laws of a
country are deficient, or that sanitary authorities
neglect their duty, as that people are grossly ignorant
of the first conditions of their physical existence,
and have never been taught the A B C of a healthy
life.
3. The medium by which organic poisons are