Malnutrition is not, as many have hitherto believed, ordinarily the secondary result of those physical defects which the clinic seeks to remedy, but it is the primary cause from which these physical defects generally arise. Furthermore, the present widespread view that the most important task in hand is the medical treatment of those children in whom clinically discernible defects exist is a mistaken one. First in importance both from the standpoint of the physically defective child and of the national welfare, is the establishment of nutritive conditions which are regulated as nearly as possible with the scientific precision necessary to insure optimal well-being. The clinic should occupy second place in the scheme of human betterment.