Every social institution serves for the attainment of some particular end--is, that is to say, a means to that end. If an end can be obtained without consuming wealth--that is, without employing the means involving such an expenditure of wealth, then the sacrifice of this wealth and the employment of these means are superfluous, and even harmful. The tendency of every social institution is, in fact, to become superfluous, and to be superseded with the passage of the years. The wise physician who has to deal with the diseases affecting the human body does not confine his efforts to the treatment and relief of symptoms, but endeavours to ascertain and to remove the causes of those symptoms. He is well aware that a method of treatment which is confined to the relief of mere symptoms will effect no more than a temporary improvement, and that as long as the cause of the symptoms remains in active operation, the morbid phenomena will continue to recur. Now these considerations apply with just as much force to the social organism as they do to the individual human organism. When we pass judgment upon a social institution, we must always endeavour to ascertain whether any defect we may notice connected with its working belongs to the social institution as such, and whether the fault is inseparable from the institution, or whether we may reasonably expect that in the further course of development, or as a result of better organisation, this particular defect will disappear. In the work of child-protection, these fundamental principles must always be kept in mind. _Objections to Child-Protection._--A number of objections have been formulated against child-protection, of which the following may be mentioned. In crèches and other institutions for the care of young children, the spread of infectious diseases very readily occurs. Most of the institutions aiming at child-protection are really rewards of immorality, and thus tend to encourage immorality. It is a natural law that a child should be cared for by its own parents, and child-protection, in so far as it separates the child from its parents, is unnatural. Most of these objections are invalid. Many authors maintain that the protection of juvenile criminals does more harm than good; but even if this is true to-day, it does not follow that juvenile criminals should not be protected, but simply that our methods of protection should be better adapted to their purpose. The objections urged against crèches and other institutions for the care of young children should not lead to the inference that no such institutions ought to exist, but should rather draw our attention to the necessity for taking better measures to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious diseases. No one can doubt to-day that the suppression of these diseases is within our power.