44 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



three epidemics, which were quite limited. The cause of this loss of 

 population can not arise from any external condition or agents, but 

 from some law growing out of and governing the physical system. 

 It is well known that certain diseases, resulting from licentiousness 

 and intemperance, have been brought by foreigners to these islands, 

 causing a physical degeneracy in the people. So powerful and far- 

 reaching are the effects of these diseases that neither the family, nor 

 education, nor Christianity, can eradicate them. The law of propaga- 

 tion has been violated to such an extent that it threatens the extinction 

 of that people. 



The laws of hereditary descent afford strong evidence in favor of 

 some general law of propagation. The fact that " like begets like," 

 subject to certain variations and conditions, can not be called in ques- 

 tion. The union of two agents, possessing similar and dissimilar quali- 

 ties, constitutes an important condition to which this law of propaga- 

 tion is subject. While it may be difficult to point out, in all cases, 

 the exact results of hereditary influences, still it has been demonstrated 

 on a large scale that, in the aggregate, there was the most unquestion- 

 able evidence of such agency, and that it was minute and extensive, 

 and continued for successive generations. Now, the same evidence 

 that proves the existence of hereditary agency, implies that there is 

 somewhere a general law, of which each and every part of this agency 

 is part and parcel ; and no one thing will throw so much light upon 

 this whole subject of inheritance as the recognition of a general law 

 of propagation, based upon a perfect standard in nature. Without 

 such acknowledgment, all these hereditary agencies are an enigma. 

 When this branch of physiology becomes thoroughly understood, 

 hereditary influences will more readily be traced back to their primary 

 sources, as well as to the secondary causes which serve at times to 

 change and modify them. In this case, far more intelligent and effi- 

 cient means will be employed to improve the race. 



Again : powerful arguments in favor of this theory of increase may 

 be deduced from woman's organization. It is a settled fact that the 

 primary organism of her nature is the production of children that by 

 this course her average health is better, and the mean duration of life 

 is longer. Hence there must be one type or standard of organization 

 better adapted for this purpose than all others. We maintain that the 

 perfect structure of her whole body and the harmony of function in 

 every organ constitute this normal standard of increase. The truth 

 of this assertion, we believe, can be demonstrated from four distinct 

 points all most intimately connected with human increase : 1. In 

 case of pregnancy a woman with this organization suffers the least. 

 It is well known that this change frequently brings on many com- 

 plaints, and sometimes serious diseases. The more the body or certain 

 organs deviate from the normal standard, the greater the disturbance 

 and suffering. 2. At the time of confinement, or in the process of de- 



