6*2 A MANUAL 



a sea-anemone. If we desire to keep any living ob- 

 ject in a state of health we have only to surround 

 it with those conditions of existence in which it was 

 placed at the creation by its Maker, and our object 

 will be accomplished, so far as any foresight of ours 

 can effect our purpose. 



I make these prefatory remarks, because I do not 

 wish to be considered a quack-doctor of anemones. 

 A quack is a person who lays down a set of rules on 

 the subject of health, or perhaps on any other sub- 

 ject, which rules he makes a point of not explaining : 

 he appeals then to a man's faith and not to his 

 reason, on a topic where faith is doubtlessly advan- 

 tageous, but in which reason is capable of being 

 exercised. Hence he places himself in a dilemma : 

 either he is not himself aware of the reason of his 

 practice, — in which case his knowledge is exhausted 

 together with his rules, — or he is acquainted with 

 first principles whence his rules originate, in which 

 case he insults the common sense of the world by 

 refusing to allow that it can grasp his arguments 

 and appreciate his experience. 



It would be sufficiently easy to string a series of 

 rules, which being duly observed would enable a man 

 to keep himself, his fellow-man, his dog, or his sea- 

 anemone, in a state of health for an indefinite period 

 under ordinary circumstances, but at the same time, 

 for lack of understanding the reason of his pro- 

 ceedings, he would be liable to omit perhaps the 



