122 Heredity and Social Progress 



Emotional cures are associated with reli- 

 gion and are looked upon as miracles by 

 those who believe in them, and are doubted 

 by those who reject them; but there is 

 no need of so classing them if the prin- 

 ciples of devolution and regeneration are 

 understood. That which is marvellous as an 

 unexplained fact becomes simple if viewed as 

 a natural event. Religious excitement creates 

 nervous shocks which disturb balance, devo- 

 lution acts to restore the equilibrium, and then 

 regeneration creates a healthy organism. Dis- 

 ease is thus eliminated by cutting off its 

 false growths. 



Any strong emotion will do this if its activ- 

 ity affects the diseased parts. Even a change 

 of environment may create the needed emo- 

 tions and give back health, but here, in dis- 

 tinction from the cures effected by religious 

 emotion, there seems to be a growth and not a 

 set-back that eliminates. In this case, how- 

 ever, we must remember that the emotions of 

 the change precede, and that they incite the 

 devolutional forces of regeneration. A game 

 of cards, a night at the gambling table, or the 



