Thanks again to the past measures taken to repress crime and to ensure good behaviour, the physical health of the kingdom leaves almost nothing to be desired. Epidemic diseases are practically unknown, as are also contagious venereal maladies. It is the constant, and possibly rather trying and officious, visitations made by the sanitary inspectors into every homestead, small or great, patrician or plebeian, which have doubtless helped to induce this highly commendable condition of affairs. Disease and dirt are the two evils which are attacked without rest or mercy by the councillors appointed for their control, and by their equally energetic representatives. Cleanliness is not reckoned as next to godliness in Meleager; it is an inherent part of religion itself, and hygienic regulations are perpetually being enforced upon what is now become a willing, though no doubt in past times it was an unwilling, population. I suppose many English Puritans would look askance at the thermal establishments which exist both in the cities and in the rural districts, seeing that the two sexes have here opportunities of studying one another in a nude state; but then, as I have said before, Meleagrian morals do not exist for morality's sake, but have evidently been framed for the special purpose of securing a healthy vigorous race. Early marriage is encouraged, but, paradoxical as it may appear, large families are not considered desirable; whilst there is a curious custom which permits of a husband no longer cohabiting with his wife after she has borne him three children living. I have heard that this eccentric, and no doubt to many offensive, notion also prevails in the upper ranks of the civilised Latin races, though possibly my informant may have been mistaken in his statement. I gather that such a tacit understanding has its origin in the fear of over-population, and certainly the limited land surface of Meleager possessing a desirable climate may plead as a reasonable excuse for the holding of this whimsical tenet, which seems to savour of the school of Malthus. Apparently the growth of population in Meleager is somewhat analogous to that of modern France, and seeing the high place in which French philosophy and culture are held by the leading nations of the Earth, the Meleagrians are at least erring in good company.