Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-12-07
Health Talks by Dr.. Brady
Better Lite Than Lonely.

Kentucky correspondent sends me n
newspaper clipping OF item dated London.
October 81
The first child has the worst record for
disease and the eighth child and upward the
best This is the result of an exhaustive
inquiry made by DR.. r. II. Vance among the
school children of Essex Eighth Children
he says. "are inferior to mono and superior
to the eldest children In small families
Intelligence rises slightly from the frs,
child TO the third. then drops to the sixth.
and rises again 10 the eighth.
THE tallcst and heaviest children are tho
latest born. while the shortest and highest
arc the second and sixth.
The eldest child. as rule. has the lightest
cnlorcd eyes. while tho eighth has the dark
est In defects OF vision the first and second
children arc the worst. while the third child
comes out best"
Anent the Item the correspondent remarks:
The clipping was sent to me by my eighth
son, and 1t just occurred to me that II might
interest you. This son Is six-footer, 90
years Old weighs IFS pounds u nd is the tallest
OF mine. Curious. isn't IT."
And yet not SO extraordinary. when You
come to think OF It. Nature ought to improve
with practice. or rather, human ignorance
ought To place fewer obstacles in natures
way with experience. Experience Is a good
teacher. The parents of tho first horn have
not had the educational advantage OF years
of experience which the parents OF the eighth
norm and upward have obtained. This idea
is not mine. but strikingly elucidatcd by
Casper l. Redfcld In little book on Human
Heredity" Hferedity Publishing Company, 3a3
South Clark Street Chicago. mo- which one
child parents should read for cnlightcnme II t
and eight-child parents for delisht-if the
latter seek delight Rcdfcld makes out n
strong case for larger famlies--by sound
scientific reasoning and the citation of in
Vulnerable eminent examples he shows tina
the late born child is moro likely to be OF
a high order Of intelligence II not a genius
Such forceful scientific arguments as Red
fields make the degenerate and criminal
vocates stand out hdeously. a cancer eat
ing into the social fabric.
The mental and physical superiority OF the
last or later over the first born child of a
family IL an everyday observation. This is
less noticeable in little two to ve-chtld fam
lilies than il Is in eight 10 twelve -chlld fam
iies-for even In these days OF higher cdu-
cation Family does occa sionaNy strike
twelve before quitting.
The English doctors observ a ton will prove
somewhat disappointing to PSYCHOLOGISTS and
other purveyors to the superstitious. Too
bad he didn't select the seventh child 1t
just happened To be the eighth In tho Eroup
the doctor tabulatcd: in another community
the tenth child would probably surpass the
eighth. and even the seventh might have a
show.
Every man should be married before the
age of 80 but before he has enough
sense TO vote. Every woman should marry
at least one such man before 80, but not he
fore she knows enough to vote Marry ear,y
If you arc fit to marry. but if you missed the
train at % don't sulk. DR. Vcrcoc Casper Red
field and agree unanimously that II is better
to be late than lonely.