VIS MEDICATRIX NATURE 633 



natural death altogether; the numberless arrangements for 

 keeping the earth clean and sweet; the hygienic value of 

 sunshine and fresh air. 



These matters lie outside our proper theme, but they 

 are well worthy of being recalled. Even when one is able 

 to give a reasonable account of how they have come to be, 

 they illustrate the balance and adaptiveness which is charac- 

 teristic of Animate Nature. Only a system with order and 

 progress in the heart of it could elaborate itself so perfectly 

 and so intricately. There is assuredly much to incline us 

 to " assert Eternal Providence, and justify the ways of 

 God to Men ". 



2. Psychological Aspects of the Healing Power of Nature. 



Let us think, however, of the way in which Nature con- 

 tributes to the hygiene and healing of our minds, so apt to 

 be disturbed by the rush and racket of civilisation. There 

 are deeply-rooted, old-established, far-reaching relations be- 

 tween Man and Nature which cannot be ignored without 

 loss. Man was cradled and brought up in touch with Na- 

 ture, and he must ever return to her, like the wandering 

 birds whose life is never full until, moved by an organic 

 homesickness, they come back to nest in the place where they 

 were born. In a period of evolution which has been mainly 

 urban, we miss our contact with the open country, which 

 is, for many, a condition of full sanity, and makes for the 

 steadying and enrichment of life. 



Especially in youth is touch with Nature invaluable, for 

 it remains true of the child who goes forth every day that 

 " what he sees becomes part of him for a day, or for a year, 

 or for stretching cycles of years ". It seems a pity that 

 the modern child is often unfamiliar with the Scriptures; 



