Later he says: “It is undoubtedly true that we can, even now, literally choose between health and disease; not, perhaps, always individually, for the sins of our fathers may be visited upon us, or the customs of our life and the chains of our civilisation and social customs may gall us, or even our fellow-men may deny us health, or the knowledge which leads to health. But, as a race, man holds his own destiny, and can choose between good and evil; and as time unrolls the scheme of the world, it is not too much to hope that the choice will be for good.” He further powerfully indicates the basis of state medicine, to secure for all individuals the conditions of health which they often cannot secure for themselves. He shows too that self-interest, state-benefit, and pecuniary profit are at one in these matters when rightly understood. “It is but too commonly forgotten,” he says, “that the whole nation is interested in the proper treatment of every one of its members, and in its own interest has a right to see that the relations between individuals are not such as in any way to injure the well-being of the community at large.” It is almost needless to add that numerous editions of Parkes’s Practical Hygiene have been called for; it has also been translated into several foreign languages. We have enumerated, however, but a small portion of the subjects upon which Parkes’s unceasing philanthropic activity was exercised. For many years he wrote an annual review of the Progress of Hygiene, contributed to the Army Medical Reports. He served on many public inquiries relating to matters of health, and did more for the diminution of mortality in the army than any other man. He carried on many protracted and difficult physiological investigations, such as those on the effects of diet and exercise, on the elimination of nitrogen, on the effects of alcohol on the human body, on the effects of coffee, extract of meat, and alcohol on men marching, chiefly contributed to the Royal Society. As a member of the Senate of London University, and of the General Medical Council, and as Secretary to the Senate of the Army Medical School, he performed detailed work of the highest value, and all in spite of delicate health.