In England, degeneration received a scientific formulation from Ray Lankester whose detailed discussions of the biology of parasitism were hugely influential; and the poor physical condition of many recruits for the second South African war (1899–1902) caused alarm in British government circles. The psychiatrist Henry Maudsley initially argued that degenerate family lines would die out with little social consequence, but later became more pessimistic about the effects of degeneration on the general population; Maudsley also warned against the use of the term "degeneration" in a vague and indiscriminate way. British anxieties about the perils of degeneration found legislative expression in the Mental Deficiency Act 1913 which had the strong support of Winston Churchill, then a senior member of the Liberal government.