The opposite error, of not providing a sufficiently nourishing diet for the young, is, from mistaken views, much more prevalent than it ought to be, particularly in female boarding-schools, where, as already mentioned, the system of diet is often insufficient for due sustenance and growth; and where, consequently, the natural expression of impaired health, if not actual disease, is a marked feature in the aspect of most of the pupils. So defective, indeed, is the common school management in this and other respects, that we have the best authority for considering it as a rare exception for a girl to return home in full health after spending two or three years at an ordinary English boarding-school.[51] It is true, that much of this result is owing to excessive confinement, neglect of cheerful exercise, ill-ventilated sleeping apartments, and other depressing influences; but to these, that of an insufficient diet may often be added; and when it does exist, it acts with double force from the impaired digestion, which seldom fails to ensue where the laws of health are so widely outraged. I have seen some striking instances of incurable scrofulous disease, induced by the depressing influence of misfortune added to the want of a sufficient supply of nutritious food. After the mercantile disasters of 1825–6, many cases of this kind occurred, especially in families whose sensitive feelings induced them to shrink from public observation, and to suffer the severest privations rather than allow their situation to become known. In these cases, the tone of the general health first became reduced, and then local disease was easily excited by any trivial cause. In one, the structure of the bones and joints became disorganized, and amputation of the limb preserved life, but could not prevent other parts of the osseous system from being attacked. In another, caries of the bones of the foot ensued, but the constitution itself was so thoroughly tainted that no operation could be performed with even momentary success, and, after much suffering, the patient died. The same causes undermined the health of another member of the same family, and led to his death, from consumption, at an early age.