348 THE PRESENT ASPECT OF MEDICINE. 



at 

 masses in nature are referable to various modifications of the 

 polyhedron and of the sphere, the configurations of the 

 masses, and parts of vegetables and of animals, involve the 

 complex relations of curves of double curvature. "Without 

 doubt that force, in virtue of which the shell of the nautilus 

 derives its form, the cartilage of a human joint its curvature, 

 and the movements of the human limbs their helical 

 character, is purely physical, and of the same nature as that 

 force in virtue of which the planets possess their individual 

 forms, and revolve in their prescribed periods and curves. 

 But while the heavenly bodies present merely the configura- 

 tion of spheroids, and have their paths confined to bare 

 sections, the configurations of the masses and parts of the 

 animal body, as well as their movements, are, in presence of 

 the unknown quantity, involved, moulded, and curved 

 according to the law of the logarithmic spiral. The com- 

 plexity of the statico-dynamical relations involved in forms 

 and movements of this character is such that it would almost 

 appear as if that mass of analytic means, accumulated by the 

 industry of the mathematician but not yet made use of by 

 the physicist, is laid up in store for the future anatomist 

 and physiologist ; and as if the highest example afforded to 

 us of the complex but orderly and invariable exercise of 

 chemical and physical force is in the construction and actions 

 of that human body, in connection with that conscious 

 principle, also possessing its own laws, but endowed with the 

 mysterious privilege of free will. 



It may now be asked — To what does all this argument 

 tend ? What bearing can it possibly have on the practical 

 cpiestion as to the future progress of the art of medicine ? as 

 to the additional means to be expected of alleviating pain, 

 diminishing disease, and lengthening the term of life ? I 

 shall not consider the argument out of place if you agree 

 with me in the conclusion to which it leads, that we ought to 



