Human Physiology. 221 



Similar tendencies exist in our physical constitutions. In 

 some men the bones, from a lack of a proper proportion of 

 gelatine, break like pipe stems. In others, there is such a 

 tendency to hemorrhage that slight wounds may cause death. 

 The habit of obesity is the annoyance of many, and they grow 

 fat in spite of the most meagre diet and the most active exer- 

 cises. An opposite tendency converts men and women into 

 living skeletons. Some shiver with cold in summer, some burn 

 with fever in the depth of winter. Many are born with glut- 

 tonous appetites for food ; others are naturally temperate. We 

 have the extremes of beauty and ugliness, of extreme charm 

 of appearance and fascination of manner, and awkwardness and 

 repulsiveness. These are peculiarities of body and mind, but 

 it is very difficult to say whether the body thus modifies the 

 action of the mind, or the mind forms or deforms the body. 

 As I believe the spirit moulds matter, and the spiritual body 

 shapes as it governs the material, I must believe that these 

 imperfections and deformities have a spiritual basis as well as 

 a material expression and action. If the body forms or governs 

 the mind, what forms or governs the body? If matter controls 

 spirit, what controls matter? 



We have, however, to observe, that a very fine and symme- 

 trical brain may be joined to a very weak and diseased muscu- 

 lar or glandular system. Scrofulous children who die early of 

 consumption or hip disease are often very sweet and intelligent. 

 Great beauty and excellence of character often accompany feeble 

 and diseased bodies. It was said "They whom the gods love 

 die young," and thousands of parents are made to feel that their 

 brightest and best are soonest taken from them. But they must 

 also feel that this is not in a true order of life. There is a har- 

 mony of soul and body when outward strength and beauty 

 corresponds to high mental and moral endowments. And the 

 true life of man, we all feel, is to pass healthily, happily, and 

 usefully through all the stages of his earthly existence. The 



