76 Observations on the Natural History 



necessary. With the savage and with the civilized wo- 

 man, the mechanism of labour is the same. There is 

 a certain compound resistance to be overcome by the 

 co-operation of given forces of expulsion. A change 

 from the savage mode, to that of civilized life, does not, 

 and cannot, alter the relation between this sum of com- 

 pound resistance and these forces of expulsion. It 

 neither abstracts from the aggregate of one, nor dimi- 

 nishes the efficiency of the other. If the one be altered, 

 the other is equally altered. They are equally depen- 

 dent on the same economy of the general whole. 



Can we believe, with the lecturer, that " the man (a 

 specific term, by which an individual is put for the spe- 

 cies) of the civilized world, has lost much of his origi- 

 nal strength," &c, and yet, that this man, thus plunder- 

 ed of his powers, is more subject to inflammation, 

 &c? Sir, what do you think of that philosophy which 

 points out the lax fibre, the body with ruined energies, 

 as the proper subject of rigidity, the very object eligible 

 for the lancet ? Can your ingenuity unfold to you, how 

 the delicate lady, whose bed is down, and whose life is 

 inaction, can be more obnoxious to inflammation, rigi- 

 dity, &c, and better able to bear large abstractions of 

 blood, than the wild savage, whose body, like that of the 

 hardy rustic, is braced by exercise, whose blood is pure 

 and rich, from a simple, yet substantial diet* ? 



* We generally find the women of the country more obnoxious 

 to it (pain) than those of cities." Museum, Vol. I, No. 3, p. 280. 



And this is, I suppose, a logical deduction from the proposition, 

 that " p;iin is produced by civilization and refinement!'' Then the 



