CHAPTER I. 

 ORIGIN AND NATURE OP TEE INQUIRY. 



THERE is probably some foundation for the remark 

 that while a man appears better than he is to his 

 spiritual adviser and worse than he is to his lawyer, 

 his real nature is revealed to his doctor. The student 

 of character (of some scientific aptitude but not neces- 

 sarily of medical training) may certainly gain much 

 and varied information in tKe hospital ward. The 

 opportunity of gaining this knowledge was at one 

 time freely open to me. The views I was then led to 

 form have been, during many years, tested and con- 

 firmed in the larger world of health and activity, not 

 only by myself, but by other unbiassed observers, 

 some acting at my suggestion, and many others who, 

 since the first edition of this little work appeared, have 

 given me the results of independent observation. 



Several years ago I noticed that a very large pro- 

 portion of the women who came into hospital suffering 

 from injuries inflicted by their husbands had, as a rule, 

 something peculiar in their personal appearance. The 

 peculiarity or peculiarities seemed common to all of 

 them. They certainly had not been assaulted because 

 they were old or plain. We are sometimes told, as a 

 danger of unbelief, that men would put aside wives 

 who had lost their youthful looks. Many of these 

 women were young, some were very pretty, and their 

 husbands were believers. In truth it is neither ' belief 

 nor ' unbelief/ but certain congenital impulses of 



