The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-08-09
fFrom the New York World. r.
The Sources 0c EIa pInoasf

S,s Mcie SisillDR one or the finest seats In
England. Its a unique place, combining
as IL does the most exquisite scenery of q
Kina rarely found in that country-at least.
except tnland-with a glorious Atlantic
washed seaboard. Receding from the ocean
are swelling lawns dotted with maeuificent
lumber, whilst in the gardens those accus-
toned to southern Europe are astonished TO
nnd plants and shrubs Towering In luxuri-
ance-thanks to the Gulf stream striking the
DeVonshtre coast-which they have hitherto
OILY iooked for under sunny, southern skies.
w nat heaven life must be to the owner
OF such paradise !" was the exclamation
Whlch Tell from the lips OF visitor "You
would scarcely shy so, sir,n was the re-
)olnder Of the gray-headed old gardener.
were you TO know his lordship.' "How
sor Why, he's such q cripple from rheu-
matte govt lhat even every mouthful he
takes has to be placed in his mouth.n It
was true enough, and for twenty long years
did Lord NJ. linger out such an existence.
such cases as these serve very impressiyely
to bring home 10 US how very little worth
having are rank, fortune, q lot cast in pleasant
PAGES, even charming wife and children,
| all That we can desire-and Lord NJ. had ALI
lnese.wlthous freedom from physical pain
and discomfort
That we all value health is shown by our
familiar inquiry, " How are your" But not
Wlthstanding this we show ourselves in
many respects utterly Indifferent about the
matter. For instance, take the point of
marriage:
Young Robinson goes to Saratoga and
falls IN love with that charming Miss Brown.
The Robinsons are Philadelphians, the
Browns live in New England. Robinson's
friends first thought is, ten to one, " Has
the girl got any money ?" Mr.. Browns
first query, on the other hand, is, "What
has the fellow got to marry on ?" Well,
these inquiries are satisfactorily answered
on both sides, and thus all obstacles are re-
moved. The honeymoon passes apparently
satisfactorily, but perhaps not quite so we'll
as it might, did we know all about It, Before
long the Robinsons complain that young
Mrs. Robinson is "always ailing,N and
gradually it leaks out that her family are
1" dreadfuIly unhealthy" "An uncle,'' it is
whispered to Mrs. Robinson, senior, "posi-
lively died in lunatic asylum" There is
an elder sister. much suppressed, who. to
put it at the miIdest, is decidedly odd"
and the second brother is ga very poor
creature" Meanwhile an interesting event
takes place, and young Robinson finds him
self the father of q miserable little wretch
of an infant, destined perhaps some quarter
of century hence to be himself the progeni-
tor of an even inferior edition of the race.
Now, does all the money in the world
compensate the child so born for the bad
constitution his progenitors have given
him? Well has it been said that "the in
heritance of mans descent weighs on him
through life like good or bad fate. How
can he escape from his ancestors! Stored
I'D mysteriously in the nature which they
transmit to him, he inherits not only the or
ganzed results of the acquisitions and cpo-
luton of generations of men, but he in
herits also certain individual peculiarities
or prociyities which determine irrcsistibly
the general aim Of his career. While he
fancies that he is steering himself and deter
mining his course at will his character is his
destiny. The laws of hereditary transmits
sion are charged with the destinieS Of man.
kind-of the race and of the individual"
And yet, in the face of this, we are most
of us apt to be perfectly satisfied when our
darling Toms and Marys marry, provided it
be into "a good family and there's money.
Into the family treasure Of health it is gene
rally deemed quite unnecessary to look. How
many men and women among US could tell
a tale of the misery consequent on such neg
lect if the veil of delicacy were drawn
aside. But to put the matter in an even
darker and more serious point of view
The observations Of intelligent prison sur
geons tend more and more to prove that a
considerable proportion Of criminals are.
weak-minded or epleptic. One very emf
| nent prison surgeon has lately expressed
his conviction that the principal business
| of prison surgeons must always be with
| mental defects or disease. He Is Of opin-
ion that there is among criminals dis
tinct and incurable criminal class marked
| by peculiarly low physical and mental char.
| acteristics; that crime is hereditary in the
| families of criminals belonging to this
class; and that this hereditary crime is
disorder of mind having close relations
of nature and descent to epilepsy, dip
somania, insanity, and other forms of
degeneracy. Yet such persons go on
marrying, and as laws at present exist no one
can interfere. At this moment thousands in
this city are the victims to disease destined to
| bear fruit in such forms, which they are
transmitting to future generations; but
although people think and talk so much
| about the value of health, and throw up
| their hands in horror and despair when they
read of "dreadful cases." these same do
| nothing whatever to endeaYor to arrest the
malades which, in this greatest of seaports
are sapping the constitutions OF thousands
Of men of all classes.
Dreadful indeed is it to reflect that all the
care in the world, the best diet, the most
able medical advice; in word, all the most
favorable adventurous aids, are almost rs
naught when set against what man has in
herited from profigate, drunken father or
grandfather.
| Look at that youth of eighteen with his
splendid natural muscle, his well-set figure,
his clear complexion. Contrast him with
the puny, ill-deyeloped, scar-necked lad be-
side him. 1t Is simply that one derives from
a healthy stock, the other from degene-
rate. Well do such illustrate Horace's Est
IN tnpencis uirtas."
1t is a miserably false delieacy which re-
| fuses to look steadily in the face and to dis
cuss this most deplorable of human ills on
| the plea that such subjects are out of place
in "a family paper" This question must
sooner or later assume in New York the i'm
portance which it has acquired in the great
naval-military marine centres of England.
Be it remembered that it is not to such CEN
| tres as these that the evil is confined Thence
| its hideous Influence permeates through the
land, and consumption, epilepsy, criminal
insanity, are spread abroad 1t is, indeed,
high time that this subject should meet with
urgent attention here. Is the health Of na.
tons to he undermined because spade must
not be called spade, and people are too
refined to consider how they can take means
| to mitigate for others the miseries they
and those belonging to them are enduring !:
The CHOLERA. New York Erening
Il A.