Page:The Road to Wellville (1926).djvu/62



HAT can be more important than laying the foundations of health for a lifetime, and beyond that into following generations, in the body of a child? We read of the terrible train of heredity and the widening circles of disease, suffering, idiocy, and crime spread by one family of degenerates. And by the same token a human body soundly built is not only health insurance for one, but a priceless inheritance for hundreds; a chance to start an endless chain of health and happiness or a vicious circle of disease and death.

Adult bodies are finished; we can only improve and repair them. But children are in the process of construction, and it is in them that the hope of a higher level of national health lies.

Think of the blind years when we did not know that a child-bearing woman should have abundant milk and whole grains, and laxative, mineral-bearing fruits and vegetables. If nature cannot get lime for the framework of the little body, it takes it from the mother’s teeth and bone supply—it will have it! The vitamins A, B, C, and D are most essential to the successful bearing and nourishing of a child. The foundation of tooth