This disease has attracted a great deal of attention and besides the medical literature on the subject, short articles have frequently appeared in the newspapers and magazines. These have usually been misleading, so that it is looked upon as a disease of the blood, rather than impoverished blood, which it really is. Anaemia is not a curse sent from Mars or Jupiter, but the natural result of plain, every-day ignorance; or at least indiscretion in diet and habits. If the system is not supplied with the necessary elements to make good blood, or the blood be poisoned by effete matter in the system, or drained by profuse discharges, anaemia results. It is most common in girls during puberty; also frequently found among young women - especially students - and a little less frequent among women generally.

Causes

The chief causes are: insufficient clothing on arms and legs, too little exercise, lack of pure air, and, above all, a diet in which candy, pickles and pastry form the larger part. Secondary causes are profuse discharges (which are also due to errors in living), absorption of pus from suppurating inflammations, drugs, and possibly from eating too little food of any kind. Women may have anaema, sick-headache, bilious attacks, female complaints, or other disorders, and persist in saying that nothing they eat "hurts them," which may be literally true, but not true in effect. There is something remarkable about the perversion of young girls' appetites at puberty, because the more anaemic they are, the more they crave injurious substances. Parents should bear in mind that poorly-nourished girls will be imperfectly developed women, who, in turn, will probably become mothers of degenerate children. Many make a great mistake in supposing that fat is an indication of good blood and vigor. The test of good blood is health, strength and energy. Many anaemic children are unjustly called lazy, while in fact they have no vital force. They merely exist in form, but not in an active one.

The discussion of foods and dietaries in part one, thoroughly covers the subject; but attention cannot too often be drawn to some errors, and among them is the habit of girls "piecing" between meals, eating fried foods, pickles, pastry and white bread. A plain, well-cooked, cereal diet, with stewed or roasted meat, milk, cream, soft-boiled or poached eggs, ground nuts, without strong tea or coffee, will soon dispel anaemia. The time is coming when it will be odious to be sick.