46 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



duced from three other important points in physiology. Where do we 

 find the highest measure or the most perfect health ? It is in this same 

 normal standard of physiology, and the nearest approaches to it. In 

 some respects the human body resembles a complicated machine : the 

 more perfect the structure, and the more nicely adjusted are all the 

 parts of the machinery, the less likely is any one part to get out of 

 order. And when one part, however small it may be, gives out or 

 breaks, it at once involves the other parts, all of which must more or 

 less suffer. Thus the individual, the family, the people which possess 

 by nature the soundest and best-balanced organizations, will have, 

 other things being equal, the greatest aggregate amount of health. 

 Not only this, but they will secure the longest lives. This same stand- 

 ard of physiology, then, affords the material upon which the law of 

 longevity is based. A careful examination of the organization of all 

 those persons who reach a great age, we believe, will demonstrate that 

 they naturally possessed a remarkably healthy and evenly balanced 

 constitution. 



Again, whenever physical standards of human excellence or models 

 of the best specimens of the race have been sought or adduced, they 

 have exhibited this harmonious development. The Apollo Belvedere 

 and the Venus de' Medici represent a beautiful symmetrical organiza- 

 tion ; and, the nearer all parts of the body approximate to this stand- 

 ard, the greater is the attraction and the more beautiful the form. If 

 there is a form or type of organization in the human species more 

 beautiful than any other, is not this the model, the standard ? We 

 believe the Creator of all things has established in physiology such a 

 standard of taste and beauty, and that this same normal standard, upon 

 which the law of increase is based, comprises that beautiful form or 

 standard of taste for the human body which, it has been admitted, ex- 

 isted, but is nowhere well defined. 



Again, arguments in favor of this theory of increase may be deduced 

 from the writings of Charles Darwin. Two of his leading doctrines 

 are " natural selection " and the " law of variability." The former 

 doctrine may be defined thus : There is an inherent principle in nat- 

 ure, amid all its laws and changes, for betterment, for improvement. 

 The same result has been found out from long experience, that the 

 character of domestic animals can be improved by selecting the most 

 desirable qualities and by avoiding all that conflict with these. This 

 principle is most strikingly manifested in all organic beings in their 

 constant " struggle for existence," and is happily expressed in the 

 phrase often used by some writers, the " survival of the fittest." We 

 believe this same principle not only harmonizes with, but is nothing 

 more nor less than a great general law of increase, based upon the 

 perfectionism of all organization and harmony of function ; and what 

 are denominated " laws of variation " may be explained by the laws 

 of hereditary descent. When we take into consideration the fact that 



