79 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



When a conflagration rages, do we " obey " and " co-operate " with 

 Nature by adding fuel to the flames ? When pestilence is abroad, do 

 we try to increase its deadly activity ? When we stumble, do we 

 make a point of yielding to the law of gravitation and throwing our- 

 selves headlong ? When the winter winds are howling, do we throw 

 open doors and windows that we may feel all the force and bitterness 

 of the blast ? Or do we, in these and all other cases, seek to modify 

 the action of one law by that of another a process his lordship calls 

 " thwarting " in order that their combined or balanced action may 

 yield us, as nearly as possible, the results we desire ? We throw water 

 on the fire. We use disinfectants and prophylactics against the plague. 

 We set muscular force against that of gravitation. We oppose warmth 

 to cold. In none of these cases do we ask what Nature wants ; we are 

 content to know what we want. We don't really believe that Nature 

 wants anything ; so we have no hesitation or compunction in letting 

 our wants rule. In the matter of the weak and sickly, they might per- 

 ish if unconscious forces alone were at work, or even in certain con- 

 ditions of human society ; but it does not suit our interests, for very 

 obvious reasons, to let them perish. To do so would strike at all hu- 

 man affections, and would so far weaken the bonds of society and ren- 

 der the whole social fabric less secure. Moreover, a sick man is very 

 different from a sick animal. The latter is inevitably inferior as an 

 animal, whereas the former may not only not be inferior, but may be 

 superior as a man, and capable of rendering much service to society. 

 Two instances occur to me as I write that of the late Professor 

 Cairnes, in England, and of the late Professor Ernest Bersot, in 

 France, both smitten with cruel and hopeless maladies, but both ful- 

 filling, in an eminent degree, the highest intellectual and moral offices 

 of men. What the well do for the sick is of course obvious, and at- 

 tracts sufficient attention ; but what the sick do for the well, not being 

 so obvious, attracts less attention than it deserves. Yet how many 

 lessons of patience, fortitude, and resignation lessons that all require 

 come to us from the sick-bed, or at least from those whom weakness 

 of constitution or perhaps some unhappy accident has robbed of a 

 normal activity and health ! At times we see superiority of intellectual 

 and moral endowment triumphing over the most serious physical disa- 

 bilities ; as in the case of the present Postmaster-General of England, 

 who accidentally lost his sight when quite a youth. The late M. Louis 

 Blanc, a man of splendid talents, never advanced beyond the stature 

 of a child. The ancient Spartans might have exposed one of so feeble 

 a frame on Taygetus ; for with them every man had to be a soldier ; 

 but, in modern life, with its greatly diversified interests, many a man 

 too weak to be a soldier can yet render splendid service to the commu- 

 nity. It will, therefore, I trust, be sufficiently obvious, first, that Na- 

 ture has no commands to give us in this matter ; and, secondly, that 

 there are excellent reasons why we should not treat the sick and 



