SOME OF THE LIMITATIONS OF MEDICINE. 397 



of these precepts are well understood, but they are by no means 

 generally heeded; for, though life is undoubtedly shortened by 

 ignorance, it is also curtailed by a disregard of what is known — a 

 failure to profit by the understanding. All infringements of the 

 rules of health entail suffering upon the individual, his contem- 

 poraries, or his descendants. It is the inability to appreciate that 

 man is but a molecular vibration in the great molar pulsation of 

 life, that allows him to hope that action will ever be not followed 

 by reaction. Furthermore, Nature is never cognizant of extenuat- 

 ing circumstances. Whatever a man's motive, he is equally a 

 victim of a neglect to preserve his bodily well-being, whether his 

 intentions be good or bad. We see death prematurely and with 

 impartiality destroy the just and the unjust. We know that 

 life bears many an old sinner to its utmost limit, and, contrari- 

 wise, that goodness is not incompatible with extreme old age. 

 Seeing and knowing these things, are we to shut our eyes and be 

 oblivious to such truths, or are we to awaken to a just apprecia- 

 tion of the invariable relation of cause and effect, however far 

 removed one from the other ? 



Life has been defined as " the continuous adjustment of inter- 

 nal relations to external relations." Hence, a partial failure of 

 the inner man to ,meet the successive changes that are going on 

 about him, means incomplete life or disease, and a complete fail- 

 ure of a similar adjustment signifies death. The transmission 

 and the development of characters known as inheritance are made 

 clear by the hypothesis of pangenesis, which, therefore, with your 

 permission, let me give : " Every unit or cell of the body throws 

 off gemmules or undeveloped atoms, which are transmitted to the 

 offspring of both sexes, and are multiplied by self-division. They 

 may remain undeveloped during the early years of life or during 

 successive generations ; and their development into units or cells, 

 like those from which they are derived, depends on their affinity 

 for and union with other units or cells previously developed in 

 the due order of growth." Here we find an explanation of the 

 manner in which predispositions to disease are probably trans- 

 mitted, and, what is more, the particular form of inheritance 

 known as atavism, or the recurrence of certain features after one 

 or two generations of immunity. I dwell upon this matter of in- 

 heritance in order to show how futile the attempt to construct a 

 perfect being out of imperfect material. No amount of thera- 

 peutic skill will ever be able to atone for the fatal mistake of 

 unwise parentage. The laws of generation are as applicable to 

 man as to the lower animals. It seems unfair that the child 

 should suffer for the shortcomings of the parent, but the offspring 

 is a continuation of his progenitors, the product of those who 

 have gone before, plus his own individuality. Hence, what affects 



