would flow on, and the void would soon be filled. But the effect would
only be thus insignificant, if, as I said, your millions were taken
promiscuously (as in the modern army), not if they were _picked_
men----in _that_ case the loss (or gain) would be excessive, and
permanent for all time. Now, the war-hosts of the ancient
commonwealths--not dependent on the mechanical contrivances of the
modern army--were necessarily composed of the very best men: the
strong-boned, the heart-stout, the sound in wind and limb. Under these
conditions the State shuddered through all her frame, thrilled adown
every filament, at the death of a single one of her sons in the field.
As only the feeble, the aged, bided at home, their number after each
battle became larger _in proportion to the whole_ than before. Thus the
nation, more and more, with ever-increasing rapidity, declined in
bodily, and of course spiritual, quality, until the _end_ was reached,
and Nature swallowed up the weaklings whole; and thus war, which to the
modern state is at worst the blockhead and indecent _affaires
d'honneur_ of persons in office--and which, surely, before you and I
die will cease altogether--was to the ancient a genuine and
remorselessly fatal scourge.

'And now let me apply these facts to the Europe of our own time. We no
longer have world-serious war--but in its place we have a scourge, the
effect of which on the modern state is _precisely the same_ as the
effect of war on the ancient, only,--in the end,--far more destructive,
far more subtle, sure, horrible, disgusting. The name of this
pestilence is Medical Science. Yes, it is most true, shudder
--shudder--as you will! Man's best friend turns to an asp in his
bosom to sting him to the basest of deaths. The devastating growth of
medical, and especially surgical, science--that, if you like, for us
all, is "the question of the hour!" And what a question! of what