However, there is this to be said concerning the children of consumptive parents: they are born delicate, and therefore far more likely to fall victims to the scourge than others. May they grow out of this delicacy of constitution? Yes, and that is the question I am going to consider, but I must answer another one, and it is one, too, that strikes at the very root of sociality: should consumptive people, or those suffering from other so-called hereditary ailments, marry? I say, “No.” They are, if they do so, guilty of as great a crime as many a felon who leaves the dock with the dread sentence of the judge ringing in his ears. It is sad to have to answer the question in such seemingly cruel words, but nevertheless I believe I am doing my duty in giving that reply. There are two ways in which a young woman can give herself to God in this world, and both are honourable. One is by marrying the man she loves if he be healthy in body and pure in mind—not else—and thus becoming Heaven’s own servant for the happy propagation of healthful species and the progress of the world; the other is by—if weakly—remaining celibate and devoting her time, her talents and energies to doing good to her fellow beings without hope of reward in this world. There is a charm about a woman like this (though foolish people may sneer at her as an old maid) that it is difficult to describe. I have met many such, and seem to have seen a halo already around their heads. I am a physician, naturalist, scientist, if you will, and something of an astronomer, and being so of course—to some extent—a _doubter_, but I do most sincerely believe that the good in this weary wicked world will ultimately prevail, and those who help it onwards will not go unrewarded in a future life whatever that life may be. Now to lay down a few simple rules for the treatment of weakly children whether born of delicate parents or not. Will she grow out of it? The answer to this question is a hopeful one or the reverse just as you choose to make it, young mother. There is one stumbling-block of which I bid you beware at the very outset of your girl-child’s life. It is the bogey “cold.” That young children need warmth is very true. They are for the time being little hot-house plants, but the sooner you recognise the truth that they are not intended to remain so, the better it will be for yourself, and for the child as well. Those wee things have to be hardened off because the world isn’t a hot-house, and they have got to live hardy, healthy, and therefore happy lives, in spite of the many and daily changes of this changeable climate of ours.