While, therefore, we lament the fate of individual victims to the law of gravitation, we cannot condemn that law itself. If it were suspended to save men from the effects of negligence, not only might the proud creations of human skill totter to their base, and the human body rise from the earth and hang midway in the air; but our highest enjoyments would be terminated, and our faculties become useless, by being deprived of their field of action. If, for instance, the same cause did not always, cæteris paribus, produce the same effects, but the physical laws were suspended or varied to accommodate themselves to Man's negligence or folly, it is obvious that the faculty of causality would be without an object, and that no definite course of action could be entered on with confidence in the result. If, on the other hand, this view of the constitution of nature were kept steadily in mind, the occurrence of one such accident would stimulate reflection to discover the means of avoiding others.

Similar illustrations and comments might be given, in regard to the other physical laws to which Man is subject; but the object of the present essay being merely to evolve principles, I confine myself to gravitation, as the most obvious and best understood.

I do not mean to say, that, by the mere exercise of intellect, Man may absolutely guarantee himself against all accidents; but only that the more ignorant and careless he is, the more will he suffer, and the more intelligent and vigilant, the less; and that I can perceive no limits to this rule. The law of most civilised countries recognises this principle, and subjects owners of ships, coaches, and other vehicles, in reparation of damage arising from gross infringements of the physical laws. It is unquestionable that the enforcement of this liability has given increased security to travellers.

SECT. II.-ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND FROM

INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS.

It is a very common error to imagine that the feelings of the mind are communicated to it through the medium of the intellect; and, in particular, that if no indelicate objects reach the eyes, or expressions penetrate the ears, perfect purity will necessarily reign within: and, proceeding on this

mistake, some persons object to all discussion of the subjects treated of under the "Organic Laws," in works designed for general use. But their principle of reasoning is unsound, and the result has been detrimental to society. The feelings exist and possess activity distinct from the intellect; they spur it on to obtain their gratification; and it may become either their guide or their slave, according as it is, or is not, enlightened concerning their constitution and objects, and the laws of nature to which they are subjected. The most profound philosophers have inculcated this doctrine, and by phrenological observation it is demonstratively established. The organs of the feelings are distinct from those of the intellectual faculties; they are larger; and as each faculty, cæteris paribus, acts with a vigour proportionate to the size of the organs, the feelings are the active or impelling powers of the mind. The cerebellum, or organ of amativeness, is the largest of the whole of the mental organs; and, being endowed with natural activity, it fills the mind spontaneously with emotions and suggestions, which cannot be prevented from arising, or eradicated after they exist; but the outward manifestations of which may be directed, controlled, or resisted, by intellect and moral sentiment. The question, therefore, is, Whether is it more beneficial to enlighten the understanding, that it may control and direct this feeling,or (under the influence of an error in philosophy, and false delicacy founded on it) to permit the propensity to riot in all the fierceness of a blind animal instinct, withdrawn from the eye of reason, but not thus deprived of its vehemence and importunity? The former course appears to me to be the only one consistent with reason and morality; and I shall follow it, in reliance on the good sense of my readers, that they will at once discriminate between practical instruction concerning this feeling, addressed to the intellect, and lascivious representations of objects connected with it, addressed to the propensity itself-with the latter of which the enemies of improvement may attempt to confound my observations. To the pure, all things are pure. Every function of the mind and body has been instituted by the Creator; each has a legitimate sphere of activity; but all may be abused: and it is impossible always to avoid the abuse of them, except by being instructed in their nature, objects, and relations. This instruction is therefore of the most beneficial kind.

An organized being is one which derives its existence from a previously existing organized being-which subsists on food, grows, attains maturity, decays, and dies. Whatever the ultimate object of the Creator in constituting organized beings may be, it will scarcely be doubted that part of His design is that they should enjoy their existence here; and, if so, the object of every part of their structure should be to conduce to this end. To render an organized being perfect in its kind, the germ from which it springs must be complete in all its parts, and sound in its whole constitution; and when it has been ushered into life, and as long as it continues to live, it must be supplied with air, light, and every aliment necessary for its support. A third condition is, that it shall duly exercise its functions. When the conditions are fulfilled, the being should enjoy pleasure from its organized frame, if its Creator is benevolent; and its constitution should be so adapted to its circumstances as to admit of their fulfilment if its Creator is wise and powerful. Is there, then, no such phenomenon on earth, as a human being existing in possession of full organic vigour, from birth till advanced age, when the organic system is fairly worn out? Numberless examples of this kind have occurred; and they show that the corporeal frame of Man is so constituted as to admit of the possibility of his enjoying health and vigour during the whole period of a long life. It is mentioned in the Life of Captain Cook, that " one circumstance peculiarly worthy of notice is the perfect and uninterrupted health of the inhabitants of New Zealand. In all the visits made to their towns, where old and young, men and women, crowded about our voyagers, they never observed a single person who appeared to have any bodily complaint; nor among the numbers that were seen naked, was once perceived the slightest eruption upon the skin, or the least mark which indicated that such an eruption had formerly existed. Another proof of the health of these people is the facility with which the wounds they at any time receive are healed. In the man who had been shot with the musketball through the fleshy part of his arm, the wound seemed to be so well digested, and in so fair a way of being perfectly healed, that if Mr Cook had not known that no application had been made to it, he declared that he should certainly have inquired, with a very interested curiosity, after the vulnerary herbs and surgical art of the country. An ad

