242 ) 
I April, 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
*** The Editor does not hold himself responsible for statements of fadts or 
opinions expressed in Correspondence, or in Articles bearing the signature 
of their respective authors. 
“LIFE AND MIND ON THE BASIS OF MODERN 
MEDICINE.” 
“ Thalassoplektos ” and his friends having been allowed full 
scope for reply to our critique, we must now give our final 
opinion. Even granting, which we do not, that the scientific 
specialist is less happy than the country gentleman, &c., this is 
far from proving the position of our opponents. The child is 
happier in most cases than the adult, the barbarian than the 
civilised man, and, so far as we can judge, the ape in his native 
woods is happier than the vast majority of our species. But 
which is the higher ? Mere “ scientific education ” is not 
research ; and if man, when the “ formative period ” of his life is 
over and his powers are mature, is to turn his back upon Science, 
the progress of the world is at an end. Among individual men, 
just as among organic species in general, rise is effected by spe- 
cialisation, and the “ all-round ” being, “ totus , teres atque ro- 
tundus ,” is, in other words, a low generalised type. The reason 
why professional men do not desire their own career for their 
sons lies in our bad social arrangements, not in any fault of 
Science per se. Moreover, it is not difficult to find successive 
generations of scientists, e.g., in the Darwin family. 
The Editor. 
THE FORMATIVE POWER IN NATURE. 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science. 
Sir, — The arguments and illustrations employed by Mr. Billing 
upon this topic, in your number for February last, — though of 
course not new ones, — are clearly and forcibly put ; nor do I see 
how they can be controverted, except at the sacrifice of every 
