The sum and substance of all the study one can give to the subject is, that if the food is not such as digestion can master at the time, it is useless, and can only do harm, whether for an infant or for an adult. Not being turned to proper account, the blood receives no new supply and is impoverished; the body is not nourished or developed, and inherited tendencies are given an opportunity to force their way to the front.

Many diseases to which children are liable - more especially those during the school age, when young people are under the greatest pressure, owing to the craze for mental growth at the expense of physical development - would be likely to disappear under strict supervision of hygiene and diet. This is also true of the various infantile disorders, catarrhal and nervous troupes. The average mother finds more difficulty in feeding her children satisfactorily than in any other class of home work. This she does in two ways: directly, in which event she is fully aware of her difficulties; or indirectly, when she is only brought to knowledge of them by results that she recognizes because of her understanding of the underlying causes of nervous, irritable, peevish and other feverish conditions, which are largely brought about by malnutrition.