KINETIC DISEASES 223 



destroyed by its own adaptive mechanism, it is easy to 

 see why certain adynamic species, such as the turtle 

 or the elephant, survive longer than animals evolved 

 for intense kinetic activity, such as the deer and the 

 rabbit ; why, generally speaking, the expectancy of 

 life is greater for placid individuals than for those of an 

 " explosive" temperament; why the calm adynamic 

 philosopher outlasts the dynamic iron-worker, who, 

 through excessive exertion, breaks early a link in his 

 vital chain ; why the timid individual, who thinks his 

 life is threatened by trivial incidents and hence avoids 

 risk and responsibility, outlasts the strenuous and 

 careless-of-self individual, who goes on the rocks just 

 past middle life. 



Thus innumerable phenomena of life may be inter- 

 preted by applying this principle of the antithetic 

 actions of fear and faith ; phenomena not only of the 

 life of the individual, but of the life of the race at 

 large, as manifested in its past history, in political 

 situations of to-day, in family life ; phenomena which 

 prove invariably that the conscious processes of life, 

 like the unconscious processes and the passive modifi- 

 cations of the structure itself, are ,but evidences of 

 nature's mode of securing survival for the species. 

 The processes of " reason" and " instinct, " like the 

 " protective muscular reflexes," the pain areas, the 

 phenomena of phagocytosis, immunity and blood clot- 

 ting, are merely examples of the workings of the sys- 

 tem which secures "survival of the fittest." In thus 

 placing faith, hope and charity on the same plane 

 with muscular reflexes, in their power to conserve the 

 life of the race, we but give them their proper place 



