RATIONAL LIFE 307 



in man. In attributing responsibility, we affirm the 

 presence of rationality, and the obligation it involves. 

 We acknowledge power to see and appreciate the 

 right, to recognise its bearing, and to regulate conduct 

 in accordance with such knowledge. These are the 

 conditions on which the appeals of our medical ad 

 visers rest. Such appeals would be irrational and 

 unscientific, if specialists were dealing only with an 

 organic life. The duality of human life is admitted 

 cannot be obscured if specialists advise their 

 patients, expecting their advice to be followed. 



Kesponsibility for our physical condition being 

 granted, what is the full range of its meaning ; what 

 are its limitations ? It is impossible to answer with 

 out adding to the testimony for duality in human 

 life. Whether you will or no, two sets of phrases 

 come into use; distinct spheres of application are 

 found for them. We speak of laws of health as 

 fixed, and simply to be obeyed ; we speak of personal 

 resolution, as that which must be formed by each 

 individual for himself, and must be carried out by 

 himself, whatever inducements he may have to act dif 

 ferently. We all know the formulae of the consulting- 

 room, or of the hospital ward; and we know how 

 much dependence must be placed on the integrity of 

 the patient. The diagnosis may be correct ; the pre 

 scription may be good ; but what if the patient place 

 it on the shelf ? Where is responsibility then ? 



What is here brought to a narrow point, applies 

 throughout the whole intricate entanglements of our 

 self-directed activity. The law of heredity has its 

 reading in human history in accordance with this 

 duality in human life. This is only one of the many 



