1888, arrives at the following conclusions as to what determines the physical condition of the population.  After discussing the cosmical influences and the evil effects of poverty and bad hygienic arrangements on the people, he proceeds to point out that moral corruption arising from material prosperity is also a powerful factor in producing physical degeneracy.  He singles out one canton—­the canton of Luchon—­as being the victim of its own prosperity.  In this canton, he says, that the old simplicity of life has departed, in consequence of its prodigious prosperity.  “Vices formerly unknown have penetrated into the country; the frequenting of public houses and the habit of keeping late hours have taken the place of the open air sports which used to be the favoured method of enjoyment.  Illegitimate births, formerly very rare, have multiplied, syphilis even has spread among the young.  Food of a less substantial character has superseded the diet of former times, and, in short, alcoholism, precocious debauchery, and syphilis have come like so many plagues to arrest the development of the youth and seriously debilitate the population."[24]

    [24] Revue Scientifique, September 13, 1890.

Facts such as these should serve to remind us that the growth of wealth may be accompanied, and is accompanied, by degeneracy of the worst character unless there is a corresponding growth of the moral sentiments of the community.  “The perfection of man,” says M. de Laveleye, “consists in the full development of all his forces, physical as well as intellectual, and of all his sentiments; in the feeling of affection for the family and humanity; in a feeling for the beautiful in nature and art.”  It is in proportion as men strive after this ideal that crime will decay, and material prosperity only becomes a good when it is used as a means to this supreme end.  Otherwise, the mere growth of wealth, be it ever so widely diffused, will deprave the world instead of elevating it.  The mere possession of wealth is not a moralising agent; as Professor Marshall[25] truly tells us, “Money is general purchasing power, and is sought as a means to all kinds of ends, high as well as low, spiritual as well as material.”  According to this definition, money may as readily become a source of mischief as an instrument for good; its wider diffusion among the community has, therefore, a mixed effect, and it works for evil or for good, according to the character of the individual.  It is only when the character is disciplined by the habitual exercise of self-restraint, and ennobled by a generous devotion to the higher aims of life, that money becomes a real blessing to its possessor.  If, on the other hand, money has merely the effect of making the well-to-do rich, and the poor well-to-do, it will never diminish crime; it will merely cause crime to modify its present forms.  Such, at least, is the conclusion to which a consideration of the contents of this chapter would seem to lead.