PSYCHIC ADAPTATION 113 



among these weavers existed great men, and where 

 men exist the arts are not slow to appear. 



"Then, as in Florence, about the year 1400, 

 power was welcomed, and society became organised. 

 Here, as in Italy, about 1400, man abandoned the 

 ascetic habit to take an interest in Nature, and to 

 enjoy life ; he began to taste the joys of strength, 

 health, beauty, and joy. Everywhere the spirit of 

 the Middle Ages began to change and disappear." 



Let us dwell upon Taine's words : Art interprets 

 life. Here art means psychic life ; and life, physical 

 life, the animal existence. The parallelism is 

 evident, and includes a fact which, for the educa- 

 tion of humanity, must not for a moment be lost 

 sight of. When nations reach one of these periods 

 of physical and psychic prosperity, it is because 

 they have an abundant nutriment, which renders 

 possible a more healthy, regular, and intense 

 existence ; that is to say, when the medium 

 supplies man with abundant or sufficient substance 

 to repair his losses by good nourishment, man can 

 steadily develop the virtues of which he is capable. 



The blood needs all the aliment necessary to 

 recuperate man with all his energies, and when this 

 is the case, appears the mens sana in corpore sano, 

 and so the brain, receiving a rich recuperative 

 plasm, preserves the integrity of all its nervous 

 elements, and thus at last the adaptation of the 



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