ditional evidence of human nature being untainted with disease in New Zealand, is the great number of old men with whom it abounds. Many of them, by the loss of their hair and teeth, appeared to be very ancient, and yet none of them were decrepit. Although they were not equal to the young in muscular strength, they did not come in the least behind them with regard to cheerfulness and vivacity. · Water, as far as our navigators could discover, is the universal and only liquor of the New Zealanders. It is greatly to be wished that their happiness in this respect may never be destroyed by such a connection with the European nations, as shall introduce that fondness for spirituous liquors which hath been so fatal to the Indians of North America."*

In almost every country, indeed, persons are to be found who have been free from sickness during the whole course of a protracted life.

Now, this excellent health could not occur in individuals unless it were fairly within the capabilities of the race.

The sufferings of women in childbed have been cited as evidence that the Creator has not intended the human being, under any circumstances, to execute all its functions entirely free from pain. But, besides the obvious answer, that the objection applies only to one sex, and is therefore not to be too readily presumed to have its origin in nature, there is good reason to ascribe much of the suffering in question to departures from the natural laws, either in the structure or in the habits of those who experience it.†

The most perfect forms and proportions of the human body being those best adapted to health and activity, there is an advantage in studying fine models of the human figure in painting and sculpture. They raise our ideas of the excellence of form and proportion of which our nature is

*Kippis's Life of Captain Cook, p. 100; Dublin, 1788.

† Professor Simpson of Edinburgh, and his numerous followers, have for a series of years applied chloroform to produce insensibility to pain in cases of difficult labour. While it extinguishes sensibility for the time, it does not impede the muscular contractions which accomplish childbirth; and, in consequence, he recommends it to be used also in cases of natural labour. The benevolence and wisdom implied in such a pre-arrangement as this, are calculated to excite admiration and gratitude in every well-constituted mind; nevertheless, this application of chloroform was at first objected to, as being a profane attempt to abrogate the primeval curse pronounced upon woman. See APPENDIX, No. IV.

susceptible, and furnish us with motives to treat children in a manner calculated to educe and preserve these requisites of health and beauty.

Let us assume, then, that the organized system of Man admits of the possibility of health, vigour, and organic enjoyment, during the full period of life; and proceed to inquire into the causes why these advantages are not universal.

1. One condition of their possession, I have stated, is, that the germ of the infant must be complete and sound in all its parts. If an agriculturist sow corn that is weak, wasted, or damaged, the plants that spring from it will be feeble, and liable to speedy decay. The same law prevails in the animal kingdom; but has it hitherto been observed by Man? Certainly it has not. Indeed, its existence has been either nearly unknown, or greatly disregarded. The feeble, the sickly, the incompletely developed through extreme youth, and the exhausted with age, marry, and, without considering what organization they may transmit to their offspring, bring into the world miserable beings, the very rudiments of whose existence are tainted with disease. If we trace such conduct to its source, we shall find it to originate in the supremacy of animal propensity, or in ignorance, or in both. It implies an utter disbelief in the organic laws, and in their consequences being pre-ordained by God for the purpose of serving as a guide to rational beings in their marriages. The inspiring motives of such unions are generally sensual appetite, avarice, or ambition, operating in the absence of all just conceptions of the impending evils. The fruit of this conduct is debility and pain transmitted to the children, and reflected back in anxiety and sorrow to the parents. From such observations as I have been able to make, I am convinced that the union of certain temperaments and combinations of mental organs in the parents, is highly conducive to health, talent, and morality in the offspring, and that these conditions may be discovered and taught with greater certainty, facility, and advantage, than is generally imagined. It will be time enough to conclude that men are naturally incapable of accommodating their conduct to the organic laws, when, after their intellectual faculties and moral sentiments have been trained to observance of the Creator's institutions, as at once their duty, their interest, and a grand source of their enjoyment, they shall be found continually to resist them.