296 THE CAUSATION OF DISEASE. 



moralist sees to be the evil effects of incongruous, and the 

 good effects of harmonious, surroundings. 



It is not always easy to find out what walk in life will best 

 accord with the mental proclivities. Some there are who will 

 adapt themselves to any surroundings, and, like Mark Tapley, 

 be happy anywhere and under any circumstances ; others, 

 again, will be always grumbling and unhappy, and these latter 

 are abnormal, for no mental E admits of harmonious inter- 

 action with their mental S. 



It happens occasionally that an individual will, from an early 

 age, show a liking — nay, it may even be a passion — for a par- 

 ticular calling ; such as the profession of engineering, arms, or 

 music. In some of these cases the voice of inclination speaks 

 with the loudness and wisdom of an instinct, and its prompt- 

 ings may safely be obeyed. More frequently, however, these 

 early promptings are fallacious. How many children have 

 expressed their determination to be engine-drivers or police- 

 men ! I remember one boy at school, who, when asked what 

 he was going to be, always replied, " a philosopher ; " and I 

 may remark of him that he certainly gave promise of being no 

 ordinary man, for in him was combined with very extraordi- 

 nary mental powers, an innocence which was almost infantine. 



Many young men are indifferent as to what profession or 

 calling they follow, and leave others to choose for them ; but 

 when any special proclivity is displayed, it is not only unwise, 

 but morally wrong, to thwart it ; for by so doing we are 

 shutting out the individual from that E to which he is by 

 nature adapted, which is, in fact, normal to him. Let us not 

 try to make a round peg fit a square hole. 



That normality of S and E can only be considered in the 

 relation of the one to the other is well shown by allowing indi- 

 viduals following very opposite kinds of employment to suddenly 

 exchange places. Let, for instance, two healthy individuals, one 

 a brain-worker, the other a muscle-worker, change places — a 

 learned professor, let us say, with a navvy, — and it is quite 

 needless to recount in detail the ill effect on each. We can 

 imagine the evils which would result from the sudden strain 

 on the heart and vascular apparatus of the one, and the multi- 



