(6) Disuse of mind causes atrophy and degradation. This principle is one of the most important of all in its practical bearings. The familiar figure of the later Merovings, the _rois fainéants_, is an historical example: freed from all necessity of thought by the assiduity of the mayors of the palace, the family mind atrophied further in each generation, until the king became a puppet without volition in royal affairs. The same working may be seen in the upper classes of many countries, where the spur of the necessity of action ceases. Within a century of the cessation of the Moorish wars the chivalry of Spain began to atrophy; the same was seen in a century after the cessation of civil war in France. In England the strong tradition of training for the public careers in the civil and military services and parliament, has saved the upper classes more than elsewhere. But a rich family without active interests almost always shows atrophy of mind. There is a fine saying of Mencius, "Those whom God destines for some great part, He first chastens by suffering and toil." The same tendency to atrophy is equally seen in the lower classes, when the necessity of self-help is removed. And many of the modern movements have been of a degrading tendency, leading to the holding back of the capable and the artificial help of the incapable. It is obvious that if persons have retrograded and got into difficulties, they are presumably less capable than those around them. If then they are relieved independently of their own exertions, their incapacity is fostered and they retrograde still further. To compensate them for their incapacity by relief works, by farm colonies, by outdoor relief doles, by maintenance of their children, will inevitably lead to further atrophy of mind. The doctrine of equality of wages in a trade is a double injury, it encourages the most incapable man that can possibly squeeze into the trade, and it discourages the capable man who is worth far more than the average. It must tend to drive capable men out of the trades which they might have raised by their example and stimulus, into other lines where capacity can still earn its value. The mental atrophy that has come over ordinary workmen is appalling, at least in the region of London. In case after case, the common sense and intelligence seems to have been entirely lost, and the grossest blunders will be made by well-paid men; and it is safe to say that in most business a really capable and active man can do from three to six times as much as the average workman, beside avoiding the loss of time by mistakes. In short a certified ease of conditions, and absence of direct penalties of incapacity, has atrophied the ordinary working mind to a point which is dangerously low in comparison with that of other races. The remedy lies in training the incapable by a stern discipline of gradually teaching them the maximum that they can perform in the