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NEW YORK, April 11, 1890. 



No. 375. 



A Shorthand Type-Writer 225 



Salads 225 



Food and Food Adulterants 



Edgar Richards 226 



Notes and News 230 



Sas Every One a Natural Call- 



ing ? 



IHiNDu Arithuetig 



CONTENTS: 



Health Matters. 



The Influence of Cold on Pneu- 

 monic Infection 236 



A Long Fall 236 



Tight Collars and Vision 236 



The Treatment of Phthisis by 



Carbonic Acid 2.36 



Book-Reviews. 



Numbers Universalized 236 



AuoNO the Publishers 236 



HAS EVERY ONE A NATURAL CALLING?' 



It is not a rare occurrence to hear of a person that he has 

 •"missed his calling." People mean that his natural faculties and 

 •endowments are better fitted for other kinds of work than the one 

 in which he is engaged. Here, then, we meet with the presump- 

 tion that the person in question is especially well qualified for a 

 particular occupation. Upon this presumption is based the mean- 

 ing of the word "calling." He who is called to perform a certain 

 kind of work or to fill an office is given credit for the qualifications 

 it requires. 



But let me ask, is there any such thing as a natural calling for 

 «very one ? that is to say, is there in man a combination of facul- 

 ties which qualifies him for a certain kind of activity, and for no 

 other? Is he predestined, if I may use the term, to his calling, 

 by the peculiar mixture of natural gifts he possesses? 



The Germans are apt to answer this affirmatively. They main- 

 tain that every one is particularly well equipped by Mother Nature 

 for one kind of activity, but that it is difficult to di^^cover for 

 which one, and that many persons fail in discovering it, choosing 

 a field of occupation for which Nature has not intended them. 

 In many cases their chosen profession or occupation is not the 

 right one, which is illustrated in numerous cases. In truth, the 

 fact that many pursue a calling in which they are not successful 

 seems to indicate the strength of the argument Yea, " to miss 



I Paper read before the Anthropological Society in Washington, March 18, 

 *as6d on Professor Rohrbach's treatise on this question, by L, R. K. 



one's calling " was a proverb long before Bismarck characterized 

 the journalists as men. who had missed theirs. 



In America we are apt to answer the question in the negative, 

 and just as emphatically. The American will grant only in rare 

 cases that a man may have a natural calling. Generally it is 

 asserted that every one has the calling to earn his livelihood; and, 

 as to the different kinds of human activity, our reverence for the 

 self-made man prompts us to believe that every one is capable of 

 doing any thing, provided he takes hold of it with pleasure and 

 good-will. 



Here, then, we have two opposite opinions, — on the one side, 

 the German idea, that every one is equipped, that is, called for, a 

 special kind of work, which idea has been developed in the most 

 ideal manner, and defended Ijy the ablest arguments; on the other 

 side, the American idea, that every one may be or is prepared for 

 or called to many, if not to all kinds of work. Which of the two 

 idias is correct, — either or neither of them ? If neither, which 

 one comes nearer the truth ? 



In order to answer these queries understandingly. it will be well 

 to inquire into the origin of the two diametrically opposed ideas. 



The Germans are an old nation, with a history and national 

 culture of more than a thousand years. When first appearing upon 

 the hij^toric stage, they were divided into ranks. — in high and low 

 nobility, free-born retainers, and serfs or servants, among whom 

 were again distmguislied body-servants and servants of the estate. 

 Wh^n through war and strife, particularly iu consequence of 

 hostile invasions it was found necessary for many to leave their 

 isolated abodes, cro.vd together in cities, and live securely side by 

 side behind ramparts, palisades, and town-walls, the focial status 

 of former times could not be retained. It was hard to give up 

 privileges, for he who is in possession shuns the change; and it is 

 proven in history that it is easier to yield an inborn right than to 

 relinquish a privilege (a private right). But necessity knows no 

 laws. The privileges of the free-born were disregarded in towns 

 where all had to live together, side by side, and the will of the 

 majority became law. The cities were populated, and soon be- 

 came the very backbone of resistance to oppression and trans- 

 gression of princes and nobles. In due course of time, inequalities 

 vanished, and the citizens acquired equal rights, though not until 

 after bard struggle and civil strife. 



Even noblemen found it necessary to resort to some occupation 

 where every one was obliged to make a living; and so we see 

 families of great repute and noble name become merchants, 

 armorers, etc. And just as among the Romans some trades were 

 despised, we see in the cities of Gerttany that some occupations 

 became honored, others despised and detested. The patriarchal 

 government of those times soon regulated every thing, even the 

 number of masters in each trade. Guilds sprang into existence, 

 originally for the protection of their members, afterward for the 

 exclusion of outsiders. Soon the guilds were sharply defined, 

 and formed communities within the community. Even within the 

 narrow confines of a guild numerous gi-ades and subdivisions were 

 established. There were tailor, carpenter, weaver, cobbler guilds, 

 etc. Joiners and carpenters were not permitted to confound each 

 other's work, any more than could nail-makers and blacksmiths, 

 bricklayers and stonemasons. The cobbler who made men's boots 

 and shoes was prohibited from making ladies" shoes : that was 

 meddling with some one else's trade. 



These guilds have a history of eight hundred years. Their per- 

 nicious influence upon culture and civilization is a matter of his- 

 tory, and need not be stated here; but it must be mentioned that 

 they fostered the idea of seclusion and separation. They gave rise 

 to the idea of a predestined calling for every one ; and this idea be- 

 came so predominant, that the accident of birth decided not only 

 nationality and religion, but also the calling of the child; and to a 

 limited extent this is still the case in our times. 



In this country we ridicule the idea. Here the new-born child 

 is not placed face to face with such an idea. He breathes the 

 free air of a country which enjoys political and social liberty, as 

 well as liberty of trade. In Germany the child seems to inherit 

 the germ of the idea that his destiny is preconceived, ani he inhales, 

 figuratively speaking, an atmosphere which is fitted to develop 

 this germ. A child of German parentage in America may inherit 



