SOME MATTERS OF HYGIENE 401 



behavior which is the characteristic of a mechanism we 

 can learn nothing that is significant. 



At the same time, it may be acknowledged that the 

 early mechanists were cocksure and oversanguine in the 

 expectation that they could analyze all the reactions of 

 animals with ease. Animals may be machines, but they 

 are inconceivably complex and correspondingly removed 

 from ready comparison with machines of human con- 

 struction. The most baffling complexity is evident in 

 the constitution of every cell, and when cells are associated 

 in enormous numbers the difficulty of making predictions 

 in regard to the capacities of the organism is increased 

 according to a mathematical formula. 



In the light of all that is known we may choose to 

 emphasize either the resemblance of the organism to a 

 machine or its dissimilarity. One may be a strict 

 mechanist or a " Neo-vitalist " as one assumes the 

 former attitude or the latter. The neo-vitalist is im- 

 pressed with the wonder and mystery of life, but so far 

 as he looks for additions to our knowledge he approves 

 the methods and deductions of the mechanist. The 

 mechanist must also have his moods of marvelling and so 

 the two are not so far apart as is sometimes assumed. 

 The ultimate question of the relationship of consciousness 

 to organic matter seems unanswerable. 



This discussion of the scientific point of view has been 

 introduced because it bears directly upon one's estimate 

 of hygiene. If the body is in any real sense a mechanism 

 it is fair to insist that it be cared for systematically. 

 If it is superior to all the limitations of a mechanism it 

 may be superfluous to give time and thought to its care. 

 ''Living on one's nerve" may be noble in this case but 

 it is clearly reprehensible according to the mechanistic 

 conception. We shall adhere provisionally to the idea 

 that the body is a machine, unique in its power of self- 

 repair, but so limited -in this and other respects as to 

 impose the obligation of careful conduct upon the 

 individual. 



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