ABSTRACT
A combination of Meath imperialism, nationalism and Social Darwinism led Meath to embrace the cause of combatting urban pollution for particularly nationalistic reasons: the fear that this was causing the physical degeneration of Britain’s youth and so also her military capabilities. The Royal Commission on Physical Training in Scotland found that in Edinburgh nearly 30 per cent. of the elementary school children were badly nourished, 19.17 per cent were in poor health, 12.33 per cent were mentally dull, and 78 per cent were more or less physically weak and suffering from some kind of disease. The Royal Commission on Physical Training in Scotland showed that the condition of life under which the poor lived in Edinburgh was detrimental to health and strength, but in considering the rejections for the Navy from this town we find in 1902 only 23.6 per cent were rejected, whilst 24.9 were rejected from Bristol, 30.3 from Exeter, and 35.9 from London.
